This study comprises a capsule history of American public television broadcasting, an inside account of recent developments, and consideration of how public broadcasting might be supported without partisan political control. The book is an expanded version of the Gaither Lectures given for the Center for Research in Management Science, University…

A statement of policy outlines the method to be used by all schools, colleges, and universities that desire to take advantage of a seven-day rerecording privilege to record televised material transmitted by public television stations. The policy has been jointly agreed upon by the Public Broadcasting Service, the Great Plains National…

Based on data collected by several individuals in recent years, this report is intended to provide an overview of American public broadcasting and its audiences. The size, characteristics, and viewing patterns of public, noncommercial television viewers are described. Among the findings cited in the report are the following: (1) 80 percent of…

Writing considerations specific to instructional television (ITV) situations are discussed in this handbook written for the beginner, but designed to be of use to anyone creating an ITV script. Advice included in the handbook is based on information obtained from ITV wirters, literature reviews, and the author's personal experience. The ITV…

In recent years, the cable television industry has been marked by prolific growth both in the number of stations and in the number of subscribers, and its legitimacy has been affirmed by a Supreme Court decision which placed the industry under the control of the Federal Communications Commission, (FCC) but the full potential of cable television…

The National Task Force on Women, established by the Corporation for Public Broadcasting (CPB), had three objectives: (1) to examine the extent to which women were employed at all levels in public broadcasting and were integrated into its policy-making and operations; (2) to examine the visibility and image of women in all programing and the…

This report presents the highlights of research activities conducted in 1980 by the Office of Communication Research (OCR), whose job it is to serve the information needs of five distinct entities: the United States Congress, national public broadcasting agencies, local public radio and television stations across the country, decision-making…

The first non-commercial cable television (CATV) project in Sweden was conducted in Kiruna since it was the site of an established commercial CATV network. The Kiruna project goal was to emphasize locally produced programs. Objectives tested were production and planning forms, cooperation between groups, and utilization of a program bank.…

Based on the findings of a nine-month-long investigation, this report represents the efforts of the Carnegie Commission to design a new structure for public telecommunications that can accommodate the divergent needs of public broadcasting in the United States in the coming decade. Following a summary of the findings and recommendations, the…

Four national surveys using personal interviews with independent samples of 1500+ adults each were reported. The surveys were conducted between December 1974 and June 1975. The surveys assessed awareness of the television program Feeling Good," sources of awareness, incidence of viewing, and incidence of selected health care practices.…

The Communications Act of 1934 has been cited as the justification for federal regulation of the growing cable television industry, but it has not ended the debate over the jurisdiction of regulating agencies and the First Amendment protections afforded to broadcasters. Because the authority of the Federal Communications Commission to regulate…

This collection of essays by expert thinkers in the field of public broadcasting explores some of the many policy questions facing public broadcasting over the next decade. Among the topics dealt with in the 18 essays are: public radio, instructional television, public involvement, financing, research problems, production problems and the role of…

In order to learn more about the potential of television for teaching prosocial values, an experiment is described which will use as subjects preschool children attending nursery schools or day care centers. Brief videotapes, 15-20 minutes long, will be made from material taken primarily from Sesame Street. They will vary in the explicitness of…

With the pervasiveness of television, especially for children, visual literacy is a growing concern. Television should be regarded as part of a potential solution to the country's need for improved education. "Sesame Street" has proved that children do learn from television, that active interaction is not always necessary for learning,…

As an extensive to an earlier report on pilot shows of The Electric Company that produced high and low visual attention in 2nd and 3rd graders, this study focuses on the effect of contextual attributes on the level of appeal. By analyzing sequences of presentations of bits of information, researchers found that bits of similar appeal levels tend…