WASHINGTON—America’s Public Television Stations has issued a statement saying it was “disappointed that the House Appropriations Labor-H Subcommittee did not include essential funding for local public television stations today in their FY 2027 appropriations bill."

It also urged Congress to restore the funding and create a new funding mechanism for public stations to replace the now defunct Corporation for Public Broadcasting and thanked the House Homeland Security Appropriations Subcommittee for recommending continued funding of $50 million for the Next Generation Warning System (NGWS)

In a June 5 statement from APTS’s president and CEO Kate Riley noted that “as drafted, the House Appropriations Labor-H Subcommittee Appropriations Bill misses an opportunity to extend a desperately needed lifeline to local public media stations that continue to be devastated by the rescission of public media funding last summer.”

To rectify that, Riley said “we have asked Congress to create a new fund in the Labor, Health and Human Services and Education Appropriations Bill which would provide direct grants to local public broadcasting stations throughout the country through a Local Public Broadcasting Commission. Stations would be able to use the funding to support local station operations, local programming and essential community services.”

“With the Corporation for Public Broadcasting (CPB) dissolved, a new mechanism is needed to provide direct grants to stations to support their local public services,” she added. “This fund would provide the support needed to ensure the stabilization of local stations and continuity of services that are now at risk at stations nationwide due to the rescission of public broadcasting funding.”

The end of Federal funding and the CPB has been particularly tough on public media because by statute over 70% of the annual appropriation to CPB went to local stations.

“With that funding now gone, many local stations throughout the country are reeling with some struggling to survive,” Riley said. “Stations in communities small and large throughout the country are cutting local programming, staff, public services, operations and more. One station has already closed and an additional station just ceased broadcast operations. Without the restoration of local station funding, more will likely follow suit.”

The group did stress however that it was “grateful that the House Homeland Security Appropriations Subcommittee today recognized the essential role that public television plays in the nation’s civil defense, public safety and homeland security. The subcommittee’s recommendation of continued funding of $50 million for the Next Generation Warning System (NGWS) will help ensure public broadcasters are able to meet their public safety missions and provide the highest level of resilient and reliable public safety and homeland security services to communities throughout the country.”

“The NGWS grant program at FEMA enhances public broadcasting stations’ ability to provide alert and warning and interoperable public safety communications and to incorporate emergency technology into lifesaving activities,” Riley said. “NGWS helps stations replace aging infrastructure that is essential to their ability to transmit alerts and warning and their other public safety missions. In addition, NGWS helps stations incorporate emerging technology to enhance those lifesaving activities.”

Riley also stressed that “we remain hopeful that funding for the Local Public Broadcasting Commission and Ready To Learn will be fully funded in the final FY 2027 appropriations bill that will support local stations’ ability to help keep Americans safe, to educate America’s children, and to connect Americans to their own communities and open doors to other hometowns across this country.”

For more information, visit www.apts.org.

WASHINGTON—America’s Public Television Stations (APTS) said it will hold its annual Protect My Public Media Day on Thursday, June 4.

Organized by Protect My Public Media, a national grassroots advocacy campaign overseen by APTS Action, the day of advocacy and awareness focuses on protecting the future of local public-media stations.

The virtual event brings together local public media stations, partner organizations and the public to highlight the value of local service and to explain the importance of restoring federal funding for those services.

Protect My Public Media Day comes at a key moment in the fiscal year 2027 appropriations process, as Congress begins considering legislation that could restore funding to local public media stations and help secure their future.

“Last year, Congress voted to eliminate federal funding for the Corporation for Public Broadcasting (CPB), but local public media stations were hit the hardest by this action because they received the vast majority of CPB funding,” APTS President and CEO Kate Riley said. “Since federal funding was eliminated, stations have been forced to reduce local programming, lay off staff, scale back community-focused services and delay critical infrastructure upgrades, diminishing the local service communities rely on and putting dozens of stations at risk of closure, particularly in more rural areas.

“Local stations across the country are serving their communities in unmatched ways but their ability to continue these essential services is seriously threatened if federal funding for local stations is not restored,” she added. “We are grateful to the local public media stations, partners and advocates who are coming together on Protect My Public Media Day to raise their voices to advocate for a future that supports strong local public media stations.”

The theme for this year’s Public Media Day is “Locally Rooted. Rising Together.”

Supporters of local public media stations can visit this website to participate in Protect My Public Media Day, take action and share how local stations have made a difference in their lives.

For more information, visit the APTS website.

WASHINGTON—In response to President Trump’s 2027 fiscal year budget proposals that once again offer no funding for public media, Kate Riley, president and CEO of America’s Public Television Stations said that “failing to restore the federal investment will cause further harm to the communities that depend on their local public media stations.”

In a statement, Riley stressed that there is broad public support for funding local public stations and that 65% of the people who claim to have voted for the President support funding for “locally controlled public television stations that the American people rely on.”

“Since all funding for local public media stations was rescinded last year, Americans in every community across the country, especially rural communities, have experienced a loss of essential services that only local, independent public television stations provide,” she said. “Two stations have already announced their closures and without federal funding, many more local stations have been forced to eliminate or reduce local programs and services, including proven educational services, local history programs, community event coverage, agricultural programming and local public affairs programming, among others. In addition, many stations have been forced to delay much needed infrastructure investments – risking programming and public safety services.”

Riley also stressed the importance of the stations’ role in emergency alerts, public safety, education and local news.

“Failing to restore the federal investment will cause further harm to the communities that depend on their local public media stations every day for public safety, education and community connections,” she said. “These services are particularly critical in more rural areas, many of which have no other sources of local media…These services are essential for the American people and one of America’s best investments, which amounted to about $1.60 per person per year and was less than one 1/100th of a percent of the federal budget.”

The group also said that it will look “to Congress to respect the clear will of the American people, to honor the long history of bipartisan support for our work, and to restore the federal government’s investment in local public television stations’ essential missions of public safety, education and community connections in the upcoming FY 2027 appropriations process.”

WASHINGTON—At its annual meeting here this week, America’s Public Television Stations (APTS) presented awards honoring public broadcasters for their leadership, advocacy and community service

Idaho Public Television General Manager Jeff Tucker received the 2026 Patrick Butler National Advocacy Award for his work in building relationships and support for the five-station public network among the Idaho Congressional delegation, state legislators and federal policymakers.

The APTS Patrick Butler National Advocacy Award, named for the group’s longest-serving former president and CEO, goes to local station leaders who excel in telling the story of their station’s work in education, public safety and community connections and how federal and state funding make it possible, APTS said.

Pillar of Service
The 2026 Pillar of Public Service Award went to Sylvia Strobel, President and CEO of Twin Cities PBS (TPT), for her exceptional work in education, public safety and community connections, in service to the people in the Twin Cities and its surrounding areas.

The award recognizes the contribution of an extraordinary leader and innovator in one or more of public television’s three essential public service missions: education, public safety and community connections.

“Sylvia’s extraordinary work at Twin Cities PBS has exemplified public television’s pillars of public service in education, public safety and community connections,” said Riley.

“I am humbled and deeply grateful for this recognition, which I would like to share with everyone at Twin Cities PBS including our staff, Board of Trustees and supporters,” said Strobel. Who joined Twin Cities PBS in February 2020. “For nearly 70 years, Twin Cities PBS has been a trusted part of Minnesota life. As we move forward together, we are building a strong, independent future, rooted in community. It is my honor to lead this next chapter for Twin Cities PBS, and I would like to thank Kate and APTS for this meaningful award.”

Strobel has worked for more than 30 years in the public media industry as an executive and attorney, with positions at ideastream, American Public Media Group, Pennsylvania Public Television Network and the Corporation for Public Broadcasting.

She has served on numerous national boards and commissions, including the board of NPR, the Alliance for Women in Media, the Association of Junior Leagues International and the FCC’s Advisory Committee for Diversity in the Digital Age. She currently serves on the boards of America’s Public Television Stations (APTS), MacPhail Center for Music, The Amherst H. Wilder Foundation, St. Paul Area Chamber and Latino Public Broadcasting.

Protect My Public Media
A new honor, the “Protect My Public Media Award” was presented to PBS SoCal and Lori Overdorf of Buffalo Toronto Public Media. The award recognizes the exceptional work of stations and their staff in support of the Protect My Public Media grassroots campaign, APTS said.

“Andy Russell and his team at PBS SoCal demonstrated extraordinary system leadership during a consequential time for local public media stations,” said Riley. “In all the years of Protect My Public Media, we have never seen this level of creative investment from a station. PBS SoCal stepped forward and produced five high-impact celebrity video spots for use across the public television system – an unprecedented contribution – helping energize supporters and inspire action during a challenging year. These video spots were shared widely across social media and broadcast on public media stations across the country this past summer.”

“We’re truly honored to receive this award,” said Andrew Russell, President and CEO at PBS SoCal. “Protecting public media means protecting something bigger than any of us. It’s about preserving a trusted space where facts matter, where children can discover the joy of learning and where every community can see itself reflected and celebrated. We are proud to serve millions of families every day in providing programming and services that fulfill our mission to educate, inform and inspire.”

Of Overdorf, Riley hailed her “creativity, vision and initiative in promoting Protect My Public Media and incorporating it into local station community events helped significantly increase the campaign’s impact.

“Lori set a new standard for stations by building a visible, local campaign presence,” Riley added. “The time, resources and passion that Lori has devoted to this effort strengthened local engagement with the campaign and catalyzed similar on-the-ground grassroots efforts nationwide. We are profoundly appreciative for her relentless efforts, along with the entire team at Buffalo Toronto Public Media.

