Instructional television


Instructional television is the use of television programs in the field of distance education. Educational television programs on instructional television may be less than one half hour long to help their integration into the classroom setting. These shows are often accompanied by teachers' guides that include material to help use this program in lessons. Instructional television programs have historically been shown during the daytime on Public Broadcasting Service stations in the United States. However, fewer public television stations devote their airtime to ITV today than they do in the past; these days, ITV programs are either seen on a digital subchannel of non-commercial educational public television station, or passed on to a local educational-access television channel run by a public, educational, and government access cable TV organization.
Instructional television has been granted 20 microwave channels, administered by local educational institutions, through a service known in the US as ITFS, or Instructional Television Fixed Service. Instructional television may also be programmed on terrestrial television stations.