PBS

Streaming is important but complicated for PBS, according to Ira Rubenstein, chief digital and marketing officer for the public broadcasting network. “For the last eight years I’ve been at PBS, I’ve been very focused on broadening the distribution of our local stations to digital, and you have to do that at scale,” said Rubinstein, speaking at a session at NAB Show’s Capitalize Experimental Zone theater on Sunday.

DirecTV says the rollout of nearly 250 PBS member stations was completed nine months ahead of schedule.

Public TV broadcasters this week asked the FCC to give them more flexibility when it comes to offering their primary HD signal and multicast subchannels during broadcasters’ transition to NextGen TV (aka ATSC 3.0).

PBS today announced several new long-term initiatives to support diversity in public media. They include a commitment to create a pipeline of diverse documentary filmmakers and a pledge to include more diverse perspectives in key production roles. PBS also announced it will launch on the video-focused social media platform TikTok. PBS President-CEO Paula Kerger announced the initiatives Tuesday at the TCA Winter Press Tour.

The first group of public broadcasting stations to appear on DirecTV stream are being launched early this week by the virtual multichannel video programming distributor. DirecTV Stream and PBS reached a deal to stream PBS member stations in October.

TVNewsCheck‘s Michael Depp and LG Ads’ Justin Fromm discuss whether children’s specials like It’s the Great Pumpkin, Charlie Brown, which airs on PBS stations on Oct. 24, still have the power to draw audiences to linear TV in a streaming age.

Muhammad Ali called himself the greatest, and filmmaker Ken Burns, director of the upcoming PBS documentary series about the boxing champion, “global icon and inspiration,” is not one to disagree. The four-part, eight-hour series titled simply Muhammad Ali airs on consecutive nights on PBS beginning Sept. 19. (AP photo/John Rooney)

PBS on Tuesday introduced several new funding initiatives, revealed updated producing partner criteria and announced that it has hired an SVP of diversity, equity and inclusion.

Following a fan outcry over its untimely cancellation, Sanditon has been renewed for Seasons 2 and 3, PBS announced. The eight-part ITV series — based on Jane Austen’s final, unfinished novel — made its stateside debut on PBS in early 2020.

She succeeds Robert Costa at a program best known as the longtime home of the anchor Gwen Ifill.

PBS earned $27.2 million in net income for the first half of the fiscal year that ends in June, a figure that vastly exceeds what it had budgeted. PBS budgeted for $200,000 in net income by the end of December but earned $27 million more resulting from a pair of one-time gains, an increase in streaming and lower operating costs due to the coronavirus pandemic.

Public broadcasters are backing their commercial counterparts’ request that the FCC “clarify” or establish flexibility when it comes to multicast channels, both in ATSC 1.0 and using the new ATSC 3.0 broadcast transmission standard (branded NextGen TV).

The long run of A Charlie Brown Christmas on over-the-air TV will continue, at least for this year. Apple — which earlier this year snapped up the rights to the classic holiday special, along with other parts of the Peanuts catalog — has cut a deal with PBS under which A Charlie Brown Christmas and A Charlie Brown Thanksgiving will air on the public broadcaster. The deal ensures that viewers without access to Apple’s TV+ streaming platform can still see the two specials.

PBS has promoted programming executive Sylvia Bugg to chief programming executive and general manager of general audience programming. In her new position, Bugg will oversee all non-children’s content and lead programming strategy across all broadcast and digital platforms. She will also be responsible for the acquisition and development of programming for PBS and its member stations, “with a particular focus on sharing important stories that reflect the diversity of our country,” according to PBS.

It created the blueprint for what TV has become. And, while networks and streaming services reap the benefits of PBS’s successes, it is still struggling to survive.

Over the past five decades, we have invited Monty Python, Julia Child, Barney, William F. Buckley Jr. and Carl Sagan into our living rooms. Sound eclectic? It’s called the Public Broadcasting Service.

Should public TV stations that use a portion of their spectrum to provide noncommercial data services have to pay fees for that service? That question is before the FCC in a rulemaking proceeding, with groups including PBS, America’s Public Television Stations and the Public Media Venture Group arguing that the fees are hindering development of ATSC 3.0 “broadcast internet” datacasting.

PBS has announced that viewers are now able to live-stream their local PBS stations for free over internet connected devices. As of now, 85 stations can be live streamed, with more expected to become available in the future. Streaming will be available on major web browsers (Chrome, Firefox, Safari and Edge) as well as through the PBS Video Channel on Roku devices.

PBS shared its programming plans for the upcoming months as part of a virtual Television Critics Association presentation. Paula Kerger, PBS president and CEO, noted that PBS turns 50 in October. She called it a “wrenching time” in our nation. “We are committed to leveraging the unique strengths of public television to enable meaningful change,” Kerger said.