“We are extremely grateful for Lori’s tireless passion and dedication, and we are honored to present her with this most well-deserved 2026 Protect My Public Media Award.”

“From Protect My Public Media Day, which was held in almost every county of Western New York, coordinating lawn sign delivery to every corner she could see, launching a letter-writing campaign to federal representatives and organizing the ‘Meet Us at the Market’ series, to say Lori went above and beyond is only a start,” said Tom Calderone, President and CEO of BTPM. “And, there is a victory lap for her and the organization because we also loved sharing our success with other stations within the system when it came to our boots on the ground strategy to Protect My Public Media.”

“I am honored to be the recipient of the 2026 Protect My Public Media Award,” said Overdorf. “Buffalo Toronto Public Media’s ‘ground game’ vision and gameplan put public media out into the community, engaging them in the fight against rescission and reinforcing our mission to serve the community. I share this award with my incredibly talented colleagues at Buffalo Toronto Public Media who all lent their talents to the effort.”

David J. Brugger Community Leader Award
The 2026 David J. Brugger Community Leader Award went to Dax Schieffer, representing Montana PBS. The Brugger Award, named for APTS’s long-time former President and CEO, David Brugger, is presented annually to a community leader who has supported the work of public television through their dedicated leadership and service.

Schieffer has been a tireless advocate for public broadcasting, both on the national and state levels. Schieffer served as Chair of the Friends of Montana PBS Board of Directors. Additionally, Schieffer was a member of the APTS Board of Trustees and served on the APTS Board Legislative Policy and Advocacy Committee, according to APTS..

“Dax Schieffer is an extraordinarily effective advocate for public broadcasting, both on the national level and in his home state of Montana,” said Kate Riley, President and CEO of America’s Public Television Stations. “Dax has a long and distinguished history as a leader and supporter of Montana PBS. He is an unwavering and eloquent champion, committed to effectively telling the story of Montana PBS and the public television system.

“Dax sincerely believes in the public good that Montana PBS brings to our communities, from our educational children’s content to Montana history programs that promote lifelong learning,” said Aaron Pruitt, Director and General Manager of Montana PBS. “Dax also possesses a remarkable, and wonderfully disarming communication style which has helped him reach across traditional lines and expand the tent of public media supporters.”

“After more than a dozen years leading advocacy for Montana PBS at both the state and national levels, Dax still shows up on my Zoom screens with the commitment and enthusiasm of a new convert,” said Peg Wherry, Board Chair of Friends of Montana PBS. “His legacy will be felt in Montana many years into the future.”

“I’m truly honored by this recognition, which reflects the shared commitment of our volunteers and station leadership to service, access, education and public safety,” said Schieffer. “I’m proud to support Montana PBS as it continues to educate, connect and inspire Montanans sharing diverse stories, celebrating our independent spirit and providing trusted public television for generations to come.”

Schieffer served as Chair of the Friends of Montana PBS Board of Directors and has a career in media relations, public affairs and human resources. Schieffer is the principal of Big Sky Solutions & Strategies, serving statewide clients in consulting on nonprofit management, economic development and education.

WASHINGTON—America’s Public Television Stations said it has presented the 2026 Patrick Butler National Advocacy Award to Idaho Public Television General Manager Jeff Tucker.

Butler received the award, presented at the APTS Public Media Summit on March 3, for his work in building relationships and support for the five-station public network among the Idaho Congressional delegation, state legislators and federal policymakers.

The APTS Patrick Butler National Advocacy Award, named for the group’s longest-serving former president and CEO, goes to local station leaders who excel in telling the story of their station’s work in education, public safety and community connections and how federal and state funding make it possible, APTS said.

“Jeff Tucker is a tireless advocate for public broadcasting, both in Congress and throughout the state of Idaho,” APTS President and CEO Kate Riley said. “Jeff has been an extraordinarily effective champion of our cause, working diligently to engage the Idaho delegation on the essential value of his local public broadcasting station and the important services they provide in communities throughout the state, especially in rural communities.

“Throughout this past, most challenging year, Jeff not only worked incredibly closely with his congressional delegation to make sure they understood the impacts of the rescission and how essential it was that some level of station funding was restored, but he also helped share the same messages with other key federal stakeholders,” she continued. “His assessment of the impacts on his station and other local stations throughout the country in similar positions has added an invaluable and highly trusted perspective to the ongoing discussions about the need for funding for local stations.”

Tucker has been IdahoPTV’s general manager since August of 2021. Since then, he as formed strong relationships with state agencies and other private and public organizations, APTS said. On his watch, “Idaho in Session” grew from streamed coverage via a single webcam to fiber-connected multicamera coverage from the Idaho House, Senate and committee rooms as well as the Idaho Supreme Court. Tucker also oversaw the planning, strategy and initial production for “Idaho Experience,” IdahoPTV’s newest long-form history documentary series. Prior to being named GM, Tucker was IdahoPTV’s director of content, overseeing programming, education services, digital media and strategy for local productions. He also managed the network’s independent and contract work, as well as content initiatives and production relationships with state and private entities, APTS said.

He has also worked as director/videographer, producer/director and production manager at IdahoPTV and has been in charge of its communications and membership departments.

“My approach to successful advocacy has always focused on getting to know a person on a human level,” Tucker said. “Whether they like you or what you do, it’s important to connect with them as people. Have a conversation. Learn about them. If you can make that personal connection first, the advocacy part seems to happen naturally.”

Tucker also serves on the advisory board of the University of Idaho’s James A. and Louise McClure Center for Public Policy Research and the National Educational Telecommunications Association board of directors, APTS said.

WASHINGTON—In a joint filing with the Federal Communications Commission, America’s Public Television Stations (APTS) and PBS highlighted the importance of NextGen TV/ATSC 3.0 for the future of public broadcasting but asked the regulator not to set a firm date for cutting off ATSC 1.0 broadcasts.

The NAB, Pearl TV, state broadcast associations and large commercial broadcasters have been pushing for a firm sunset to ATSC 1.0 signals.

In a separate filing with the FCC, Pearl TV, which is backed by major commercial station groups, argued that "a clear deadline is the only way to align incentives across broadcasters, manufacturers, and retailers. Threshold-based approaches would replicate the early confusion of the DTV transition and prolong uncertainty. A firm date provides the predictability necessary for investment and consumer clarity."

APTS and PBS, who referred to themselves as PTV in the filing, said PTV “supports the Commission’s proposal to facilitate and accelerate the ongoing voluntary transition to NextGen TV by removing regulatory hurdles and providing broadcasters with maximum flexibility for the transition. These proposed changes will empower all local stations, including local public television stations, to deploy ATSC 3.0 at their discretion and at the appropriate pace to best serve the unique needs of their local communities and local audiences.”

The filing stressed that PTV supports enabling local stations to best meet viewers’ needs by eliminating regulatory barriers and providing maximum flexibility for local station decision-making.

“PTV agrees with the Commission that the continued permissive, flexible deployment of ATSC 3.0 by local broadcasters will best serve the public interest," the Jan. 20 filing noted. "The FCC can best support television stations, and the viewers they serve, with the transition to ATSC 3.0 by providing local stations with maximum flexibility to make their own decisions about ATSC 3.0 deployment” and by adopting “a flexible (and local) grassroots approach (rather than a top-down regulatory approach)”

As part of that the PTV filing supports the FCC proposals to eliminate the substantially similar and simulcast regulations.

But the filing also opposed a hard cutoff date. “PTV believes it is premature for the FCC to establish either a date certain or specific market conditions for sunsetting ATSC 1.0 service at this time; rather, any sunsetting of ATSC 1.0 service should be market-led for now (as with the rest of the transition), so that local stations continue to have maximum flexibility to serve their communities.”

The full filing can be found here.

[This article is part TV Tech’s ongoing coverage of the FCC and NextGen TV; articles about comments and filings from other companies and associations with different perspectives on these issues can be found here and here.]

WASHINGTON—The U.S. House of Representatives this week passed its final fiscal year (FY) 2026 minibus package of funding, which includes money for public broadcasting’s Next Generation Warning System as well as its “Ready to Learn” grant program.

The package, which includes the Labor, Health and Human Services and Education (Labor-HHS-Education) bill and the Homeland Security bill, will allocate $48 million for the emergency alert system and $31 million for “Ready for Learn.”

In the summer of 2025, Congress severely cut funding for public broadcasting, resulting in the eventual shuttering of the Corporation for Public Broadcasting. In August, CPB announced that it was ending its grant program for the Next Generation Warning System, suggesting that the funding for the grant should continue under FEMA.

Kate Riley, President and CEO of America’s Public Television Stations, issued a statement applauding this week’s vote.

“While America’s Public Television Stations are deeply disappointed that the final package does not restore any of the local station funding that was rescinded last year— a devastating missed opportunity for Congress to save local stations, particularly those serving rural areas—we are grateful that the bill provides some funding for the important public safety and education services that public media provides in communities throughout the country.

“We are pleased that the final minibus package recognizes the lifesaving work of local public broadcasting stations and provides $48 million for public broadcasting’s Next Generation Warning System for fiscal year 2026. This program within the U.S. Department of Homeland Security’s FEMA enhances local public broadcasting stations' ability to provide alert and warning and interoperable public safety communications to communities across the country, and to incorporate emerging technology in those lifesaving activities. Public broadcasting has long been a committed partner with the local, state and federal public safety community. That work depends on reliable and resilient public broadcasting infrastructure, which this program supports.

“We are also grateful for the $31 million for Ready To Learn, a competitive grant program at the Department of Education that supports the creation and distribution of educational media content and services to millions of children across America. For over three decades, this program has been proven to prepare all children for success in school and life by using the power of public television’s on-air, online, mobile and on-the-ground educational content and services to build the science, math and literacy skills of children ages two to eight.

