A study examined the effectiveness of the Children's Television Act of 1990 in altering the marketplace for informational and educational children's programming on commercial broadcast television. Producers and distributors of nationally available series that commercial broadcasters were using in 1993 to meet the requirements of the Act were interviewed. Executives at all networks were also interviewed. The programs' budget, promotion, scheduling and success in the marketplace were considered. Results indicated that the law motivated broadcasters to use programming, but that broadcasters rarely made an effort to give the programs appropriate time slots or promotion. Many programs were low-budget; two that involved serious research received government funding for that research. Findings suggest that the legislation did result in marketplace changes, but that more explicit regulations and more government investment would be needed for quality educational and informational programming to be produced, scheduled appropriately, and promoted adequately to reach target audiences. (Contains 36 references and 2 notes.) (RS)