APPROVAL IN SIGHT ON EDUCATIONAL KIDS' TV.

Byline: Keith Marder Daily News Television Writer

Television broadcasters will be required to show three hours a week of educational children's programming to retain their licenses if an agreement between the TV industry and the Clinton administration is approved Thursday.

The accord announced Monday specifies only that the programming must be aired between 7 a.m. and 10 p.m. Reed Hundt, chairman of the Federal Communications Commission, said the agreement is highly likely to be approved by a majority, if not all, of the commission's members.

President Clinton said: ``Now we have the opportunity to use the airwaves for something positive - educational programming as great as our kids. Television can be a strong and positive force. It can help children to learn. It can reinforce, rather than undermine, the values we work so hard to teach our children.''

The original draft included the establishment of control boards at the state and local levels to judge whether programming met the criteria, but the final draft leaves it to broadcasters to make that judgment, said Dennis Wharton, vice president of media relations for the National Association of Broadcasters.

While debate over what should be classified as educational and what hours the programs should air threatened to hold up the agreement, insiders said the final wording still was negotiated in less than a week. Broadcast stations pushed for and won a concession to count educational specials in the three-hour minimum.

``The new rule brings a whole new day for a whole new deal between broadcasters and the American public,'' Hundt said in a prepared statement. ``I am also pleased to report that the details, legal reasoning, and fact-finding of the FCC's decision are also on the verge of being completely resolved among a majority, and perhaps all, of the FCC commissioners. I see no reason why we can't vote this new rule into effect at our open meeting on Aug. 1.''

Stations that do not meet the three-hour requirement may appeal to keep their licenses by performing other acts promoting education, such as donating computers to schools.

Children's advocates praised the agreement.

``This was a tremendous deal,'' said Jeffrey Chester, executive director of the Center for Media Education, an advocacy group focusing on issues involving children and television. He said three hours a week is not much time, but his side got everything it wanted from the negotiations.

``They closed the loopholes,'' Chester said. ``No question (broadcasters) are going to do their best to wriggle out of this, but we're not going to let them. This is tougher to wriggle out of.''

GOP presidential contender Bob Dole was skeptical that the plan would make any difference to TV viewers.

``Frankly, Bill Clinton's role in this makes the entire agreement suspect,'' said Dole spokesman Nelson Warfield. ``Bill Clinton, after all, has pocketed over $454,000 in campaign contributions from the entertainment industry. And, it's doubtful he'd do anything to risk losing his commercial sponsors.''

Martin Franks, senior vice president of government affairs at CBS, said the network already had plans for three hours of educational programming in the fall. Ellen Levy-Sarnoff, vice president of UPN Kids, said she has been looking at educational programming for the past year, knowing this day was coming. So far, she said, most of the interest has come from teachers and puppeteers - not big-time producers.

``Unfortunately,'' she said, ``I think it's going to be low-budget shows.''

She said UPN's goal will be to entertain while teaching. PBS has proved this possible with shows such as ``Wishbone'' and ``Bill Nye the Science Guy.''

``I have mixed feelings for television being a scapegoat for schools and for parents,'' Levy-Sarnoff said. ``I personally don't think it's the role of television to teach children values. I don't know what will be considered FCC-friendly and educational until it's delineated what the criteria are. I hear the word curriculum-based shows.''

Levy-Sarnoff's boss, UPN President/CEO Lucie Salhany, was far more critical of the political nature of the deal.

``Who should be wasting the time looking at broadcasting and television and say here are the problems?'' she asked. ``We have a lot of problems. I don't understand we have guns on the street and we can't have a law to get them off. That isn't being dealt with and three hours of educational programming is. We have drugs on our streets. I'm a little frustrated by this. I think, as I've talked about the V-chip (to block out violent programming on TV sets), I'm not sure whether it isn't more political than trying to add something. I think it's a 30-second sound bite.''