53B-17-104 - Responsibilities of KUED - TV, KUER - FM, and UEN related to public broadcasting and telecommunication for education and government.
53B-17-104. Responsibilities of KUED - TV, KUER - FM, and UEN related topublic broadcasting and telecommunication for education and government.
(1) Subject to applicable rules of the Federal Communications Commission and Section53B-17-102, the State Board of Regents, the State Board of Education, and the University ofUtah, KUED - TV, KUER - FM, and UEN shall:
(a) coordinate statewide services of public radio and television;
(b) develop, maintain, and operate statewide distribution systems for KUED - TV,KUER - FM, and KUEN, the statewide distance learning service, the educational data network,connections to the Internet, and other telecommunications services appropriate for providingvideo, audio, and data telecommunication services in support of public and higher education,state government, and public libraries;
(c) support the delivery of these services to as many communities as may beeconomically and technically feasible and lawfully permissible under the various operatinglicenses;
(d) cooperate with state and local governmental and educational agencies and provideleadership and consulting service for telecommunication for education;
(e) represent the state with privately owned telecommunications systems to gain accessto their networks for the delivery of programs and services sponsored or produced by public andhigher education;
(f) acquire, produce, coordinate, and distribute a variety of programs and services of aneducational, cultural, informative, and entertaining nature designed to promote the public interestand welfare of the state;
(g) coordinate with the state system of higher education to acquire, produce, anddistribute broadcast and nonbroadcast college credit telecourses, teleconferences, and otherinstructional and training services;
(h) coordinate with the State Board of Education and school districts to acquire, produce,and distribute broadcast and nonbroadcast telecourses, teleconferences, and other instructionaland training services to the public schools;
(i) act as a clearing house for the materials, courses, publications, media, software, andother applicable information related to the items addressed in Subsections (1)(g) and (h);
(j) coordinate with the State Board of Education to assist in providing the public schoolsof Utah with the following services:
(i) broadcast, during school hours, of educational and administrative programsrecommended by the State Board of Education;
(ii) duplication and encoding of program masters for broadcast purposes; and
(iii) program previewing;
(k) share responsibility with the State Board of Education for Instructional Television(ITV) awareness and utilization; and
(l) provide teleconference and training services for state and local governmentalagencies.
(2) UEN shall:
(a) consult with the UEN steering committee authorized in Section 53B-17-102 and othertechnology coordinating committees established by the State Board of Education and State Boardof Regents in acquiring, producing, and distributing instructional content;
(b) coordinate the statewide development and implementation of the data network for
education, which shall include video and audio, data connections, and connection to the Internet,utilizing satellite, microwave, fiber-optic, and other transmission media;
(c) utilize statewide economic development criteria in the design and implementation ofthe educational telecommunications infrastructure;
(d) assure that public service entities such as educators, public service providers, andpublic broadcasters are provided access to the telecommunications infrastructures that aredeveloped in the state.
(3) If the network operated by the Department of Technology Services is not available,UEN may provide network connections to the central administration of counties andmunicipalities for the sole purpose of transferring data to a secure facility for backup and disasterrecovery.
(4) This section neither regulates nor restricts a privately owned company in thedistribution or dissemination of education programs.
Amended by Chapter 290, 2009 General Session