“At the same time, we are incredibly disappointed that this bill misses a critical opportunity to restore essential funding for local stations. Since the rescission vote last year, Americans in every community across the country, especially rural communities, have experienced the loss of essential services that only local, independent public television stations provide.

"Two stations have already announced their closures and without federal funding, many more local stations have been forced to eliminate or reduce local programs and services, including local history programs, community event coverage, agricultural programming and local public affairs programming, among others. Still others are putting off much needed infrastructure investments – risking programming and public safety services. The impacts in local communities are impossible to ignore.

“We appreciate Representative Bacon’s (R-NE) and Representative Amodei’s (R-NV) amendment which attempted to restore some funding for local stations in this minibus package as well as the support of bipartisan Members of Congress in both the House and the Senate, who have been working to try to save local stations throughout the FY 2026 funding process.

“We are not giving up. We will not stop fighting for our local stations and the vital services they provide their communities. We remain hopeful that continued Congressional bipartisan support in the upcoming FY 2027 appropriations process will enable a restoration of local station funding to support stations’ essential missions of public safety, education and local community connections.”

WASHINGTON—Public TV stations are beginning to shut down operations and reduce services, particularly in rural areas after federal funding was cut earlier this year.

In August, as a result of Congress eliminating funding for the Corporation for Public Broadcasting, the CPB announced that it would shut down operations effective Oct. 1. The CPB had been approved to provide $535 million to public broadcasters for FY2025. This represented just under 11% of overall total funding for PBS, according to the CRS. However, that figure is higher in many rural communities.

Kate Riley, President and CEO of America’s Public Television Stations, announced yesterday that the effects are now forcing public broadcasters, particularly in rural communities, to cut back operations and eliminate programming. Although she didn’t mention layoffs at individual stations, she did criticize how the shutdown of CPB has resulted in “a damaging loss of expertise and a large hole in the public media system.”

"All local stations will be negatively impacted by this and communities across the country, especially in rural areas, are now losing essential services that only local public television stations can provide from critical public safety services to proven education resources and essential local community connections and information,” Riley said. “In many rural areas where public media stations are often the only local media available, federal funding made up over 30% of the stations’ budgets. And while local stations are trying to close the gap created by the devastating rescission cuts, there is no replacement for federal funding, especially in rural and small communities.”

Riley added that the loss of federal funding has prompted local stations to eliminate or reduce local programs, including educational, local community event coverage, agricultural and local public affairs programming, among others.

“Without federal funding, local stations are eliminating or reducing local educational resources for their communities,” Riley said. “Many children in rural communities have limited access to pre-K and the loss of public television's free educational opportunities creates further challenges for those families that were already struggling to access resources for their children.”

Riley added that station infrastructure is also at risk.

“The loss of federal funding is already preventing stations from installing new transmitters and making desperately needed infrastructure investments in areas prone to severe weather which threatens the reliable delivery of lifesaving public safety messages,” she said.

Riley said operational losses are already beginning to have an impact and that it will only get worse as additional cuts are expected to roll out over the coming months and year.

She cited these recent examples:

• WPSU, licensed to Penn State University, has said that the university will wind down operations of the station by this summer at the latest.
• KUAC in Fairbanks, Alaska, is powering down their transmitter from 12 a.m. to 6 a.m. every day. This means that in the case of severe weather or another emergency, critical public safety information will not be relayed over the KUAC transmitters.
• KEET in Eureka, California, which serves the very rural redwood coast of California, are ceasing operations of their multicast channels including the 24/7 kids channel and their channel devoted to Native American and World Indigenous content.
• KIXE PBS in Redding, California, which serves a very rural community in Northern California, have lost over 40% of their budget from the rescission. If they are not able to secure major sources of new funding, they could go dark by the spring.

In addition, last week WNET Group announced that it was unable to reach an agreement with the New Jersey Public Broadcasting Authority to extend the management of NJ PBS, New Jersey’s public television network. Without an agreement, the network could be at risk of shutting down by next June when the current agreement expires.

Riley asked for CPB funding to be reinstated.

“We urge Congress to respect the will of the American people, who have spoken loud and clear, and restore funding for local public broadcasting stations in the final FY 2026 appropriations bill.”

An attempt to restore funding for the Corporation for Public Broadcasting (CPB) by the Senate Appropriations Committee failed on Thursday after the committee decided to leave it out of a fiscal 2026 spending bill.

Congress approved defunding CPB earlier this month after pressure from the Trump administration. The action drew sharp criticism from Democrats and even from some Republicans who fear the loss of local rural public TV stations.

Sen. Patty Murray (D-WA) rebuked the committee’s action.

“One thing this bill does not do, unfortunately, is fund the Corporation for Public Broadcasting. As everyone knows, Republicans rescinded bipartisan funding we provided for CPB in the first ever partisan rescissions package,” Murray said in her opening statement. “It is a shameful reality, and now communities across the country will suffer the consequences as over 1,500 stations lose critical funding.”

Kate Riley, president and CEO of America’s Public Television Stations, said the association was “deeply disappointed” that “essential funding” was not restored.

“With this vote, the Senate Appropriations Committee missed an opportunity to extend a desperately needed lifeline to local public media stations that are already cutting essential services and staff and, in some cases, planning for their closure as a result of the rescissions of public media funding earlier this month,” she said. “The impact of the elimination of this necessary public media funding for local stations, as we have warned all along, is real and imminent and it has already begun to dramatically impact the vital services that local stations provide to communities across our country.

“This bill was an opportunity to acknowledge the dire situation that local stations are in and reverse their devastating fate. Instead, today the Senate Appropriations Committee turned a blind eye to local public media stations and the communities that rely on them for critical services."

Riley thanked Labor-HHS-Education Subcommittee Vice Chair Tammy Baldwin (D-WI) and Senator Lisa Murkowski (R-AK) for their bipartisan support to restore CPB funding.

“We look forward to working with them and all of their colleagues that also support their local stations to fight for the restoration of this funding in FY 2026,” she said.

As the House of Representatives voted early Friday morning to eliminate federal funding for public broadcasting, advocates warned that the elimination of $1 billion to the Corporation for Public Broadcasting would have its biggest impact on rural communities.

“This elimination of federal funding — over 70% would go to local stations — will decimate public media and force many local stations to go dark, cutting off essential service to communities that rely on them — many of which have no other access to free, locally controlled media — especially those communities in rural areas,” Americas Public TV Stations CEO Kate Riley said in a statement. “The proponents of this legislation were myopically focused on defunding NPR and PBS, but what this bill will actually do is devastate independent local stations — some of which are not even members of NPR and PBS and don't air their programming.”

PBS President Paula Kerger concurred. “These cuts will significantly impact all of our stations, but will be especially devastating to smaller stations and those serving large rural areas. Many of our stations which provide access to free unique local programming and emergency alerts will now be forced to make hard decisions in the weeks and months ahead,” she said.

In a 216-213 vote that mostly followed party lines, the House approved "H.R. 4, the Rescissions Act of 2025," which was passed by the Senate early Thursday morning. Two Republicans, Rep. Brian Fitzpatrick (Pa.) and Michael R. Turner (Ohio) voted against it. The bill also eliminates $8 billion in foreign aid.

House Speaker Mike Johnson (R-La.) hailed the vote. “We need to get back to fiscal sanity and this is an important step,” he said. House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries, who opposed the measure said that “no one is buying the notion that Republicans are actually trying to improve wasteful spending.”

President Trump praised the vote to defund “atrocious NPR and public broadcasting, where billions of dollars a year were wasted,” adding that “Republicans have tried doing this for 40 years, and failed….but no more. This is big!!!”

One public broadcasting executive said elimination of CPB funding, which makes up approximately 15-18% of PBS’s annual operating budget, will force the network to make some hard decisions. Without CPB funding, PBS, which has 350 stations nationwide, estimates that roughly 15% of its stations will be unable to operate.

“We just don’t have a lot of fat to trim elsewhere,” Julie Overgaard, the executive director for South Dakota Public Broadcasting, told the New York Times on Thursday.

“On the PBS side of things, I can’t just start cherry-picking which national programs I want and only pay for those,” she added. “So it really leaves me and many others with little choice but to look at the local programming that we self-generate.”

Taiwo Gaynor, chief content officer for Mississippi Public Broadcasting lamented the potential loss of free educational content for rural communities. “This is important for families, to have access to content that they don’t have to pay for,” Gaynor told the AP. “That is a sad thought, to think that we ... might not be able to provide that for a generation of children.”

In an email on Thursday, Kevin Martin, president and CEO of IdeaStream, a public radio station serving northeast Ohio told supporters that “we may have lost this round, but the fight is far from over.”

Even before the House approved the Senate’s bill, Martin was unsure of its impact.

“As for the long-term implications, only time will tell. We are deeply disappointed by this funding decision, but we remain resolute and optimistic about our future. The entire public media ecosystem — PBS, NPR, and local stations like Ideastream — are built through collaborations and a shared infrastructure. The ripple effect of this funding loss will be felt throughout the system, particularly by smaller and rural stations that may face the real possibility of closure.”

In advance of the House vote, FCC Commissioner Anna Gomez criticized the Senate’s approval, accusing the Trump administration of trying to stifle opposing viewpoints.

“This action is a key step in a coordinated campaign to silence public media, and the latest attempt by this Administration to censor and control speech,” she wrote. “We've yet to see any effort to probe, defund, or threaten news outlets that support the government's views, and there’s a reason for that. This has never been about saving money. It’s about silencing those who report the news accurately, without fear or favor.”

