Arkansas Educational Television Network

Arkansas Educational Television Network (or AETN) is a state network of simulcast non-commercial educational public television station covering the state of Arkansas. Affiliated with Public Broadcasting Service (PBS), the sate newnetwork is operated by the Arkansas Educational Television Commission, an agency of the Arkansas state government that holds the broadcast licenses for all the AETN Transmitters in the state. Located adjacent the University of Central Arkansas in Conway, AETN broadcasts from the R. Lee Reaves Center for Educational Telecommunications via AETN's thirteen-site microwave interconnection relay system around the state, which cover most of Arkansas, as well as parts of all surrounding states.

Approximately two-thirds of AETN's funding comes from state tax dollars to support the broadcast infrastructure and all services that are provided for educators and schools. More than ten-percent comes from the Federal government as a partial match of what is raised locally. Almost twenty-percent comes from voluntary contributions from individual viewers and businesses.

History
AETN was created as the Arkansas Educational Television Commission in 1961, following a two-year legislative study to assess the state's need for educational television. KETS channel 2 in Little Rock, the flagship station, signed on in 1966 as the nation's 124th educational television station. In the early years, KETS was associated with National Educational Television, the forerunner of the current PBS. The early days saw black-and-white broadcasting only, with color capabilities beginning in 1972. Limited hours of operation in the early years focused primarily on instructional programming for use in Arkansas classrooms. Over the next fifteen years, four additional analog transmitters were added to expand coverage to virtually the entire state. Hours of operation gradually became 24 hours-a-day, seven days-a-week as general audience programming was added during the evenings and on weekends. These five analog transmitters were eventually replaced with six digital transmitters by mid-2009 as part of the national digital transition.

During the 1960s, 1970s and 1980s, AETN became an educational resource for public school and college educators through the use of instructional videos with teacher guides and supplements for grade school classrooms, college telecourses, and GED education for adults. During the mid-1990s, AETN began providing distance learning via broadcast, satellite, the Internet and compressed video to provide educational professional development as well as access for students to a wide variety of educational courses for classroom use.

AETN began creating local programming in the late 1960s and still annually produces more than 100 hours of full-length, educational and cultural programming specifically about Arkansas.

Stations

Station	City of license	Channels (Digital)	VC1	First air date	ERP	Future ERP	HAAT	Facility ID	Transmitter Coordinates
KAFT	Fayetteville	9 (VHF)	13	September 18, 1976	37.9 kW	n/a	501.1 m	2767	35°48′53″N 94°1′41.5″W
KEMV	Mountain View	13 (VHF)	6	November 13, 19802	12.1 kW	n/a	407.2 m	2777	35°48′47.1″N 92°17′24.2″W
KETG	Arkadelphia	13 (VHF)	9	October 2, 1976	13.85 kW	n/a	319.5 m	2768	33°54′26.6″N 93°6′46.5″W
KETS	Little Rock	7 (VHF)	2	December 4, 1966	26.73 kW	n/a	547m	2770	34°26′31.1″N 92°13′3.8″W
KTEJ	Jonesboro	20 (UHF)	19	May 1, 1976	50 kW	322.9 kW	310.2 m	2769	35°54′11.8″N 90°46′14″W
KETZ	El Dorado	10 (VHF)	12	May 20, 2006	16.2 kW	n/a	538 m	92872	33°4′41.7″N 92°13′31″W

Digital transition
During 2009, leading up to the analog shutdown that would ultimately come on June 12, AETN closed down its analog transmitters on a staggered basis. The dates below show the final shutdown dates for AETN's analog channels.[1]
January 25, 2009: KETS
February 17, 2009: KTEJ
June 12, 2009: KEMV, KAFT and KETG

KETZ signed on in 2006 as a digital-only station, though that station also had to endure a temporary shutdown in early 2009 in final preparation for the transition.

Digital Channels
AETN offers the following sub-channels:ac