Two types of grants will be awarded under this year's competition. First, applicants may apply for a general programming grant (84.286A). Under a general programming grant, applicants must use the public broadcasting infrastructure, the Internet, and school digital networks to train teachers to use material and learning technologies that will help students with challenging State academic content and to achieve high academic standards. Furthermore, the project must be conducted in cooperation with the appropriate State educational agencies (SEA), local educational agencies (LEA), and State or local nonprofit public telecommunications entities and endure that a significant portion of funding will be made available to LEA schools that have a high percentage of students under Title I.

Second, applicants may apply for a digital educational programming grant (84.286B). Such applications must include student assessment tools that measure student achievement; include built-in teacher utilization and support components that will ensure that teachers can use the content with group instruction or for individual use; be created for or adaptable to challenging academic content standards; and be capable of being distributed through digital broadcasting and school digital networks.

The authorizing statute permits grants of two types: general telecommunications grants and digital educational programming grants. The law also specifies the specific requirements governing the two types of grants. Under the general telecommunications authority, grants are awarded for five years with no matching requirement. Under the digital educational programming authority, grants are awarded for three years and a 100% match is required.