APTS's Riley said the association will continue to push for restoring the funds.

“Federal funding for public media is irreplaceable and essential to local public media stations and the existence of the public media system as a whole,” Riley said in a statement after the House vote. “This destructive rescission of Corporation for Public Broadcasting (CPB) funding – the substantial majority of which goes to local stations – will result in the end of all federal funding to local stations starting October 1, 2025 and the total closure of the Corporation for Public Broadcasting.

“America’s Public Television Stations will do everything in our power to restore this critical funding, ensure the survival of local public media stations throughout the country and continue the federal investment in their essential missions of public safety, education and community connections.”

Early Thursday morning, the U.S. Senate voted to cut federal funding for PBS and NPR in a bill that also included cuts for foreign aid. In a 51-48 vote, the action to cut $9 billion in federal funding represents perhaps the biggest threat to public broadcasting in recent years and a moment of capitulation to President Trump from Congress, which normally has the final say in spending federal funds.

The bill will now go to the House, which is expected to approve it. Most of the funds—approximately $8 billion—targets foreign aid, while $1.1 billion was supposed to go to the Corporation for Public Broadcasting, which funds NPR and PBS.

The Trump administration has been a long-time critic of public broadcasting, which he claims is "biased" against conservatives and ordered the elimination of funding earlier this year.

“Republicans must defund and totally disassociate themselves from NPR & PBS, the radical left ‘monsters’ that so badly hurt our country!” Trump posted on Truth Social on April 1.

The CPB funds about 2% of NPR’s budget and about 15% of PBS’s, so it’s unlikely that public broadcasting would cease; however, there is more concern over how the cuts will impact rural communities, who, in an age of declining local news outlets depend on public media more than ever. That was a major point of contention for Sens. Lisa Murkowski (R-Alaska) and Susan Collins (R-Maine), who voted against the measure. Murkowski criticized the bill on X, referring to an earthquake that struck her state on Wednesday.

“Some colleagues claim they are targeting ‘radical leftist organizations’ with these cuts, but in Alaska, these are simply organizations dedicated to their communities,” Murkowski wrote. “Their response to today’s earthquake is a perfect example of the incredible public service these stations provide. They deliver local news, weather updates, and, yes, emergency alerts that save human lives.”

Sen. Mike Rounds (R-S.D.) was also initially opposed to the cuts, expressing concern that they would negatively impact the future of tribal radio stations. Although he was later assured that an agreement had been struck with the Trump administration that such cuts would not happen, the leader of Native Public Media warned that no such guarantee could be made.

“There is currently no clear path for redirecting these funds to tribal broadcasters without significant legislative and administrative changes,” said Loris Taylor, the president of Native Public Media.

Rounds’ colleague, Senate Majority Leader John Thune (R-S.D.) defended the cuts.

“I think $9 billion is a very small amount of money—as I mentioned, one-tenth of 1% of all federal spending,” Senate Majority Leader John Thune, R-S.D., told Fox News on Wednesday night before the vote. “But we’ve got to look at all aspects of the federal budget and figure out where we can root out waste, fraud and abuse, to put this country on a more sustainable fiscal path. We just can’t sustain where we are.”

Sen. Ed Markey (D-Mass.), a longtime advocate for public broadcasting, took issue with Thune’s description of calling funding for public media “waste, fraud and abuse.”

“Republicans are making a Clifford-sized mistake by choosing Donald Trump and multibillionaires over ‘Daniel Tiger’ and ‘Masterpiece Theater,’ ” the Senator said in a statement after the vote. “By eliminating public media funding, Republicans are silencing rural broadcasters. They are stripping communities of essential emergency alert infrastructure. They are taking away trusted educational programming from millions of children. And by gutting global public health programs, they’re abandoning vulnerable populations around the world.

“The consequences of this reckless package will be felt for years to come,” Markey added. “But I am committed to ensuring that characters like ‘Arthur’ and ‘Molly of Denali’ can continue to educate our children, and that public radio and television stations can continue to connect and protect people in every community across America.”

Kate Riley, President and CEO of America’s Public Television Stations, the primary advocate for public broadcasting, said the association was “devastated” by the vote and noted that federal funding of public broadcasting amounts to about $1.60 per person per year and less than one 1/100th of a percent of the federal budget.

“This elimination of federal funding will decimate public media and put local stations at risk of going dark, cutting off service to communities that rely on them—many of which have no other access to locally controlled media,” Riley said. “After over 50 years of federal support for public broadcasting, the Senate has now voted to eliminate this exceptional public-private partnership that has educated generations of children, protected countless lives, and connected and celebrated communities large and small throughout this nation.

“As the rescissions package moves back to the House for its final consideration, we urge the House to oppose the package and the elimination of public media. If this package passes the House, all funding to local stations will be cut off starting October 1, 2025 and the Corporation for Public Broadcasting will shut down."

WASHINGTON—As the battle over funding for public media continues in Congress, the U.S. House Appropriations Committee has recommended level funding of $40 million for fiscal year 2026 for the Next Generation Warning System (NGWS).

The Trump administration has been trying to both eliminate future funding for public media and to claw back funding that was previously approved funds for the Corporation for Public Broadcasting.

The NGWS money is intended to help public broadcasters beef up their emergency alerting capabilities. America’s Public Television Stations immediately applauded the Committee’s decision.

In a statement, Kate Riley, president and CEO of APTS said that the group is "grateful that the committee recognizes the essential role that public television plays in the nation’s civil defense, public safety and homeland security. The committee’s approval of continued funding of $40 million for the Next Generation Warning System will help ensure public broadcasters are able to continue to meet their public safety missions and provide the highest level of resilient and reliable public safety and homeland security services to communities throughout the country.”

“We look forward to working with the full House Congress to ensure that this critical funding moves forward through the appropriations process,” she added.

The group also stressed that public television’s digital infrastructure provides the backbone for emergency alert, public safety, first responder, and homeland security services in many states and communities, including many local stations that serve as their states’ primary Emergency Alert Service (EAS) hub for severe weather and AMBER alerts.

“In addition, public television is one of two technologically diverse pathways that the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) and state and local public safety officials use to send Wireless Emergency Alert (WEA) messages to cell phone subscribers,” Riley said. “The encrypted messages ride over the public television broadcast spectrum and infrastructure directly to cell phone providers who in turn send them to their subscribers. Sending these messages over the public broadcasting pathway ensures they can reach every corner of the country, even if internet service is compromised or unavailable. These geo-targeted messages can reach subscribers wherever they are in the event of an emergency.”

APTS also highlighted how they have been working with public safety officials around the country on a federal, state and local level.

“We have worked with the U.S. Department of Homeland Security to demonstrate the effectiveness of these ground-breaking services in flood control and evacuation, rural school shooting scenarios, large crowd management, over-water emergency communications and other lifesaving applications where broadband or cellular service are not fully functional,” Riley said, adding that public stations had also partnered with California Office of Emergency Services to reduce the early earthquake warning standard from 30 seconds to less than 3 seconds.

In addition, public stations built a Statewide Emergency Communications Network with the State of Tennessee and public media stations in Florida created an emergency network that delivers up-to-the minute weather and news reports during severe weather events in Florida and South Carolina, APTS reported.

Nebraska public broadcasters are among the first in the nation to launch a free “virtual” channel over NextGen TV and the former CTO of Nebraska Public Media was at the ATSC NextGen Broadcast meeting in Washington D.C. last week to demonstrate its capabilities.

As part of its extensive capabilities, the ATSC 3.0 advanced television standard—now available to approximately 76% of U.S. TV households—allows broadcasters to launch so-called “virtual” channels. Like traditional main channels, they are transmitted over the air, using the NextGen broadcast data channel capacity of a host broadcaster, sending data directly to a viewer’s smart TV. Viewers with NextGen TVs can view and select the channel in their programming guide and access the channel seamlessly over the internet.

In Nebraska Public Media’s case, the broadcaster teamed up with Sinclair to launch its "Broadcast-Enabled Streaming TV" (BEST) Channel in Omaha last fall. Nebraska Public Media’s PBS and local programming is hosted on KPTM, Sinclair’s Fox affiliate in Omaha, and delivered in high dynamic range (SL-HDR1)

Ling Ling Sun—who as former CTO for Nebraska Public Media, led a team that launched the channel and is now vice president of technology for Maryland Public TV—explained the premise of the launch.

“We have many loyal viewers, and they watch our shows on different platforms,” she said. “We wanted to provide one portal to our viewers, so from this screen, they can watch linear broadcasting or video on-demand. And we also integrated our radio streams into it. Viewers can also scan the QR code [on-screen] to donate. And we incorporated some community outreach programs. It’s basically a service to inform, educate and entertain our viewers.”

In addition to local programs such as the long-running “Backyard Farmer,” the virtual channel also includes weather alerts as well as live and on-demand coverage of the Nebraska Unicameral Legislature. In other words, basically most programming and live services available on the network’s traditional TV and radio channels can be made available on its BEST channel.

When NextGen TV was launched in Omaha in 2022, the four major networks began broadcasting from host station KXVO, which serves as the lighthouse station for the area. However, PBS was not part of the launch and in the fall of 2024, the network launched its virtual channel on KPTM, Sinclair’s Fox affiliate in Omaha, the result of an agreement between Sinclair and America’s Public TV Stations (APTS) in which the broadcast station group agreed to provide carriage of APTS member stations for free in markets where Sinclair had deployed NextGen TV and a public television station had not.

