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The Public Broadcasting Service (PBS) is a non-profit public broadcasting television service with 354 member TV stations in the United States, with some member stations available over the air and by cable in Canada. While the term "broadcasting" encompasses both radio and television, PBS only covers TV; public radio the United States is served by National Public Radio, as well as content providers American Public Media, and Public Radio International.
PBS was founded on November 3 1969,[1] at which time it took over many of the functions of its predecessor, National Educational Television (NET) (which merged with station WNDT Newark, New Jersey to form WNET). It commenced broadcasting on Monday, October 5, 1970. In 1973, it merged with Educational Television Stations.
PBS is a non-profit, private corporation which is owned collectively by its member stations.[2] However, its operations are largely funded by the Corporation for Public Broadcasting, a separate entity funded by the U.S. federal government. Its headquarters are in Arlington, Virginia.
Organization
- Further information: List of PBS member stations
PBS is not a broadcast network in the sense in which that term is usually used in the United States, although it is more like U.S. broadcast networks than other public broadcasters that own their stations. Unlike the commercial television broadcast model of American networks such as ABC, CBS, FOX, NBC, The CW and MyNetworkTV, in which affiliates give up portions of their local advertising airtime in exchange for network programming, PBS member stations pay substantial fees for the shows acquired and distributed by the national organization.
This relationship means that PBS member stations have greater latitude in local scheduling than their commercial counterparts. Scheduling of PBS-distributed series may vary greatly from market to market. This can be a source of tension as stations seek to preserve their localism and PBS strives to market a consistent national line-up. However, PBS has a policy of "common carriage" requiring most stations to clear the national prime time programs on a common schedule, so that they can be more effectively marketed on a national basis. This setup is in many ways similar to the pre-2002 British ITV system of having some "networked" programs shown nationwide on all network contractors, and the remainder of scheduling being up to individual affiliates.
Unlike its radio counterpart, National Public Radio, PBS has no central program production arm or news department. All of the programming carried by PBS, whether news, documentary, or entertainment, is created by (or in most cases produced under contract with) other parties, such as individual member stations. WGBH in Boston is one of the largest producers of educational programming. News programs are produced by WETA-TV in Washington, D.C., WNET in New York and WPBT in Miami. The Charlie Rose interview show, Secrets of the Dead, NOW, Nature, Cyberchase, and The NewsHour with Jim Lehrer come from or through WNET in New York. Once a program is offered to and accepted by PBS for distribution, PBS (and not the member station that supplied the program) retains exclusive rights for rebroadcasts during the period for which such rights were granted; the suppliers do maintain the right to sell the program in non-broadcast media such as DVDs, books, and sometimes PBS licensed merchandise (but sometimes grant such ancillary rights as well to PBS).
PBS stations are commonly operated by non-profit organizations, state agencies, local authorities (e.g., municipal boards of education), or universities in their community of license. In some states, PBS stations throughout the entire state may be organized into a single regional "subnetwork" (e.g., Alabama Public Television). Unlike Canada's CBC/SRC, PBS does not own any of the stations that broadcast its programming. This is partly due to the origins of the PBS stations themselves, and partly due to historical license issues.
In the modern broadcast marketplace, this organizational structure is considered outmoded by some media critics. A common restructuring proposal is to reorganize the network so that each state would have one PBS affiliate which would broadcast state-wide. However, this proposal is controversial, as it would reduce local community input into PBS programming, especially considering how PBS stations are significantly more community-oriented, according to the argument, than their commercial counterparts.
Programming
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PBS' evening schedule emphasizes areas including:
PBS (as PBS Kids) has distributed a number of highly regarded children's shows such as:
PBS Kids has also imported British children's series (for example, Tots TV, Teletubbies, Boohbah, and Thomas the Tank Engine), as well as children's shows from Canada (i.e., The Big Comfy Couch, Theodore Tugboat, Wimzie's House and Zoboomafoo). On June 4, 2007, their first imported Australian children's TV series debuted on PBS-- Raggs. Some of the programs had moved to commercial television (for example, Ghostwriter, and The Magic School Bus).
However, PBS is not the only distributor of public television programming to the member stations. Other distributors have emerged from the roots of the old companies that had loosely held regional public television stations in the 1960s. Boston-based American Public Television (former names include Eastern Educational Network and American Program Service) is second only to PBS for distributing programs to U.S. non-commercial stations. Another distributor is NETA (formerly SECA), whose properties have included The Shapies and Jerry Yarnell School of Fine Art. In addition, the member stations themselves also produce a variety of local shows, some of which subsequently receive national distribution through PBS or the other distributors.
