TV-PBS-Kids Channel
In this image provided by courtesy of PBS and The Fred Rogers Company, "Daniel Tiger's Neighborhood" (or Wild Kratts) is among the PBS KIDS programs that will be available through new 24/7 multiplatform kids services to be launched by PBS later in 2016.
(AP Photo)
When WKAR, Michigan State University's public television station, made an announcement last month that it was not going to participate in a national spectrum auction and remain on the air, it doubled down on its commitment to broadcasting by also partnering with Detroit Public Television to launch a 24/7 children's programming channel.
In a way, it also scooped PBS a month early.
PBS officials on Tuesday, Feb. 23, announced plans to launch a 24-hour children's service that member stations could pick up. Most of those stations today get up to 12 hours daily of kids' programming, according to a release.
The new service is expected to launch later this year.
In addition to being available as an over-the-air channel if a market chooses to do so, programming is going to be streamed online at www.PBSKids.org, in addition to PBS apps on mobile devices and platforms such as Roku and Apple TV.
Officials at WTVS, Detroit's PBS station, said they knew PBS was tinkering with the idea of launching a kids-only channel, but weren't sure when it was going to come to fruition.
"PBS has been talking about it, but they weren't quite ready last month. We were," said Della Cassia, director of communications for the Detroit PBS station. "We knew we were going to do a 24/7 children's channel no matter what PBS was going to do."
PBS's announcement, however, should make their endeavor a little bit easier when it comes to programming, Cassia said.
The stations hope to combine locally produced programming with content from PBS' new children's service to fill 24 hours in a day.
Jennifer Byrne, a spokesperson for PBS in Arlington, Virginia, told MLive that PBS is in the process of developing policies for the new service, including how member stations could mix in local content throughout the day.
"It's something we're still looking into," she said.
The partnership between MSU and Detroit Public Television is going to provide research opportunities with MSU's colleges of Communication Arts and Sciences, Education and Social Science, and allow students to help develop and create original local children's programming.
While not finalized, Detroit Public Television, which broadcasts on channel 56, plans to offer the children's service as an over-the-air channel, in addition to an over-the-top streaming option online. What's unclear is where they would get the bandwidth to broadcast that channel over-the-air.
The main WTVS station is broadcast on 56.1. The World Channel is broadcast on 56.2 and Create on 56.3.
"Maybe 56.4?" Cassia said as a possible location for the children's channel. "That's something the techies are going to figure out."
How much space is left on the airwaves could be a result of the Federal Communication Commission's spectrum auction, which officially kicks off in March. The unprecedented auction looks to buy up as much television spectrum as possible across the country and repackage it for wireless carriers like Verizon and AT&T as the general public relies more on mobile devices as opposed to over-the-air TV broadcasts.
Following the auction, the FCC is going to repack the TV bands.
WDCQ, a PBS station owned by Delta College in Bay County, is also not participating in the spectrum auction, the community college's board said last month.
Station Manager Tom Bennett said WDCQ already airs a 24-hour children's channel on its subchannel 19.4. It was one of the first in the state to do so after the 2008 digital conversation.
While WDCQ is a step ahead of PBS in terms of an over-the-air channel, Tuesday's announcement is going to allow the station to have a branded "Q-TV" PBS kid's app for mobile devices and streaming systems.
"This is another way to reach kids and offer them quality, educational programming," Bennett said.