The technology enabling the virtual channel resides in the RUN3TV platform, which brings two-interactivity to broadcast television. The platform’s architecture enables TV stations to develop, innovate and differentiate at the application services layer, making possible consistent viewer experiences across all NextGen TV devices, according to Pearl TV, which launched it in 2022.

“I wanted to deploy this on RUN3TV because I think this is a great example where we can combine OTA and OTT together,” Sun said. “One portal, one unified access so people can watch over the air and also easily jump to OTT.”

To develop the interface, Sun reached out to the University of Nebraska-Lincoln for help from a senior student design team. The network sponsored the initiative that involved six students working on the project which resulted in the team receiving a Platinum Award from the University, according to Sun.

Other markets that have launched virtual channels under the SInclair-APTS initiative include Nashville and Reno, Nev.

WASHINGTON—In response to the Trump administration’s plans to eliminating funding for public television stations in its fiscal year 2026 budget, America’s Public Television Stations issued a strong statement condemning the proposals as a “direct attack” on communities served by those stations.

“America’s Public Television Stations are deeply disappointed that President Trump’s FY 2026 budget proposal recommends eliminating federal funding for the locally controlled public television stations that the American people rely on and support funding for, including 65% of people who voted for the President,” said Kate Riley, president and CEO of ATPS in a statement.

Riley also stressed that those stations provide critical services for education, local information and emergency alerts and information. “Eliminating federal funding for public media would significantly jeopardize public safety across the country, particularly in areas with weak cell coverage and less broadband access,” she said.

“These services are particularly critical in more rural areas, many of which have no other sources or local media,” she noted. “Eliminating this funding is a direct attack on the communities that depend on their local public media stations everyday for public safety, education and community connections.

In terms of emergency preparedness, she also stressed that “the federal investment in public media enables us to provide the delivery of geo-targeted wireless emergency alerts to cell phones, and the only nationwide situational awareness tool used by public safety officials to track and monitor the effectiveness of those alerts.”

It also plays a major, and highly valued educational role, the group said. “In fact, according to a recent YouGov survey, 82% of voters, including 72% of Trump voters, said they valued PBS for its children's programming and educational tools,” she said.

“These services are essential for the American people and worthy of the federal investment, which amounts to about $1.60 per person per year and less than one 1/100th of a percent of the federal budget,” she concluded, adding that public media also has widespread support among the public.

“Public media has earned the broad support of the American people, across the political spectrum, including 65% of people who voted for President Trump who think public television is either adequately funded or underfunded, according to a recent YouGov survey,” she said “And in March, the Pew Research Center found that Americans are more likely to support than oppose continuing federal funding for NPR and PBS by a factor of almost 2:1.”

TACOMA, Wash.— Seattle public broadcaster KBTC Public Television has launched KBTC-VC, a new virtual ATSC 3.0 channel, broadcasting on virtual channel 28-11. The programming on KBTC-VC mirrors that of KBTC’s main channel 28-1, while providing enhanced accessibility for those with NextGen TV-enabled televisions.

Virtual ATSC 3.0 channels provide electronic programming guide information over-the-air to NextGen Smart TVs using the host broadcaster’s data channel capacity. NextGen TV viewers can select KBTC-VC in their programming guide and access the channel seamlessly over an internet-connected TV.

Viewers may need to rescan their TVs to access the new channel and begin watching KBTC-VC. To do this, viewers should look for a “Channel Scan” or “Auto-Tune” function in their settings menu.

Public broadcasters have launched other virtual channels in Reno, Nev., Nashville and Omaha, Neb. over the past 12 months, in partnership with Sinclair Broadcast Group and America's Public Television Stations (APTS).

“We are excited to make NextGen TV available in our region,” said DeAnne Hamilton, Executive Director and General Manager of KBTC Public Television. “This launch deepens KBTC’s commitment to innovation and accessibility by reducing barriers to high-quality broadcast media and by supporting digital services that our viewers in western Washington rely on every day.”

“We congratulate KBTC Public Television on its new virtual ATSC 3.0 channel,” said Kate Riley, President and CEO of America’s Public Television Stations (APTS). “With this new virtual channel, the NEXTGEN Broadcast Service will be delivered to more public television viewers and enhance the local public television services that the Tacoma and western Washington community depend on every day.”

WASHINGTON—The FCC’s call for public comments and suggestions on outdated regulations that it should be eliminated has prompted a slew of fillings from broadcasters urging the agency to abolish its ownership caps and a host of other regulations.

The FCC’s deregulatory push and the creation of a docket for public comments called “In Re: Delete, Delete, Delete”, had made Docket 25-133 one of the most popular items on the agency’s website, with over 910 filings as of April 17. Those comments include lengthy filings and letters from the National Association of Broadcasters, the Society of Broadcast Engineers, State Broadcasting Associations, America’s Public Television Stations, PBS, Nexstar, Sinclair, Gray Media, Mission Broadcasting and many individual TV stations.

Our wrap-up of the filings from broadcasters begins with the NAB.

“If there was ever a proceeding tailor-made for broadcasters, this is it,” the NAB wrote in its filing. “Due to history – broadcast stations were the first regulated entities placed under the FCC’s purview – and a general lack of will, to date, the Commission has consistently failed to modernize, let alone delete, delete, delete, the myriad antiquated and ineffective rules that apply only to the nation’s free, over-the-air broadcasters…This is a major policy failure that NAB has long urged the FCC to correct."

“But now, with Delete, Delete, Delete, the Commission has an historic opportunity to correct course, bring rationality to its regulatory regime, and make television and radio broadcasting stronger and more competitive,” the NAB argued. “To be successful in this critical endeavor, however, the FCC’s first step must be eliminating the national TV ownership rule and local TV rules.”

The NAB also urged the FCC to reduce rules that impede the transition to NextGen TV, to sunset ATSC 1.0 broadcasts, update EAS rules and reduce paperwork and rules relating to children’s programming, EEO and other areas.

NEXSTAR

In its filing Nexstar, the nation's largest broadcast station group, submitted a host of letters from stations that Nexstar owns or has relationships with urging the Commission to eliminate television ownership regulations.

In one of those letters, Jerry Brehm, vice president and general manager of WTEN-TV & WXXA-TV in the Albany New York market urged “the Federal Communications Commission(FCC) to eliminate the current rules that: (l) place a cap on the percentage of the country's television households that a broadcast company may reach; and (2) limit the number of stations a broadcast company may own in any single local market. As the media landscape continues to evolve, these outdated regulations are hindering the ability of local broadcasters to compete against `Big Tech’ in what has become an increasingly digital and highly competitive marketplace dominated by a few giant platforms that have no meaningful connection to our local community.”

In the letter, Brehm noted that October of 2023 marked the 70th anniversary of WTEN-TV and in August 2022 was the 40th anniversary of WXXA-TV. These stations “provide over 65 hours of local programming to our community, free over the air, every week,” he wrote, adding that the station is heavily involved in the local market in its work with local charities and not for profits.

“Now imagine if the type of commitment softened or worse, went away,” because these local stations were unable to compete in the media landscape, he noted. “Who would cover our community. And we are simply just one market among many threatened by these outdated rules. We have made a commitment to our market, to local news and information and that simply can't go away.”

GRAY MEDIA

In its filing, Gray Media also cited the elimination of ownership caps and regulations as their top priority. In addition, Gray argued that the FCC commission should repeal or reform unconstitutional and ineffective programming mandates relating to Children’s programing, Foreign Sponsorship ID and requirements that local stations file lists of important local issues.

In the area of the Emergency Alert System, it asked the FCC to simplify and reduce regulations relating to false alerts.

Gray also argued that the Commission should repeal unauthorized and outdated reporting requirements relating to Equal Employment Opportunity Rules (47 C.F.R. § 73.2080), Biennial Ownership Reporting (47 C.F.R. § 73.3615) and Public File Requirements (47 C.F.R. § 73.3526)

“Gray welcomes this long overdue initiative to repeal excessive and counter-productive rules,” the filing said. “The Commission’s systemic over-regulation of local broadcast stations has its roots in the 1930s, when broadcast media was the technological disruptor. While these regulations have always been a millstone around the industry’s neck, they didn’t stop broadcasting from becoming the pre-eminent provider of news and information in local markets across the county. The harm these regulations caused to broadcasters’ competitiveness and efficiency was long hidden by the power of mass media and the absence of competitors that could micro-target programming and advertising to erode mass audiences. But that changed decades ago with the emergence of first cable television, then satellite television, and, finally and decisively, the Internet.”

“What didn’t change was the Commission’s appetite for more and more regulation of broadcasting,” Gray argued. “Most of these regulations target broadcasters only, while broadcasters’ chief direct competitors remain free to exploit an unlevel playing field, further eroding broadcast audiences and threatening vital local programming. About a year ago, Chairman Carr recognized this situation as creating a “break glass” moment for broadcast regulation. Gray agrees and hopes that this proceeding will be at least a first step to establishing a sensible regulatory regime for broadcasting that recognizes broadcasters are, on the one hand, only one of many voices in the local media landscape, but are also, on the other hand, the most reliable and most trusted provider of local news and information programming in the United States. If the Commission is to preserve this vital force in the American media landscape, it is going to have to – as Commissioner Carr put it – break some glass.”

SINCLAIR

In a wide-ranging filing with the Federal Communications Commission, Sinclair applauded the agency’s push towards deregulation while arguing that it must address a ““toxic combination of a rapidly changing competitive environment” and the “ossified regulatory burdens” that are harming broadcasters and consumers. “While there are a number of deregulatory steps the Commission can take to level the playing field and allow broadcasters to compete, by far the most important actions the Commission can take are the elimination of the local and national ownership caps and an expeditious proceeding setting a sunset date for ATSC 1.0,” the April 14 filing argued.