PBS stations are known for rebroadcasting British television costume dramas and comedies (acquired from the BBC and other sources) — these shows are generally seen on Saturday evenings[citation needed], generally regarded as the least-watched evening of the week[citation needed] due to viewers doing outside activities such as going to a movie, a concert, or other functions[citation needed]; so much of the exposure (or lack thereof) of American audiences to British television (particularly comedies) comes through PBS it has been joked that PBS means "Primarily British Series". However, a significant amount of sharing takes place. The BBC and other media outlets in the region such as Channel 4 often cooperate with PBS stations, producing material that is shown on both sides of the Atlantic. Although less frequently, Canadian, Australian, and other international programming appears on PBS stations (such as The Red Green Show, currently distributed by syndicator Executive Program Services); the public-broadcasting syndicators are more likely to offer this programming to the U.S. public stations. It also uses the new slogan "On" then the station name.
Stations that have produced PBS-distributed programming include:
- WKNO-TV 10 Memphis, TN
- WGBH-TV 2 Boston, MA
- WNET 13 Newark, New Jersey/New York, NY
- WNJN 23 Newark, New Jersey/Montclair, NJ
- WLIW 21 Long Island/New York, NY
- Oregon Public Broadcasting
- WETA-TV 26 Washington, DC
- KCET 28 Los Angeles, CA
- WQED 13/38 Pittsburgh, PA
- WPBT 2/18 Miami, FL/Ft. Lauderdale, FL
- WEDU 3 Tampa, FL
- WMFE 24 Orlando, FL
- WCEU 15 Daytona Beach, FL
- KQED 9 San Francisco, CA
- WHYY 12 Wilmington, DE/Philadelphia, PA
- WTTW 11 Chicago, IL
- WFYI 20 Indianapolis, IN
- WTVS 56 Detroit, MI
- KAMU 15 College Station, TX
- KBTC 12/27/28 Tacoma, WA
- KERA 13 Dallas/Ft. Worth, TX
- KLRU 18 Austin, TX
- KMBH 60 Harlingen, TX
- KUAT 6 Tucson, AZ
- KUHT 8 Houston, TX
- KCTS 9/41 Seattle, WA
- KVCR 24 San Bernardino, CA
- KPBS 11/15 San Diego, CA
- KPTS 8 Wichita/Hutchinson, Kansas
- Nebraska Educational Telecommunications
- Oklahoma Educational Television Authority
- WCET 48 Cincinnati, OH
- Kentucky Educational Television (KET) is the largest member broadcaster in the country (geographically) with 16 stations servicing all of Kentucky, and parts of Arkansas, Illinois, Indiana, Missouri, Ohio, Tennessee, Virginia, and West Virginia.
- WUFT 5 Gainesville, FL
- WGTE-TV 30 Toledo, OH
- WMVS 10/WMVT 36 Milwaukee, WI
- Wisconsin Public Television, based in Madison, with six stations throughout Wisconsin
- Connecticut Public Television, based in Connecticut
- WQLN, based in Erie, Pennsylvania
- WPTD and WPTO based in Dayton, Ohio
See article: List of programs broadcast by Public Broadcasting Service
Criticism and controversy
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The neutrality of this section is disputed.
Please see the discussion on the talk page.
This section has been tagged since December 2007. |
PBS has been the subject of some controversy.
- Federal funding cuts: PBS has been subject to repeated attempts to reduce federal funding. On 8 June 2006, the Los Angeles Times reported that a key House committee had "approved a $115 million reduction in the budget for the Corporation for Public Broadcasting, that could force the elimination of some popular PBS and NPR programs". This would reduce the Corporation's budget by 23%, to $380 million, for 2007. A similar budget cut was attempted in 2005, but was defeated by intense lobbying from the PBS stations.[citation needed]
- Outdated justifications: PBS was founded to provide diversity in programming at a time when all television was broadcast (as opposed to today's cable or satellite transmission methods; these television broadcasting methods are available to a majority of Americans). Today many households subscribe to cable TV or have satellite dishes that receive tens or hundreds of channels, including varied educational and children's programs.[1] But according to public television proponents, the service should be intended to provide universal access, particularly to poor and rural viewers. They also say that many cable and satellite productions, including children's programming, are of lower quality.
- Disruptive fundraising: Most stations solicit individual donations by methods including pledge drives or telethons which can disrupt regularly scheduled programming. Some viewers find this a source of annoyance since normal programming is often replaced with specials aimed at a wider audience[3]. This has been parodied many times on other television shows such as The Simpsons (see Missionary: Impossible).
Political/ideological bias
- The Public Broadcasting Act of 1967 [2] required a "strict adherence to objectivity and balance in all programs or series of programs of a controversial nature". It also prohibited the federal government from interfering or controlling what is broadcast. This set up an obvious tension where the government that created the CPB would not be able to do anything about a perceived failure to meet its obligation for objectivity without interfering in some way.
