Since its premiere on PBS KIDS in 1983, READING RAINBOW has helped children build lasting relationships with books at home and in the classroom. As broadcast rights are set to expire, PBS will no longer feed READING RAINBOW after August 28, 2009, and all broadcast rights will discontinue after that date.
Production ended on READING RAINBOW several years ago and viewership for the show has declined dramatically. Nationally-recognized stories authored by children will be available online between August and December 2009, at which point the READING RAINBOW Web site on pbskids.org will end. The Reading Rainbow Young Writers and Illustrators Contest was just completed with 96 stations participating in local judging and recognition ceremonies.
Still available for the classroom, off-air educational rights remain in effect for a year following the last broadcast of each episode. PBS and member station WNED, producer of READING RAINBOW, are discussing plans to continue the contest on a
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