It also argued that the Commission should eliminate the simulcast and “substantially similar” requirements as well as other rules to “greatly reduce regulatory burdens and facilitate a timely transition” to ATSC 3.0.

In the filing Sinclair also called on the FCC to eliminate children’s programming reporting requirements; reduce public file and political file obligations; relax EEO program requirements and reduce other regulatory burdens. The complete filing can be found here.

MISSION BROADCASTING

In its filing, Mission Broadcasting submitted letters from executives at some of its stations urging the FCC to eliminate broadcast ownership rules.

One of those letters came from Chris McDonnell, vice president and general manager of WPIX in New York City, which has faced some serious regulatory scrutiny from the FCC over whether its relationship with Nexstar in retransmission negotiations violates current ownership rules. Last year, the FCC fined Nexstar and Mission over the violations, which Nexstar has disputed.

“On behalf of WPIX-TV NYC, I write as part of the In re: Delete, Delete, Delete proceeding to urge the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) to eliminate the current rules that (1) place a cap on the percentage of the country’s television households that a broadcast company may reach; and (2) limit the number of stations a broadcast company may own in any single local market,” McDonnell wrote.

“As the media landscape continues to evolve, these outdated regulations are hindering the ability of local broadcasters to compete against “Big Tech” in what has become an increasingly digital and highly competitive marketplace dominated by a few giant platforms that have no meaningful connection to our local community,” he wrote. After recently celebrating our 75th anniversary, PIX11’s storied brand is known throughout the Tri-State area as “New York’s Very Own.” Our team is deeply involved in our local communities where we currently air almost 70 hours of locally-produced content every single week. We are steadfastly focused on providing critical information to keep our loyal viewers informed, and safe, in New York and New Jersey. We also regularly partner with vital community groups such as St. Jude’s Research Hospital, The Hispanic Women’s Council, East Harlem’s Union Settlement, and the NYC Hispanic Chamber of Commerce, to name just a few.”

“Television viewers in communities across the United States depend on their local TV stations to provide them with important information that directly impacts their lives, including news, weather, sports, and often lifesaving emergency information. Local TV stations are often the first place people turn to for news and information and, increasingly, the only remaining source of local journalism,” he noted. “As local newspapers and radio stations go out of business or are forced to severely limit their operations or adopt a national format, the role local broadcasters play in disseminating accurate information is more important than ever. Still, local stations like this one are suffering because of archaic FCC rules and regulations that have no connection to current marketplace realities. In short, without regulatory relief, local television stations will be unable to continue making the kinds of investments necessary to produce the high-quality news and information programing upon which our viewers rely daily.”

“The reality of today’s media environment demands a reconsideration of legacy rules that no longer reflect the urgent situation hastened by the industry’s competitive dynamics,” he concluded. “We urge the FCC to take swift, decisive action in eliminating the restrictions on media ownership to ensure a level playing field that benefits both local broadcasters and the communities we serve.”

JOINT COMMENTS FROM STATE BROADCASTERS ASSOCIATIONS

A lengthy brief for associations representing broadcasters argued that a “more practical approach to broadcast enforcement is critically needed.”

It also backed the NAB's proposals for speeding the transition to ATSC 3.0 and modernizing ownership rules but said the Commission needed to go beyond those rules to address the "regulatory miasma" that "overwhelms individual broadcast licensees and any hopes they might have for growth, while slowly strangling an entire industry—a bureaucratic boa constrictor."

“The State Associations appreciate this opportunity to support the Commission’s efforts to relieve FCC regulatees of not just unnecessary regulatory burdens, but of those whose public benefits fall short of the costs they impose on broadcasters, thereby harming service to the public,” the brief stressed. “The media environment continues to evolve rapidly on a near-daily basis, and has already changed in tectonic ways unimaginable when most of these rules were adopted. In the face of these rapid changes, rather than wither away, many of the Commission’s broadcast rules have instead ossified, remaining stubbornly in place despite their utility having long ago ended. Because changes to these relics of a different time have become so overdue, dramatic deregulation rather than mere incremental adjustments are needed to meet the Communications Act’s overarching goal of preserving and promoting broadcast service to the public.”

“As they compete against an ever-growing array of unregulated audio and video services," the brief complained that broadcasters’ are required to "stand up complex and expensive compliance programs, especially where requirements are vague, liability is strict, and enforcement penalties are high, is becoming untenable. This dynamic is driving smaller operators from broadcasting while erecting a significant cost and knowledge barrier which blocks those interested in becoming a broadcaster, or pondering whether to invest in, or lend to, a broadcaster.”

To free up the industry, the Associations the brief said “the recent release of the Public Notice seeking comments on the National Association of Broadcasters’ request to cement a timeline for transitioning to ATSC 3.0 is a good start, and completing the pending Quadrennial Review aimed at harmonizing the Commission’s broadcast ownership rules with the media world in which broadcasters must exist is an equally important step. However, to stop there and go no farther would be to repeat the tragic error of the Newspaper-Broadcast Cross-Ownership Rule—a rule that was mooted by the demise of countless newspapers long before it was removed from the books. The Commission must act here before broadcasting finds itself also teetering on the brink.”

More specifically, the Associations called for the FCC to “eliminate the many unnecessary paperwork obligations related to (a) the Public Inspection File, (b) the recruiting, hiring and promotion of broadcast employees, (c) the reporting of station contracts, (d) the reporting of each children’s television program episode preemption, and (f) biennial ownership reports; and providing greater flexibility to broadcasters in meeting their growing Political File obligations.”

The full brief, along with the list of the 48 associations backing it, can be found here.

AMERICA'S PUBLIC TELEVISION STATIONS & PBS

A filing by America’s Public Television Stations and PBS said, “public television welcomes this opportunity to suggest deletion or modification of several unnecessarily burdensome rules applicable to noncommercial educational (“NCE”) television stations. These recommended updates would help public television stations focus scarce resources on the operations, infrastructure, and innovation necessary to serve their essential public service mission."

The filing focused on several areas that would “reduce the regulatory burden of various outdated non content rules.” Those included “73.1226 – Station Logs and Records” and several other related rules (73.1800 – General Requirements Related to the Station Log; 73.1820 – Station Log; 73.1835 – Special Temporary Records; and 73.1840 – Retention of Logs).

Those rules “mandate station logging and recordkeeping that are no longer necessary," the brief said. Similar rules also apply to TV translators (74.781) and FM translators (74.1265) and should be eliminated.

The filing also urged the FCC to get rid of 73.1870 relating to “Chief Operators.” “in light of the fact that the FCC has not required stations to have licensed “operators” for decades, and in light of changes in technology – namely, the automation of stations and advancements in the reliability of computer-controlled transmission systems – the formal position of `chief operator’ and the associated duties have become an unnecessary and outdated regulatory burden,” the brief said.

Ownership reports was another area ripe for deregulation the filing said. It noted that “73.3615 – Ownership Reports…requires broadcast stations to file ownership reports every two years on December 1 of odd-numbered years. However, other than in connection with a license transfer or transfer of station control, there is no reason why these reports should be required every two years. Inasmuch as the Commission’s multiple ownership rules do not apply to noncommercial broadcasters, tracking attributable holdings of the officers or board members of noncommercial licensees serves little regulatory value.”

The filing also requested that the FCC “modernize or delete the requirements of the outdated station identification rule” and it complained about problems with the FCC filing systems.

“The Commission should take whatever steps are necessary to increase the resiliency and reliability of its online filing systems and other public-facing technology,” the brief noted. “Public Television’s experience has demonstrated that station licensees (and Commission staff) often face a significant burden attempting to interact with the Commission’s systems due to unscheduled downtime or other issues. For example, stations regularly encounter difficulty attempting to upload materials to the Commission’s Online Public Information File system (which is an obligation that stations face at least quarterly). This regularly forces station staff to make multiple attempts to comply with their regulatory obligations, often at night or on weekends outside of work hours, at additional cost to stations and often to the exclusion of other important local work.”

The full filing can be found here.

THE SOCIETY OF BROADCAST ENGINEERS

In its filing, the SBE, a professional organization of television and radio engineers and those in related fields, with more than 4,500 members in 116 chapters worldwide, stressed that “through this proceeding, the Commission has the opportunity to provide meaningful relief to FM radio broadcasters by simply eliminating and modifying certain interference rules that have not kept pace with the state of modern radio receiver technology.”

The full filing can be found here.

WASHINGTON—America’s Public Television Stations (APTS) has presented the 2025 Pillar of Public Service Award to Larry D. Unger, president and CEO of Maryland Public Television (MPT), for his remarkable work in education, public safety and community connections, in service to the people of Maryland.

The Pillar of Public Service Award recognizes the contribution of an extraordinary leader and innovator in one or more of public television’s three essential public service missions: education, public safety, and community connections.

“Larry’s exceptional work at Maryland Public Television has raised the bar of service and innovation many times during his 28-year tenure,” said Kate Riley, president and CEO of America’s Public Television Stations. “Larry and his talented team at Maryland Public Television have dramatically demonstrated the power of public television to deliver a broad range of essential local public services across the state of Maryland.”

Riley added that “Larry’s commitment to public service has been unwavering and essential to the success of the statewide network’s exceptional education services including Thinkport and the new Maryland Center for Media Literacy & Education; the innovative creation of the Maryland State Ad Agency; the critical public safety role MPT plays in the state; and the enhancement of community connections through engaging events and landmark local programs that bring pride to all Marylanders such as State Circle, Maryland Farm & Harvest, Outdoors Maryland, Chesapeake Bay Week and Chesapeake Collectibles.”

