Responsible educators oppose Channel One's imposition of commercials during class time. Groups on record against Channel One include the National Education Association, the National Association of Secondary School Principals, the American Association of School Administrators, the American Federation of Teachers, the National PTA, the National Association of State Boards of Education, the National Council for the Social Studies, and the National Council of Teachers of English. Consumers Union is also a leader in the fight to protect the classroom. In the course of a school year, students spend the equivalent of six school days watching Channel One. The instructional time lost to the ads alone equals one entire school day per year.
Payment is the captive student audience, which costs taxpayers money.
Prior to acquiring Channel One, neither Primedia nor KKR were in the daily news-gathering business. Yet Channel One promotes itself as the primary news delivery system for school-age Americans. Teachers cannot control the viewing of Channel One. Schools that contract with Channel One must regularly show the entire program. Channel One effectively diverts revenues from local broadcasters.