TV & VIDEO - March 5, 1990

Channel One Debuts: Channel One, a news show with advertisements aimed at teen-agers, debuts today in 400 schools across the country amid an uproar over whether the two minutes of commercials included in each 12-minute show corrupts the school day. Several national education groups are opposing Channel One and officials in California and New York have prohibited public schools in those states from carrying the program. In addition, North Carolina has asked a state court to enforce its board of education’s ban on the program. Channel One maintains that the commercials are essential because the $150,000 charge for each 30-second commercial pays for the $150 million in video equipment loaned to schools that show the program.