“I’m grateful for this special recognition from APTS,” said Larry Unger, president and CEO of Maryland Public Television. “During my time in the banking industry, I never imagined having the opportunity to change career paths and work with the talented and dedicated people in public television. What I’ve experienced at MPT and across the public media system are individuals dedicated to creative excellence, service and making their communities a better place. I’m proud of the positive impact our work continues to have and thankful to all those who I’ve had the honor to collaborate with over nearly three decades.”

Larry D. Unger is the fifth president in the more than 55-year history of Maryland Public Television (MPT). MPT, a $37.9 million noncommercial broadcasting operation headquartered in Owings Mills, Maryland, is a state licensee member of PBS.

Unger first joined MPT in 1997, bringing to the organization nearly three decades’ experience in the local financial services community. After serving as the statewide broadcaster’s vice president of administration and finance, chief financial officer, and executive vice president and chief operating officer, he was named MPT’s president and CEO in July 2011.

Within the public television industry, Unger is an at-large trustee of America's Public Television Stations. He is also a former member of the National Educational Telecommunications Association board of directors, a board member and former cochair of the Organization of State Broadcasting Executives, and former trustee and former chairman of American Public Television (APT), the largest syndicator of programming for U.S. public TV stations.

Prior to his MPT career, Unger served for 11 years as a senior-level executive at Baltimore Bancorp and its main subsidiary, The Bank of Baltimore. In his final position there, he was executive vice president of both entities, with responsibility for all consumer-related activities, including the branch system, retail lending, bank card and investment services. He managed more than $600 million in loans, nearly 600 employees and $1.75 billion in deposits.

Unger holds a bachelor’s degree in finance from the University of Baltimore, where he also earned a certificate in financial management. He completed the Stonier Graduate School of Banking, the pre-eminent executive management school for the financial services industry. Unger served for six years in the U.S. Coast Guard Reserve.

The 2025 Pillar of Public Service Award was presented to Larry D. Unger during the APTS Public Media Summit on Monday, February 24, 2025.

The head of a public TV advocacy group this week warned that threats to cut funding to public broadcasters could impact public safety.

In an address to the annual meeting of America’s Public Television Stations (APTS), the organization's president/CEO Kate Riley recalled the critical role public broadcasters have provided over the past year, citing numerous natural disasters.

“We have seen time and time again how local stations are a lifeline of local information and resources during emergencies,” Riley said. “That was evident during the hurricanes in Florida and the Southeast in the fall and the wildfires in Southern California earlier this year and the floods in Kentucky just last week, among many other examples your role as a local broadcaster some of the last in this country, and the critical role that all public television stations play in enabling PBS WARN [Warning Alert & Response Network] to deliver emergency alerts to our cell phones, makes you an essential public safety service provider.”

“Simply put, cuts to public broadcasting funding significantly jeopardize public safety,” Riley added.

This year’s APTS meeting is Riley’s first as president, succeeding long-time president Patrick Butler last year. And since public TV is no stranger to periodic funding threats, Riley was soberingly realistic when assessing the new political environment on Capitol Hill under the Trump administration.

“We face a new political landscape with significant uncertainty and growing threats, some predictable and many unpredictable,” she said. “Throughout our over 50 year history, the public television system has faced numerous challenges, and we have always overcome them.”

The most immediate concerns revolve around funding. In December, then President-elect Trump called for Congress to eliminate all funding to the Corporation for Public Broadcasting and FCC Chairman Brendan Carr has initiated an investigation into NPR and PBS to determine whether their underwriting announcements violate federal prohibitions against commercial advertising on public broadcasting stations.

Riley emphasized the value of public broadcasting, telling broadcasters that communicating with their Congressional representatives about how educational programs and initiatives impact local communities and help “build the echo chamber of positive information about the valuable services your stations provide and why federal funding is essential to that work.”

“We must say that federal funding is essential to the local services that each one of your station provides,” she added.

Threats to public broadcast funding are not new and nearly every Republican administration and/or Congress has called for curtailing or outright ending public broadcasting with opponents accusing the network of liberal bias. But the fervor threatens to reach a fever pitch this time given the intensity of the current administration towards removing such “biases” from media, in particular one that receives a portion of funding from Congress, which, through the Corporation for Public Broadcasting, provided $525 million in FY 2023.

Riley said public broadcasters have an obligation to help bridge the political divide, which has become more polarizing in recent years.

“We have a responsibility and a long history of reflecting and serving the broad range of thought and experience in each of our communities,” she said. “People share many of the same goals, to be safe and healthy, to have opportunities for their family, but each person's own experiences, perspectives and priorities influence how they determine the best ways to achieve these goals for themselves and their families.

“Even though they share many of those goals, there is a real need for greater understanding of and appreciation for how and why people with similar goals draw different conclusions and take different actions,” Riley added. "Public television is uniquely positioned to reflect and share the broad range of views and experiences in each of our communities in a way that helps foster greater understanding of our neighbors and fellow Americans.”

After she explained the complexities of the looming Congressional budgeting timeline and process, Riley added that “we are tracking this process closely and working to ensure that it does not negatively impact public media.”

Riley concluded her address by citing recent surveys illustrating the support behind public broadcasting. “Seventy-six percent of Americans think that public television is a good investment; 88% of parents think PBS Kids is a safe and trusted place for their kids; 65% of people who voted for President Trump think PBS is either adequately funded or underfunded. And for the 22nd year in a row, public television is America's most trusted institution,” she said.

WASHINGTON—America’s Public Television Stations has elevated Jennifer Kieley to vice president, government and public affairs, effective immediately.

Formerly senior director of government relations, Kieley is tasked with managing congressional relations, serving as state government liason and working with federal departments and agencies, communications and grassroots and grasstops advocacy, APTS said.

“Jen has served APTS for over 18 years with exceptional skill, loyalty and thoughtful leadership,” APTS President and CEO Kate Riley said. “She has helped our organization and member stations navigate difficult times and successfully seize opportunities. Her collaborative nature and commitment to building consensus and working effectively with internal and external stakeholders will continue to serve APTS well. Jen’s deep knowledge and appreciation for the work of our stations, the public media system, the legislative process and the political landscape is a great asset to APTS and the public broadcasting community as a whole.”

In her new role, Kieley succeeds Riley, who was elevated to president and CEO of APTS last September, following the retirement of Patrick Butler.

Kieley joined APTS as a congressional liaison in 2003, advancing to director of government relations in July of 2009. She had been the group’s senior director of government relations since August 2023.

Before joining the public TV organization, Kieley worked as a legislative consultant for the National Water Resources Association and as a lobbyist for the National Rural Electric Cooperative Association. In six years at NRECA, she held positions in its grassroots department, ultimately becoming a lobbyist focusing on telecommunications, taxes and the Federal Emergency Management Agency, APTS said.

She has a bachelor’s degree in political science from the George Washington University.

WASHINGTON—Lonna Thompson, longtime executive vice president, chief operating officer and general counsel for America’s Public Television Stations, will retire effective Sept. 1, 2024. She is being succeeded as general counsel by Michelle Shanahan, former deputy general counsel at NPR.

Thompson, who has served in various capacities at APTS for 30 years, will become a consultant to the organization, helping member stations convert to the NextGen TV broadcast standard, exploring spectrum-based service and revenue opportunities for public stations and managing a grant program with the California Office of Emergency Services and 11 public television stations serving the State.

Earlier this year, Thompson received the Champion of Public Broadcasting Award from America’s Public Television Stations at the 2014 Public Media Summit and the Champion Award from Maryland Public Television (MPT) at the annual joint meeting of the Maryland Public Broadcasting Commission and MPT Foundation, Inc. Board of Directors.

“America’s public television stations are extremely fortunate to have been served so long and so well by the incomparable Lonna Thompson,” said APTS president and chief executive officer Patrick Butler. “Lonna has been an invaluable partner with me in the management of APTS for almost 14 years,” Butler said, “and her positive impact on this system since 1994 is beyond measure. “Lonna has helped our stations navigate the transition from analog to digital broadcasting, the first-ever auction of broadcast spectrum, the conversion to an exciting new broadcast standard, and countless proceedings before the Federal Communications Commission and other regulatory agencies,” Butler said.

“And not once but twice, Lonna stepped in to the leadership of APTS, as acting and interim CEO during periods of challenging transitions,” he said. “Everyone in public television owes Lonna a debt of gratitude we will never be able to fully repay.”

“It has been a true privilege to work in public media and to stand with public television stations as they educate, enlighten and help save lives in their communities throughout our country,” said APTS executive vice president and chief operating officer Lonna Thompson. “I have been extremely fortunate to have such a fine group of colleagues and friends as my APTS family. I will always be a supporter of public television stations and will always be honored to be counted among their number in their mission of service to all.”

“Lonna’s service to public television is incalculable,” said APTS board chair Franz Joachim, general manager and chief executive officer of New Mexico PBS. “Her length of service is only surpassed by her depth of service. Whether helping individual stations navigate issues with the FCC, build out capacity or pursue new technological innovations, Lonna’s advice and counsel have made differences at every station across the nation. Her focus on helping stations at a granular level has strengthened the system by making each of us stronger. Her steady leadership and wise counsel have been instrumental in creating an organization unparalleled in its commitment. APTS is ready for the next generation of leadership because of the strong example Lonna set and solid foundation Lonna helped build.”

WASHINGTON, D.C.—America’s Public Television Stations (APTS) has applauded the U.S. Senate Appropriations Committee for proposing level funding of $535 million for the Corporation for Public Broadcasting for fiscal year 2027 and $60 million for public media stations’ interconnection system for fiscal year 2025.

