Cable in the Classroom was an American division of the

National Cable & Telecommunications Association NCTA, formerly known as the National Cable & Telecommunications Association (NCTA), is a trade association representing the Internet in the United States, broadband and Cable television in the United States, cable television industries in the U ...

that assisted the

cable television Cable television is a system of delivering television programming to consumers via radio frequency (RF) signals transmitted through coaxial cables, or in more recent systems, light pulses through fibre-optic cables. This contrasts with bro ...

industry in providing educational content to schools. The organization was founded in 1989. A

Canadian Canadians () are people identified with the country of Canada. This connection may be residential, legal, historical or cultural. For most Canadians, many (or all) of these connections exist and are collectively the source of their being ''C ...

organization, also called "Cable in the Classroom" (in Quebec, "" in French), was founded in 1995, and held the same scope as the US organization. Cable channels broadcast

educational television Educational television or learning television is the use of television programs in the field of distance education. It may be in the form of individual television programs or dedicated specialty channels that are often associated with cable televi ...

programs at specific times (usually early in the morning) commercial-free and notified Cable in the Classroom as to when the shows would air, which maintained a master list for educators to reference. This way, educators were able to record the programs for free and use them in school as learning tools for children.

Copyright A copyright is a type of intellectual property that gives its owner the exclusive legal right to copy, distribute, adapt, display, and perform a creative work, usually for a limited time. The creative work may be in a literary, artistic, ...

s were cleared so that educators could use the content of the listed programs as they wished for their syllabus and learning plans. Over the years however, many networks discontinued promoting Cable in the Classroom or stopped using their programming for the organization's purposes, focusing more to

direct marketing Direct marketing is a form of communicating an offer, where organizations communicate directly to a Target market, pre-selected customer and supply a method for a direct response. Among practitioners, it is also known as ''direct response ...

of their educational television programming to teachers and school districts through their

home video Home video is recorded media sold or Video rental shop, rented for home viewing. The term originates from the VHS and Betamax era, when the predominant medium was videotapes, but has carried over to optical disc formats such as DVD and Blu-ray. ...

departments, their

internet The Internet (or internet) is the Global network, global system of interconnected computer networks that uses the Internet protocol suite (TCP/IP) to communicate between networks and devices. It is a internetworking, network of networks ...

sites, or in the cases of networks such as

ABC Family American cable television, cable and satellite television network Freeform (TV channel), Freeform was originally launched as the CBN Satellite Service on April 29, 1977, and has gone through four different owners and six different name changes dur ...

Disney Channel Disney Channel is an American pay television television channel, channel that serves as the flagship (broadcasting), flagship property of Disney Branded Television, a unit of the Disney Entertainment business segment of the Walt Disney Company ...

and

Cartoon Network Cartoon Network (CN) is an American cable television television channel, channel and the flagship property of the Cartoon Network, Inc., a sub-division of the Warner Bros. Discovery Networks division of Warner Bros. Discovery. It launched on ...

, removing their involvement altogether, commensurate with the internet ending other cable services tied to traditional scheduling such as "near

video on demand Video on demand (VOD) is a media distribution system that allows users to access videos, television shows and films Digital distribution, digitally on request. These multimedia are accessed without a traditional video playback device and a typica ...

". Another factor was likely the decline in

VHS VHS (Video Home System) is a discontinued standard for consumer-level analog video recording on tape cassettes, introduced in 1976 by JVC. It was the dominant home video format throughout the tape media period of the 1980s and 1990s. Ma ...

recorders, as DVRs with non-portable storage became the recording format of choice over

DVD recorder A DVD recorder is an optical disc recorder that uses optical disc recording technologies to digital recording, digitally record analog signal, analog or Digital signal (signal processing), digital signals onto blank writable DVD recordable, D ...

s, the equivalent successor to VCRs.

Streaming video Video on demand (VOD) is a media distribution system that allows users to access videos, television shows and films digitally on request. These multimedia are accessed without a traditional video playback device and a typical static broadcasting ...

also played a factor in the decline of Cable in the Classroom, as educators can now access and play content at any time through computers connected to in-classroom televisions, interactive smartboards, and

video projector A video projector is an image projector that receives a video signal and projects the corresponding image onto a projection screen using a lens system. Video projectors use a very bright ultra-high-performance lamp (a special mercury arc l ...

s, rather than on a set schedule requiring pre-recording of content. In 2014, Cable in the Classroom was entirely discontinued in the United States with '' CNN Student News'' being the last program left under the effort, and the NCTA redirected the former Cable in the Classroom portal to promote their "Cable Impacts Foundation"

charity Charity may refer to: Common meanings * Charitable organization or charity, a non-profit organization whose primary objectives are philanthropy and social well-being of persons * Charity (practice), the practice of being benevolent, giving and sha ...

arm instead. The Canadian effort ended as vertically integrated cable and satellite providers purchased networks and campaigned successfully for the CRTC to relax

Canadian content Canadian content (abbreviated CanCon, cancon or can-con; ) refers to the Canadian Radio-television and Telecommunications Commission (CRTC) requirements, derived from the Broadcasting Act of Canada, that radio and television broadcasters (inclu ...

restrictions that defined them to schedule programming in a certain manner, including educational programming.

