Nebraska Educational Telecommunications

Nebraska Educational Telecommunications (NET) is a state network of non-commercial educational public broadcasting radio and television stations in Nebraska and is based in Lincoln. It is operated by the Nebraska Educational Telecommunications Commission. The television stations are all members of PBS, while the radio stations are members of NPR.

The network is headquartered in the Terry M. Carpenter & Jack G. McBride Nebraska Educational Telecommunications Center in Lincoln, and has a satellite station (KYNE-TV) in Omaha.

History

Television

Nebraska was one of the first states in the nation to begin the groundwork for educational broadcasting. The University of Nebraska successfully applied to have channel 18 in Lincoln allocated for educational use in 1951.

In 1954, however, John Fetzer, owner of KOLN-TV, offered to donate his station's old channel location on channel 12 (it had recently moved to channel 10) to NU. This allowed UNL to use more signal at less cost. UNL quickly jumped at this proposal, and KUON-TV went on the air on November 1 from KOLN-TV's studios. It was operated in trust for NU until 1956. In 1960, the Nebraska Council for Educational Television was created by six school districts in Nebraska. By 1961, 5 VHF and 3 UHF channels were allocated for educational use in Nebraska—the largest set ever approved for educational use in a single state. In 1963, the state legislature, per a committee's recommendation, approved plans for a statewide educational television state network under the control of the Nebraska Educational Television Commission. A deal was quickly reached in which Lincoln's KUON-TV would remain under NU's ownership, but serve as the new state network's flagship.

In 1965, KLNE-TV in Lexington became the first station in the new state network, followed a few months later by KYNE-TV in Omaha. The state network grew quickly; six stations signed on from 1966 to 1968 to complete the state network. It began a full seven-day schedule in 1969.

In 1975, NBC unveiled a new logo that was identical to the Nebraska ETV logo, but for the blue coloring of the right trapezoid in the NBC logo. The commission sued NBC for trademark infringement, a suit which generated national attention. In an out-of-court settlement, NBC donated a color mobile unit and other equipment totaling over $800,000. NBC paid an additional $55,000 to reimburse the commission for the costs of eliminating the old logo from all advertising. Nebraska ETV's new logo was unveiled in 1976.

A CPB study, Study of School use of Television and Video, found Reading Rainbow (a co-production of NET and Buffalo's WNED-TV until 2006) to be the most used and viewed children's television program in America during the 1990-1991 school year.

Since 1974, NET has operated a studio in Omaha, on the campus of the University of Nebraska-Omaha. It is primarily used when KYNE breaks off from the state network to broadcast programming of specific interest to the Omaha market.

In autumn 2008, NET stations KUON, KMNE, KPNE, KRNE, and KTNE turned off their analog channels. Station KXNE turned off their analog channel in November 2008, and stations KHNE, KLNE, and KYNE turned off their analog channels on 2/17/2009 (the original digital TV cut-off date).

Radio

The Educational Television Commission had its mission broadened to radio in 1984, but it was 1989 before it could begin the groundwork for building a state radio network. For many years, there were only two NPR members in the entire state--Omaha's KIOS and Lincoln's KUCV. In 1989, however, UNL bought KUCV from Union College and moved it from 90.9 FM (where it had been since its sign-on in 1974) to 91.1. KUCV officially relaunched from its new studios on October 10, 1989.

In 1990, public radio stations opened in Alliance, Lexington, Columbus, Norfolk and Hastings. North Platte, Bassett, Merriman and Chadron followed in 1991. The entire Nebraska Public Radio Network (NPRN) was formally dedicated on October 8 in a special ceremony, broadcasted live on NPRN and NETV.

The Nebraska Educational Telecommunications Facilities Corporation was established to facilitate lease/purchase of the GTE SpaceNet 3 transponder.

Television stations

NET Television consists of nine full-power stations. Combined, they reach almost all of Nebraska, as well as parts of Iowa, Kansas and Wyoming. Eight of the stations are owned by the NETC. Flagship station KUON is owned by the University of Nebraska, but through a long-standing agreement is operated by the Commission.

Notes:

• 1. The Broadcasting and Cable Yearbook says KHNE-TV signed on November 17, while the Television and Cable Factbook says it signed on November 18.
• 2. KYNE occasionally breaks off from the NET Television state network to broadcast local programming. KYNE's programming became digital-only on February 17, 2009.^[1]

The state network also has 14 translators.

Cable and satellite availability

NET Television is available on nearly all cable systems in Nebraska. Additionally, Omaha's KYNE is carried on most cable systems in southwestern Iowa.

On satellite, KUON, KYNE, KPNE and KTNE are carried on the local Lincoln, Omaha, North Platte and Cheyenne, Wyoming Dish Network feeds, respectively. KTNE is the sole PBS station available to satellite viewers in the Cheyenne market. KUON and KYNE are available on the Lincoln and Omaha DirecTV feeds.

Radio stations

NET Radio is governed by the NET Commission and the NET Foundation for Radio Board. It consists of all NPR member stations in the state except for KIOS in Omaha; that station is operated by the Omaha Public Schools. Programming consists of classical music and NPR news and talk.

There are nine full-power stations in the state network:

The state network also has five low-power repeater signals.

Digital TV

The digital channels of NET's main stations are multiplexed (all times Central):

Digital channels

References

External links

• Nebraska Educational Telecommunications
• NET History
• NET Television
• NET Radio
• Query the FCC's TV station database for KUON
• Query the FCC's TV station database for KHNE
• Query the FCC's TV station database for KLNE
• Query the FCC's TV station database for KMNE
• Query the FCC's TV station database for KPNE
• Query the FCC's TV station database for KRNE
• Query the FCC's TV station database for KTNE
• Query the FCC's TV station database for KXNE
• Query the FCC's TV station database for KYNE
• BIAfn's Media Web Database -- Information on KUON-TV
• BIAfn's Media Web Database -- Information on KHNE-TV
• BIAfn's Media Web Database -- Information on KLNE-TV
• BIAfn's Media Web Database -- Information on KMNE-TV
• BIAfn's Media Web Database -- Information on KPNE-TV
• BIAfn's Media Web Database -- Information on KRNE-TV
• BIAfn's Media Web Database -- Information on KTNE-TV
• BIAfn's Media Web Database -- Information on KXNE-TV
• BIAfn's Media Web Database -- Information on KYNE-TV
• Listen Live