How programming gets on the network

NOTE: The lease for the satellite system will expire June 30, 2006. IHETS will not support the system after that time and is offering a new service, IHETS Interactive, to replace it. This information is provided for historical purposes only. No new programming will be accepted.

Programming on IHETS Television consists of credit courses and noncredit continuing education material transmitted by IHETS member colleges and universities to a variety of designated receiving locations.

Most of the programming has been produced by one of the eight originating campuses; these programs are usually copyrighted by the sponsoring institution or organization. Other programs may be videotaped material leased from an outside producer; in these cases, the institution has leased the right to use this material in limited ways. In still other instances, the programming may be a live program down-linked from a satellite transmission for which the sponsoring institution and/ or receiving locations must pay a participation fee.

In all cases, viewing of the programming is permitted only by authorized receiving locations. Unauthorized viewing violates IHETS policy and U.S. copyright law. If personnel at a receive site learn of a program being offered that they would like to receive, they must obtain permission to view from the originating campus.

IHETS TV is scheduled by a committee of representatives of the member institutions. Each fall, originating campuses submit requests for time on the network for the next academic school year. In other words, in the fall, the network is scheduled for the following fall and for the spring and summer of the next year. These requests indicate the desired days and times. Requests received by the November 1 deadline are entered into a “pencil schedule,” which forms the working document for scheduling.

The scheduling subcommittee meets to resolve conflicts in the requests (i.e., 10 programs are requested for the same period on the six channels available, four channels as of June 2000). The resulting schedule becomes the base schedule for that scheduling period. Any requests received following the deadline are then added to the base schedule on a first-come basis, as time is available.