Programs

:''The following is a list of programs used for "Cable in the Classroom"'' *''A&E Classroom'' - A&E *'' A Little Curious'' - HBO Family *''Al Roker Investigates'' -

truTV TruTV (stylized as truTV) is an American basic cable Television channel, channel owned by Warner Bros. Discovery. The channel primarily broadcasts reruns of Television comedy, comedy, Reality television, docusoaps and reality shows, with a rec ...

*''

Baby Einstein Baby Einstein, stylized as baby einstein, is an American franchise and line of multimedia products, including home video programs, CDs, books, flash cards, toys, and baby gear that specialize in interactive activities for infants and toddle ...

'' - Veoh Network *'' CNN Student News'' - HLN *''Classroom Discovery'' -

Discovery Channel Discovery Channel, known as The Discovery Channel from 1985 to 1995, and often referred to as simply Discovery, is an American cable channel that is best known for its ongoing reality television shows and promotion of pseudoscience. It init ...

*'' Crashbox'' - HBO Family *'' Dora the Explorer'' -

Nickelodeon Nickelodeon (nicknamed Nick) is an American pay television channel and the flagship property of the Nickelodeon Group, a sub-division of the Paramount Media Networks division of Paramount Global. Launched on April 1, 1979, as the first ca ...

*''History Channel Classroom'' -

History History is the systematic study of the past, focusing primarily on the Human history, human past. As an academic discipline, it analyses and interprets evidence to construct narratives about what happened and explain why it happened. Some t ...

**''El canal de la historia'' (

Spanish Spanish might refer to: * Items from or related to Spain: **Spaniards are a nation and ethnic group indigenous to Spain **Spanish language, spoken in Spain and many countries in the Americas **Spanish cuisine **Spanish history **Spanish culture ...

-dubbed programs) **''Chaîne historique'' ( French-dubbed programs, Quebec only) *'' How It's Made'' -

Science Channel Science Channel (often simply branded as Science; abbreviated to SCI) is an American pay television channel owned by Warner Bros. Discovery. The channel features programming focusing on science related to wilderness survival, engineering, manu ...

*''

Jep! ''Jep!'' is an American children's television game show, adapted from the quiz show ''Jeopardy!'' It aired first on Game Show Network throughout the 1998–99 season, and then on Discovery Kids through late 2004. It was hosted by voice actor Bob ...

'' -

Game Show Network Game Show Network (GSN) is an American basic cable channel owned by the television network division of Sony Pictures Television. The channel's programming is primarily dedicated to game shows, including reruns of acquired game shows, along wit ...

*'' Kids' Court'' -

*'' Let's Just Play Go Healthy Challenge'' -

*''

Little Einsteins ''Little Einsteins'' is an American Animated series, animated children's television series developed by Douglas Wood (writer), Douglas Wood and based on the Baby Einstein line of videos. Produced by The Baby Einstein Company (at the time owned ...

'' -

*''

MTV News MTV News was the news production division of MTV. The service was available in the US with localized versions on MTV's global network and an online news team. In 2016, MTV refreshed the MTV News brand to compete with the likes of BuzzFeed and ...

'' specials and documentaries -

MTV MTV (an initialism of Music Television) is an American cable television television channel, channel and the flagship property of the MTV Entertainment Group sub-division of the Paramount Media Networks division of Paramount Global. Launched on ...

*'' Mr. Wizard's World'' -

*'' Nick News'' -

*'' Nickelodeon Launch Box'' -

*''Rock N Learn'' - Veoh Network *'' Special Agent Oso'' -

*'' The Weather Classroom'' -

The Weather Channel The Weather Channel (TWC) is an American pay television television channel, channel owned by Weather Group, LLC, a subsidiary of Allen Media Group. The channel's headquarters are located in Atlanta, Georgia. Launched on May 2, 1982, the channel ...

* Certain episodes of ''

The Twilight Zone ''The Twilight Zone'' is an American media franchise based on the anthology series, anthology television series created by Rod Serling in which characters find themselves dealing with often disturbing or unusual events, an experience described ...

'' – Syfy *''

Wheel 2000 ''Wheel 2000'' (also known as ''Wheel of Fortune 2000'') is a children's version of the American game show '' Wheel of Fortune,'' produced by Scott Sternberg Productions and Columbia TriStar Television (and the last version of ''Wheel'' of any so ...

'' -

*'' You're on Nickelodeon, Charlie Brown'' ('' This Is America, Charlie Brown'' only) -

*''Zap!'' -

Programs

See also