2020 Boards and Commissions

Nebraska Educational Telecommunications Commission

General Information

Formal Name:Nebraska Educational Telecommunications Commission
Contact Person:Mark Leonard, CEO and General Manager; 1800 N 33rd St. Lincoln NE 68503 402-472-9333
Purpose:The Nebraska Educational Telecommunications Commission was created to provide statewide non-commercial television and radio programming. The Commission currently holds the license for the nine transmitters and five translators that comprise the NET Radio network. It also holds the license for eight of the nine television transmitters and for the 15 translators that comprise the NET Television network.
How Many Affectable:All Nebraskans
How Many Served:All Nebraskans
Year Created:1963
Year Active:1963
Sunset Date:na

Authorization

Authorization Citation:Neb. Rev. Stat. 79-1313 to 79-1325
Parent Agency:na

Memberships and Meetings

Number Of Members:11
Who Appoints:Governor (9), plus President of Univ. of Neb. designee and Commissioner of Education designee
Legislative Approval:yes
Qualifications Of Members:Appointed members subject to legislative approval include: a Nebraska state college representative, a Nebraska community college representative, a Nebraska private educational institution representative, and two members of the public from each of the state's three congressional districts, none of whom may be associated with any of the institutions listed above.
Per Diem:no
Expense Reimbursement:yes
Term Length:4
Terms Rotate or Expire At Once:Terms Rotate

Meetings Required In:

Required FY 17-18:3
Held FY 17-18:3
Required FY 18-19:4
Held FY 18-19:4
Required FY 19-20:3
Held FY 19-20:3

Operations

Support Staff:yes
Shared or Separate:separate
FY 17-18 Budget:$10,231,432
FY 18-19 Budget:$10,305,156
FY 19-20 Budget:$10,451,206
Other Funding Sources:none
Spending Authority:yes

Accomplishments

Since July 1, 2016:NET, Nebraskas PBS & NPR Stations serve an audience across the state and beyond of more than a million people each month who listen, watch and visit netNebraska.org online. Working in partnership with national partners, emergency alerts are now available through mobile and digital platforms. In 2020, NPR announced a new Midwest news hub- NET would be one of four stations leading this effort. NETs initiative On the Road was created 5 years ago and is still ongoing, to listen to the communities we serve across to the state. Information is used to inform our content and reflect the needs and aspirations of Nebraskans. The NET PBS KIDS 247 channel launched in 2018, Adding to the NET channel, which airs 13 hours of educational programs weekdays for children. Our educational web site NebraskaStudies.org was created to serve teachers and students with social studies and history content more than fifteen years ago. This site was completely updated and re-launched in 2018 with a powerful search feature, refreshed functionality and additional content to include Spanish translations. NET is a leader in producing content for immersive experiences using VR (virtual reality), AR (Augmented reality), and 360-degree video.