CHAPTER 13.  LOUISIANA EDUCATIONAL

TELEVISION AUTHORITY

§2501.  Statement of purpose

A.  In order to promote the use of educational and public television and radio in the state of Louisiana to further the education and cultural enrichment of its citizens, it is hereby declared to be in the public interest that the Louisiana Educational Television Authority be created within the executive department of the state government.

B.  The Authority is created for the purpose of making the benefits of educational and public television and radio available to and promoting their use by inhabitants of Louisiana, and to this end it is hereby empowered and directed to survey, study and appraise the need for an overall plan for the use of television and radio facilities available for noncommercial educational and public use in the state.  The Authority is empowered to act as the official agency of the state to be the licensee of the stations or channels needed to implement the purposes of this Chapter, except that it shall not be the licensee of any presently existing noncommercial educational public television and radio stations within the State of Louisiana.  The Authority is specifically charged to cooperate with all presently existing noncommercial educational public television and radio stations within the State of Louisiana and with the duty of controlling and supervising the use of all other channels and frequencies reserved by the Federal Communications Commission to Louisiana for noncommercial, educational public use.

C.  The authority shall have as a special mission the preservation and utilization of the French language and the promotion and development of Louisiana's French culture and heritage.  To that end, the authority shall air programs in the French language and shall offer programs in the French language to the same extent as other minority programming is broadcast.

D.  The other purposes of the Authority are:

(1)  To lease, purchase, construct, own, operate, manage, and be the licensee of educational and public television and radio stations, production centers, and all other related equipment and facilities for the production and/or transmission of open circuit, closed circuit, and any other transmission means necessary to provide complete network coverage of educational and public television and radio in the state of Louisiana.

(2)  To cooperate with all licensed educational and public television and radio stations and networks, and to cooperate with any other nonprofit corporations which are organized for the purpose of operating public television and radio stations.

(3)  To acquire or assist in the acquisition of land and the planning, construction, and development of the facilities for educational and public television and radio in the state of Louisiana.

Acts 1971, No. 13, §2; Acts 1989, No. 540, §1.