With the proliferation of digital broadcast channels, things are looking up for distributors of FCC-friendly children's educational or instructional (E/I) programming.

"There has been a big call for E/I shows we didn't expect," said Hal Pontious, president of Chicago-based Showplace Television Syndication. In the last three months, demand for Showplace's Aqua Kids, a 7-year-old show with an environmental focus, has increased by 25 percent, he said.

"It's always been a really hard push to get 70 or 80 percent of the country," Pontious said. "Now suddenly there is a much larger demand for our products."

After a long battle with broadcasters, the FCC during the Clinton years mandated that every TV station air at least three hours of E/I programming each week. The broadcast networks relieved most stations of the chore by supplying such programming.

In 2006, the FCC extended the three-hour E/I obligation to any new digital channels offered by stations, regardless of format, but granted stations some flexibility in meeting it.

A station could repeat some of the E/I programming on more than one channel and, more important, it could shift all or part of the three-hour obligation from one channel to another.

As stations have approached the Feb. 17, 2009, deadline for shifting from analog to all-digital broadcasting, an increasing number have begun airing one or more digital channels and, incidentally, increasing their E/I obligations.

And that has meant more business for producers and distributors of E/I programming. They are supplying it to networks like MGM's This TV that are seeking carriage of digital channels as well as directly to broadcasters that have created their own channels.

The E/I business has also been buoyed by news that Fox is dropping its four-hour children's block on Saturday mornings and returning two hours to its affiliates. The move leaves every Fox affiliate a half-hour short of the required three hours of E/I programming. (Most of the Fox kids block was not intended to meet the E/I obligation.)

"We had heard some rumors that [the Fox exit] was going to happen and quickly sent out brochures to all their affiliates," said Cassie Yde, president of Television Syndication Co. "This is my 15 minutes."

Broadcasters, of course, are not nearly as enthusiastic about the kids TV rules, especially when it means scheduling E/I programming on channels that otherwise have no appeal to children.

Take, for example, Meredith Broadcasting's all-weather digital channels in Phoenix and Las Vegas. 

Although created to warn watchers of sandstorms and heat waves around Las Vegas, KVVU's weather channel airs six half-hour children's shows from 7 to 10 a.m. every Saturday to appease the FCC. KPHO Phoenix's weather channel, meanwhile, airs six back-to-back episodes of Gina D's Kids Club from 4 to 7 p.m. on Sundays.

Doug Lowe, Meredith Broadcasting's executive vice president, said that while he doesn't dispute the merits of E/I programs, requiring it on channels designed for other purposes does not make sense for viewers.

"They don't want to see prairies or African antelope running around," he said. "They want to see the weather."

Just how — and how much — stations themselves must grapple with filling the E/I requirements depends largely on whether they are creating their own channels or whether the networks they pick up come with built-in E/I content.

Meredith, for example, relies on Telemundo to fill the E/I requirement on its channels, but must be responsible for finding its own E/I content for channels airing My Network TV, Lowe said.

The ABC O&Os are taking advantage of the flexibility of the rules.

Rather than offer three hours of E/I programs on both its news and weather digital channels, ABC is putting all six of those hours on its news channels and spreading them around, said spokeswoman Julie Hoover.

That means shows like Jack Hanna's Animal Adventures, Where on Earth is Carmen Sandiego? and Teen Kids News pop up on the news channel at various times — Saturday or Sunday mornings and weekday afternoons included — depending on the market, Hoover said.

Cookie Jar Entertainment is providing all the E/I programming for This TV, the MGM-owned digital network. One of the largest distributors of children's programs, including Caillou and Inspector Gadget, Cookie Jar also provides some E/I programming to PBS and CW4Kids.

 "We expect to see a continued demand for this type of programming," said Angela Rodgers, Cookie Jar's entertainment executive director, U.S. syndication and TV sales.

While distributors say the digital phenomenon may generate new programming, it is already breathing life into old favorites.

Tom Warner, Litton Entertainment's VP, regional sales, said there's currently a surge in interest for Jack Hanna's Animal Adventures, even though the show is 18 years old.

Stations that have long carried the show are asking for second runs for their digital substations, Warner said, noting that E/I | More …