PBS

The Ken Burns/Lynn Novick documentary premiere also garners more than 2 million streams across PBS Digital Platforms, making it the highest-streamed series premiere in PBS history.

Even in a fractious era, the filmmaker still believes that his documentaries can bring every viewer in. “Documentaries are traditionally advocacy,” Burns says. He sees his films as acts of “emotional archeology” that aspire to be art. When Paula Kerger, PBS’s president, recently introduced Burns in Los Angeles, she quoted a tweet that described him as “the Marvel Studios of PBS.”

“PBS itself will not go away, but a number of our stations will,” says PBS President Paula Kerger, cautioning the press about what’s on the line if federal funding is truly yanked. “There Isn’t a Plan B.”

Carlos Watson, Emmy Award-winning journalist and editor in chief of Ozy.com, will host a new, primetime, cross-platform debate program on PBS, Third Rail with OZY. The seven-part series will broadcast and stream […]

The $30 million in the White House’s proposed 2018 budget for CPB is intended for “an orderly closeout of federal funding.” The draft, which requires congressional approval, would also zero out public broadcasting’s interconnection update program in FY18, as well as the public TV early literacy initiative Ready To Learn.

Wild Alaska Live will air over three nights on PBS on July 23, 26 and 30. Cameras placed in the Tongass National Forest, the Kenai Fjords National Park, in Hallo Bay and other locations will hunt for wildlife as the show discusses how the state’s human population interacts with nature.

Vermont PBS is awaiting the fate of its state support after legislators in the House recently reduced its budget line item from $271,000 to $1.

Public television’s spring fundraising rolled out in a heated high-stakes environment for clearly communicating the case for viewer and public support of local stations. Beyond standard pitches for pledge shows, on-air fundraisers had to manage reactions to President Trump’s proposal to zero out CPB funding. In some cases they were called upon to explain why an infusion of spectrum auction cash won’t eliminate the need for local or federal financial support.

At a time when many public broadcasters are being told to reduce their dependence on public money and find new forms of revenue through new subscriptions and grants, Maryland Public Television could be getting more money from the state of Maryland under a pending bill.

The red-carpet event will take place May 20 in New York. A joint broadcast of that program is scheduled to air June 2. The collaboration marks the first time the awards ceremony will be telecast on both national broadcast and cable television.

The PBS documentarian announced Tuesday that he and two partners will make a two-part, four-hour film about the former heavyweight champ, who died last June.

The media landscape has changed since the Corporation for Public Broadcasting was chartered, says board member Howard Husock, who claims public media has outlived its original mission.

The Media Institute’s Patrick Maines: “PBS and NPR are again the subject of a contentious debate about their taxpayer funding. For years, Republicans and conservatives have accused NPR and PBS of ideological and political bias. Defenders of public broadcasting are on firmer ground when they extol the virtues of the cultural and educational programming found on NPR and PBS. Perhaps Congress would consider legislation that eliminates government support of public broadcasting’s news and public affairs programming, but preserves its support for cultural and educational programs.”

President Trump’s 2018 budget proposal makes him the second president to try to kill funding for the Corporation for Public Broadcasting and the first to target the National Endowment for the Arts and the National Endowment for the Humanities as well. It comes as the Public Broadcasting Act celebrates its 50th anniversary.

NEW YORK (AP) — Folks on Sesame Street have a way of making everyone feel accepted. That certainly goes for Julia, a Muppet youngster with blazing red hair, bright green […]

Cutting off federal money for the Corporation for Public Broadcasting could devastate stations in smaller markets that already have tight budgets.

People in public broadcasting expect President Trump to propose “zeroing out” the government’s subsidy of noncommercial radio and TV stations when he presents his first federal budget to Congress this week. Such a proposal would eliminate the $445 million that Congress now sends to CPB, the private entity that passes the money to nearly 1,500 stations affiliated with NPR, PBS and other public media sources.

Current’s latest overview on upcoming public television productions looks ahead at the river of content from PBS signature series, independent producers, minority consortia and public TV stations.

One of three anchors on CBS This Morning, Rose had a heart valve replaced on Feb. 9. His return next Monday was announced on the show today. He will resume work on his PBS interview show a few days later.