27.1201—EBS eligibility.

(a) A license for an Educational Broadband Service station will be issued only to an accredited institution or to a governmental organization engaged in the formal education of enrolled students or to a nonprofit organization whose purposes are educational and include providing educational and instructional television material to such accredited institutions and governmental organizations, and which is otherwise qualified under the statutory provisions of the Communications Act of 1934, as amended.

(1) A publicly supported educational institution must be accredited by the appropriate State department of education.

(2) A privately controlled educational institution must be accredited by the appropriate State department of education or the recognized regional and national accrediting organizations.

(3) Those applicant organizations whose eligibility is established by service to accredited institutional or governmental organizations must submit documentation from proposed receive sites demonstrating that they will receive and use the applicant's educational usage. In place of this documentation, a State educational television (ETV) commission may demonstrate that the public schools it proposes to serve are required to use its proposed educational usage. Documentation from proposed receive sites which are to establish the eligibility of an entity not serving its own enrolled students for credit should be in letter form, written and signed by an administrator or authority who is responsible for the receive site's curriculum planning. No receive site more than 35 miles from the proposed station's central reference point, or outside the applicants' proposed GSA, shall be used to establish basic eligibility. Where broadband or data services are proposed, the letter should indicate that the data services will be used in furtherance of the institution's educational mission and will be provided to enrolled students, faculty and staff in a manner and in a setting conducive to educational usage. Where traditional educational or instructional video services are proposed, the letter should indicate that the applicant's program offerings have been viewed and that such programming will be incorporated in the site's curriculum. Where educational or instructional video services are proposed, the letter should discuss the types of programming and hours per week of formal and informal programming expected to be used and the site's involvement in the planning, scheduling and production of programming. If other levels of authority must be obtained before a firm commitment to utilize the service can be made, the nature and extent of such additional authorization(s) must be provided.

(4) Nonlocal applicants, in addition to submitting letters from proposed receive sites, must demonstrate the establishment of a local program committee in each community where they apply. Letters submitted on behalf of a nonlocal entity must confirm that a member of the receive site's staff will serve on the local program committee and demonstrate a recognition of the composition and power of the committee. The letter should show that the staff member will aid in the selection, scheduling and production of the programming received over the system.

(b) No numerical limit is placed on the number of stations which may be licensed to a single licensee. A single license may be issued for more than one transmitter if they are to be located at a common site and operated by the same licensee. Applicants are expected to accomplish the proposed operation by the use of the smallest number of channels required to provide the needed service.

(d) This paragraph applies to EBS licensees and applications licensed or filed pursuant to the provisions of § 27.1201(c) contained in the edition of 47 CFR parts 20 through 39, revised as of October 1, 2005, or §§ 74.990 through 74.992 contained in the edition of 47 CFR parts 70 through 79, revised as of October 1, 2004, and that do not meet the eligibility requirements of paragraph (a) of this section. Such licensees may continue to operate pursuant to the terms of their existing licenses, and their licenses may be renewed, assigned, or transferred, so long as the licensee is otherwise in compliance with this chapter. Applications filed pursuant to the provisions of § 27.1201(c) contained in the edition of 47 CFR parts 20 through 39, revised as of October 1, 2005 or §§ 74.990 through 74.992 contained in the edition of 47 CFR parts 70 through 79, revised as of October 1, 2004 may be processed and granted, so long as such applications were filed prior to July 19, 2006. The provisions of §§ 27.1203(b) through (d) and 27.1214 of this subpart do not apply to licenses governed by this paragraph.

[69 FR 72034, Dec. 10, 2004, as amended at 71 FR 35190, June 19, 2006; 73 FR 26040, May 8, 2008]