- At a more basic and problematic level is how and who should determine what constitutes objectivity and balance when there are massive disagreements over what that would be. There seems to be no consensus or even attempts at forming a consensus to resolve this dilemma.
- Conservatives perceive it to have a liberal bias and criticize its tax-based revenue and have periodically but unsuccessfully attempted to discontinue funding of CPB. Although state and federal sources account for a minority percentage of public television funding, the system remains vulnerable to political pressure. Kenneth Tomlinson, former chairman of the Corporation for Public Broadcasting who resigned amid controversy, in November 2005 in Baltimore, told PBS officials, "They should make sure their programming better reflected the Republican mandate." Tomlinson later said that his comment was in jest and that he could not imagine how remarks at a fun occasion were taken the wrong way. A report whose results were publicized in November 2005 sharply criticized Tomlinson for the way he used CPB resources to "go after" this perceived liberal bias. [3]
- Kenneth Tomlinson, who took over at CPB in 2003, began his tenure by asking for Karl Rove's assistance in overturning a regulation that half the CPB board have practical experience in radio or television. Later he appointed an outside consultant to monitor the regular PBS program NOW with Bill Moyers. Told that the show had "liberal" leanings, Moyers eventually resigned after more than three decades as a PBS regular, saying Tomlinson had mounted a "vendetta" against him. (Moyers eventually returned.) Subsequently, PBS made room for conservative commentator Tucker Carlson (now of MSNBC, a former co-host of CNN's Crossfire), and Journal Editorial Report with Paul Gigot, an editor of the Wall Street Journal editorial page (this show has since moved to FOX News Channel). On 3 November 2005 CPB announced the resignation of Tomlinson amid investigations of improper financial dealings with consultants.[4]
PBS networks
| Network |
Notes |
| PBS YOU |
ended January, 2006 |
| PBS KIDS |
began October 1, 1993 |
| PBS KIDS Sprout |
began September 26, 2005 |
| PBS World |
began in 2006; nationwide launch August 15, 2007 |
| PBS-DT2 |
HDTV feed to member stations |
| PBS-X |
24-hour alternate network that provides a mixed variety of programming selected from PBS's regular network service |
| PBS-XD |
created for carriage on packaged satellite providers; scheduled to cease transmission on 31 January 2008 |
PBS has also spun off a number of TV networks, often in partnership with other media companies: PBS YOU (ended January 2006, and largely succeeded by American Public Television's Create), PBS KIDS (ended 1 October 2005), PBS KIDS Sprout, PBS World (commenced 15 August 2007), and PBS-DT2 (a feed of HDTV and letterboxed programming for digitally equipped member stations), along with packages of PBS programs that are similar to local stations' programming, the PBS-X feeds. PBS Kids Go! was promised for October 2006, but PBS announced in July that they would not be going forward with it as an independent network feed (as opposed to the pre-existing two-hour week daily block on PBS). (See List of United States over-the-air television networks and List of United States cable and satellite television networks.) Some or all are available on many digital cable systems, on free-to-air TV via communications satellites [4], as well as via DirecTV direct broadcast satellite. With the transition to terrestrial digital television broadcasts, many are also often now available as "multiplexed" channels on some local stations' standard-definition digital signals, while DT2 is found among the HD signals. PBS Kids announced that they will have an early-morning Miss Lori and Hooper block with four PBS Kids shows usually around 08:00 (school time, although kids this age usually do not go to school). With the absence of advertising, network identification on these PBS networks were limited to utilization at the end of the program, which includes the standard series of bumpers from the "Be More" campaign.
PBS Kids
See PBS Kids.
References
- ^ Articles of Incorporation of Public Broadcasting Service. Current. Retrieved on 2008-01-12.
- ^ About PBS, PBS.org, accessed 2006-11-25
- ^ Getler, Michael (2006-03-24). Pledging Allegiance, or March Madness?. PBS Ombudsman. Retrieved on 2006-05-22.
- ^ Brent Bozell III (2007-05-02). Back to Bias Basics at PBS. Townhall.com. Retrieved on 2007-05-02.
Further reading
- B. J. Bullert, Public Television: Politics and the Battle over Documentary Film, Rutgers Univ Press 1997
- Barry Dornfeld, Producing Public Television, Producing Public Culture, Princeton University Press 1998
- Ralph Engelman, Public Radio and Television in America: A Political History, Sage Publications 1996
- James Ledbetter, Made Possible by: The Death of Public Broadcasting in the United States, Verso 1998
See also
External links
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