PBS

PBS has named Mario Vecchi chief technology officer, calling the former AOL executive “a world-class technologist.” Vecchi replaces John McCoskey who left in September for the Motion Picture Association of America.

Apple has been busy adding channels to its set-top box for the past several months, including HBO GO, WatchESPN, SkyNews and a few Disney-branded channels. PBS is the first Apple TV app to make its way from over-the-air broadcasting, but there’s still no sign of ABC, CBS, Fox and NBC.

LOS ANGELES (AP) — Tavis Smiley, who has brought rare diversity to late-night TV for a decade on PBS, will add another two years to his run. The “Tavis Smiley” […]

The celebrated British costume drama focusing on the elite Crawley family will air its fourth season on Masterpiece beginning Jan. 5 and the hit show’s executive producer, Rebecca Eaton, says Downton fans can “rest easy knowing that a fifth season is on the way.”

Season three of the modern Sherlock Holmes mystery series will began Jan. 19, PBS said today. It was previously announced that the fourth season of Downton Abbey will begin Jan 5. The scheduling reflects PBS’ new strategy of pairing dramas on Sunday, part of a broader effort to build “flow within a given night in our schedule,” said Beth Hoppe, PBS’s chief programming executive.

The African Americans: Many Rivers to Cross is a new PBS documentary series that traces 500 years of black history. The series starts with what host Henry Louis Gates Jr. deems a downright scoop. It turns out the very first African to come to North America was a free man accompanying Spanish explorers who arrived in Florida in 1513.

Julie Andrews, Tony Bennett, Tina Fey and Amy Poehler paid tribute as the comedienne received the nation’s top humor award — the Mark Twain Prize for American Humor — on Sunday.

After public safety agencies transmit wireless emergency alert (WEA) messages to the Federal Emergency Management Agency, the PBS WARN system automatically reformats the messages for transmission to local stations through the public TV interconnection system. The networking technology establishes a redundant, over-the-air path for the WEAs to reach commercial mobile service providers (CMSPs) and their individual clients.

John McCoskey, who has been responsible for all technology strategy, development and operations at PBS member stations the past six year, has accepted a position as EVP, CTO of the Motion Picture Association of America. 

WGBH Boston is hoping a new partnership with nonprofit New England Center for Investigative Reporting can up the amount of hard news it reports. The nonprofit recently moved into the newsroom of the PBS station, and there’s a plan to hire one investigative reporter to work across radio, TV and all digital platforms.

In the first two weeks of broadcasts, segments covered recent discoveries of natural gas deposits in Israel, to efforts of harvesting tidal energy off Maine’s coast. It also features local arts coverage produced by PBS member stations, spearheaded by WNET New York.

LONDON (AP) — Forget “Mad Men” modernism. This season’s style is all about “Downton Abbey’”s Edwardian opulence. Millions around the world have been seduced by the strait-laced but stylish world […]

BEVERLY HILLS, Calif. (AP) — As if Charlie Rose didn’t have enough jobs, he’s adding a fourth one. The 71-year-old talk show host will oversee “Charlie Rose The Week,” a […]

When Discovery, The Learning Channel, History, Bravo, A&E and similar networks emerged, there was a real fear it could lead to the death of PBS. Each specialized network would pick off a portion of PBS’ audience for programs on science, nature, history and the arts. Founded as an alternative to commercial TV, PBS was losing what made it unique. Yet in the past few years, these cable networks discovered that it was much more profitable to create reality TV stars. PBS’ path was cleared, and it is making the most of its new chance.

This summer, IPBS’s eight TV stations and nine NPR stations will connect over a single IP-based network to share, collaborate and distribute content. Once fully rolled out, Roger Rhodes, the group’s executive director, says the next step could be implementing a centralcasting model, similar to what PBS stations in New York and Florida are using.

With the word Tuesday that NewsHour was shutting down offices and laying off employees, it’s time to ask the question: Just how much of the this one-time PBS bedrock is actually left? In fact, let’s go a step further and ask if it is even accurate to call it a nightly newscast any more — and if what’s left is worth trying to save?

LOS ANGELES (AP) — Tavis Smiley has stood out in 20 years in broadcasting, and he has no intention of changing his style or substance. He’s the rare black host […]

The half-hour Charlie Rose Weekend will replace Need to Know on Friday evenings. It will cull the best of his latenight program and is scheduled to begin in July.

It’s official, Downton Abbey fans will have to wait until winter 2014 for their next Edwardian drama fix. PBS announced its fall lineup Thursday, with nary a mention of the Masterpiece megahit.

PBS has ordered a pilot script from Dennis Leoni for a drama series Alta California as part of a new development deal. Leoni is the award-winning executive producer, scribe and helmer of Resurrection Blvd., the first and longest-running Latino dramatic seriesin the history of American television.

The Corporation for Public Broadcasting, PBS and the Association of Public Television Stations are jointly opposing a proposal by the FCC’s Office of Engineering and Technology to use a new software program to analyze television coverage and interference data. The proposal was floated by the commission in February and intended to update the analytical tools the commission will use in preparing for the 2014 broadcast spectrum auctions.

PBS’s year-to-date financial results show a net income of $22 million instead of the estimated $100,000 net loss anticipated in its fiscal year 2013 budget, the PBS board of directors heard at their meeting April 9 at headquarters in Arlington, Va.