NATIONAL EDUCATIONAL TELEVISION

'National Educational Television' was an educational television network in the USA from 1952 to 1970. It was replaced on October 5, 1970 by the Public Broadcasting Service, which continues to the present.
The network was founded as the ''Educational Television and Radio Center'' (ETRC) in November 1952 by a grant from the Ford Foundation's Fund for Adult Education. It was originally a limited service for exchanging and distributing educational programs produced by local television stations to other stations; it did not produce any material by itself.
In the spring of 1954, ETRC moved to Ann Arbor, Michigan, and on May 16 of that year it began its operation as a "network". It put together a daily five-hour package of programming, releasing it primarily on kinescope film to the affiliated stations by mail. The programming was noted for treating subjects in depth, including hourlong interviews with people of literary and historical importance. The programming was also noted for being dry and academic, with little consideration given to entertainment value, in marked contrast to commercial television. Many of the shows were designed as adult education, and ETRC was nicknamed ''The University of the Air''.
The center's headquarters moved from Ann Arbor, Michigan to New York City in 1958 and the organization became known as the ''National Educational Television and Radio Center'' (NETRC).
The center became more aggressive at this time, aiming to have the role of the U.S.' fourth television network. This included the beginning of imported programming from the BBC into the United States. It increased its output to ten hours a week.
The organization changed tack again in November 1963. It renamed itself ''National Educational Television'', and spun off its radio assets. Under the centerpiece show ''NET Journal'', NET began to air controversial, hard-hitting documentaries that explored numerous social issues of the day such as poverty and racism. While praised by critics, many affiliates, especially those in politically and culturally conservative markets, objected to the perceived liberal slant of the programming.
In 1966, NET's funding came into question when the Ford Foundation decided to begin withdrawing financial support because of NET's constant need for additional funding. In the meantime, the affiliated stations (e.g., WGBH, WETA, WNDT, WTTW, WQED, KCET) were determined to try to keep that from happening by looking for ways to help the network.
The U.S. government intervened and created the Corporation for Public Broadcasting in 1967 to fund the network for the time being. However, the CPB's intent was to create its own public broadcasting network. This was done because many NET affiliates were alienated by the programming. These affiliates felt NET's simultaneous production and broadcasting of programming constituted a conflict of interest.
PBS first began operations in 1969, with NET producing several shows. However, NET's refusal to stop airing the critically-acclaimed but also hard-hitting and controversial documentaries led to the decision of both the CPB and the Ford Foundation to shut NET down. In late 1969, both threatened to withdraw their funding grants unless NET merged with Newark, New Jersey public station WNDT-TV.
On Monday, October 5, 1970, the very same day that PBS officially began broadcasting, NET and WNDT-TV officially completed their merger. NET ceased to operate as a separate network from that point, although some NET-branded programming, such as ''NET Journal'', was part of the PBS schedule for another couple of years before the identity was finally retired. WNDT's call sign was changed to the present WNET shortly thereafter. Shows that began on NET, such as ''Sesame Street'' and ''Mister Rogers' Neighborhood,'' continue to air on PBS today.
The NET acronym has since been revived twice; first in the 1990s, as National Empowerment Television, a short-lived politically rightist cable network; and in 2005, when Nebraska ETV and Nebraska Public Radio were united under a single name, Nebraska Educational Telecommunications.

Contents

Naming

See also

External links

Naming

★ 1952-1958: Educational Television and Radio Center (ETRC)

★ 1958-1963: National Educational Television and Radio Center (NETRC)

★ 1963-1970: National Educational Television (NET)

See also

★ List of United States television networks

★ PBS

★ PBS idents ''(includes idents for NET)''

External links

★ NET page on museum.tv