Investigating the costs of instructional media systems necessitated that those systems be identified and analyzed, and that a methodology be formulated for estimating their costs, with reference to their area of operation: local, city, metropolitan, state, or regional school areas. Costs are broken down into cost per student per year, according to production costs, distribution costs, reception costs, and total cost for each instructional medium examined. These media are: airborne television, Instructional Television Fixed Service, satellite television, UHF (ultra high frequency) television, closed-circuit television, videtape recordings, film, radio, language laboratories, and dial access systems. A distinction is made between capital and operating costs, and a further breakdown of costs lists them according to whether the media are high quality, minimal, or derive from a national programing source. A significant pattern emerges: cost per student dips sharply as the area widens and the number of students increases for all media (videotape recording costs are in any case prohibitive). This pattern is a key factor in the recommendations for cost savings which postulate widespread use of media, improvement of production quality by the use of improved technology, reorganization of educational systems in terms of the new technology. (GO)