The recommendations were much better than those issued by the House Appropriations Committee on Labor, Health and Human Services, Education and Related Agencies in mid-July. For the second straight year, the House Committee proposed ending all public funding for the CPB. 

“America’s Public Television Stations are grateful for the bipartisan support of the Senate Appropriations Committee for this continued investment in the work of public television,” said Patrick Butler, president and CEO of America’s Public Television Stations. “We are pleased by this recognition of the critical role our local stations play in their communities and the essential services they provide all Americans in education, public safety and civic leadership.

Butler also said that “We are thankful for the $60 million in FY 2025 for the annual station interconnection account, which is the backbone of the public broadcasting system, connecting local stations with national programming services and with each other to provide the educational programming that benefits millions of Americans of all ages.

“We await further word on funding for Ready To Learn, a competitive grant program at the Department of Education that supports the creation and distribution of educational media content to millions of children across America,” he added. “This program has been proven to help close the achievement gap between children from low-income families and their more affluent peers. We remain hopeful that Ready To Learn’s essential work will continue to be supported through full funding.”

“We are hopeful that the bipartisan, bicameral congressional support for public television will result in the final FY 2025 appropriations bills including the Senate funding levels,” Butler concluded. 

Earlier in mid-July, the House Appropriations Committee on Labor, Health and Human Services, Education and Related Agencies proposed eliminating future funding for the Corporation for Public Broadcasting in its FY 2025 appropriations bill. The bill reported out of the committee on July 10 provided no funding for the Corporation for Public Broadcasting (CPB), effective in FY 2027, a cut of $535 million from the current appropriation, and no funding for public media stations’ interconnection system, a cut of $60 million for FY 2025, the APTS reported. 

The bill did include level funding of $31 million in FY 2025 for Ready To Learn, a competitive grant program at the Department of Education that supports the creation and distribution of educational media content to millions of children across America.

“America’s Public Television Stations are deeply disappointed that the House Appropriations Committee has voted to discontinue federal funding for the Corporation for Public Broadcasting and public media stations’ interconnection system in the FY 2025 appropriations bill,” said Butler said in a July 10 statement on the House funding. 

In the earlier statement Butler said, however, that “notwithstanding today’s committee action, we remain hopeful that the strong bipartisan support for public media, both in Congress and among the American people, will ultimately result in full funding for CPB, interconnection and system infrastructure, and Ready To Learn as the appropriations process moves forward. At $1.60 per person, funding for public broadcasting remains the best bargain in the federal budget and the very definition of fiscal responsibility.” 

HUNT VALLEY, Md. & ARLINGTON, Va.—In an notable development that could help more public broadcasters get on the air with NextGen TV services, Sinclair Broadcast Group and America’s Public Television Stations (APTS) have announced that in markets where Sinclair has deployed a NextGen TV Broadcast Service (aka ATSC 3.0) and a public television station has not, Sinclair will provide free carriage of a virtual channel from that public television station.

Carriage of a broadcast-enabled virtual channel involves transmitting programming data within the NextGen signal that allows over-the-air viewers with NextGen TVs to see and select the channel in their programming guide and access the channel seamlessly over the Internet. 

Under this arrangement, Sinclair will provide hosting at no cost to the public television station. The public television stations will also have the option to pass through programming in high dynamic range (HDR), significantly enhancing the video quality to the viewers. Technologies such as Advanced HDR by Technicolor will allow content to be visually enhanced on NextGen TVs that support the improved picture format.

“America’s Public Television Stations are pleased to partner with Sinclair to offer more NextGen service to more public television viewers,” said Patrick Butler, president and CEO of APTS. “We are proud to have helped public television stations in almost 30 markets make the transition to the NextGen TV broadcast standard. This partnership with Sinclair will help serve local communities while we work with other public television stations to transition to NextGen TV to advance their public service missions.”

“We are thrilled to continue our partnership with America’s Public Television Stations to help bring the next generation of television to all viewers,” said Rob Weisbord, Sinclair’s chief operating officer and president of Broadcast. “For public television stations that face challenges in launching NextGen service, we hope that this offer will help get them in the advanced TV game and set the stage for their eventual launch of this spectacular service over the air.”

To date, Sinclair has launched ATSC 3.0 service in 43 markets, 36 of which do not yet have a public television station transmitting in ATSC 3.0. Public television stations interested in this offer can work directly with APTS to learn more. 

More information is available at www.apts.org. 

WASHINGTON—America’s Public Television Stations this week praised President Biden’s recommendation of $595 million in advance funding for public broadcasting in his fiscal year 2025 budget.

If approved it would be a record amount and far surpass the Corporation for Public Broadcasting’s base amount of $535 million, according to Current. The proposal includes $60 million for public broadcasting’s annual station interconnection account, which connects stations for nationwide emergency alerting and enhances cybersecurity. However, it leaves out funds for building out local stations’ advanced warning program.

“We remain hopeful that Congress will include funding of $56 million for the Next Generation Warning System at FEMA in FY 2025,” said APTS. “This funding would support the local public media station infrastructure that the nation depends on to transmit emergency alerts and warnings to every part of the country. Public broadcasting stations reach 99% of the American people, making us an essential part of the national alert and warning system. A CPB study identified at least $300 million in unmet infrastructure needs throughout the public media system – needs which threaten the reliability of our public safety mission. This program is critical to addressing those needs and enhancing the alert and warning capabilities on which our nation depends.”

The proposal also  includes $31 million for “Ready To Learn,” a competitive grant program at the Department of Education that supports the creation and distribution of educational media content.

“America’s Public Television Stations appreciate the President’s proposal to increase the federal investment in the Corporation for Public Broadcasting and for his endorsement of public media’s mission as partners in public service,” said Patrick Butler, president and chief executive officer of America’s Public Television Stations. “We are grateful for this recognition of the critical role our local stations play in their communities and the essential services they provide all Americans in public safety, education and civic leadership.”

WASHINGTON, D.C.—America’s Public Television Stations (APTS) has presented a Lifetime Achievement Award to Patrick Butler, president and chief executive officer of APTS.

The Lifetime Achievement Award is given on rare occasions to leaders who have demonstrated an extraordinary commitment to public broadcasting over the course of their careers.

The Lifetime Achievement Award was presented to Patrick Butler during the APTS Public Media Summit on Monday, February 26, 2024. 

During the summit, APTS also presented the 2024 Pillar of Public Service Award to Molly Phillips, former executive director and general manager of Iowa PBS, for her pioneering work in creating remarkable educational programming and content for the people of Iowa.

In terms of the Lifetime Achievement Award, Butler served as president and CEO of APTS for more than 13 years, making him the longest serving leader of the organization. Butler recently announced he will retire this year.

During Butler’s tenure, federal and state funding for public broadcasting has reached record levels. Forty of the 50 state governments now provide funding to support the work of public television stations. And Congress has enacted a new Next Generation Warning System infrastructure program for public broadcasters to assure their reliability as essential components of federal, state and local public safety communications, the group said. 

Under Butler’s direction, APTS has pursued a strategy to help stations achieve “greater success through greater service,” concentrating on three pillars of local public service: education, public safety and civic leadership. These services encompass lifelong learning, multi-hazard emergency communications, and chronicling heartland America’s culture, history and public affairs.

The strategy has won growing bipartisan support. In recent years, APTS has presented its Champion of Public Broadcasting award to U. S. Senate Majority Leader Charles E. Schumer (D-NY), Governor Henry McMaster (R-SC) and other political leaders spanning the ideological spectrum.

“Pat Butler has been the dedicated and visionary leader and voice of our local public television stations in our nation’s capital for over a decade of growth,” said APTS board chair Franz Joachim, general manager and chief executive officer of New Mexico PBS. “Pat’s leadership has led to significant legislative successes, including the first increases in federal funding after many years of level funding. From the three pillars of public service to the convergence of broadcast and broadband through NextGen TV, Pat’s forward-thinking strategies are leading public television on a path to inventing the future.”

“From working with Ken Burns to serving as board chair at the Maryland Public Television Foundation to leading APTS, no one has served our system longer, for better, than Pat Butler,” he continued. “We are all immensely grateful for Pat’s tireless commitment, unwavering determination and enormous heart. It is my privilege to present Pat Butler with a Lifetime Achievement Award he so richly deserves.”

Patrick Butler has been president and chief executive officer of America’s Public Television Stations (APTS) since January 1, 2011. During his tenure, public television stations have secured record levels of federal and state funding and substantially enhanced their local service in education, public safety and civic leadership.

Butler joined APTS after 18 years as senior vice president of The Washington Post Co., where among other duties he founded and led Newsweek Productions, which produced more than 200 hours of nonfiction programming, including “Watergate Plus 30: Shadow of History,” winner of the Emmy Award for best documentary of 2003. While at the Post Company, Butler also chaired PCS Action, a coalition of companies pioneering personal communications services, the spectrum technology that ultimately enabled the smartphone. He also founded the Post Company’s conference business, now operating as Washington Post Live.

Butler earlier served as Washington vice president of Times Mirror, the corporate parent of the Los Angeles Times and other media properties, and he was a founder of the Times Mirror Center for the People & the Press, which evolved into the Pew Research Center, one of the world’s leading public opinion research institutions. Butler also served as government relations vice president for RCA Corp. and as director of corporate public relations for Bristol-Myers Co. He was founder and president of Patrick Butler & Co., a communications consulting firm whose clients included leaders of government and business, and Cary Grant.

In government service, Butler was special assistant to U.S. Senate Majority Leader Howard H. Baker Jr., R-Tenn., and adviser to the White House chief of staff during Baker’s service with President Ronald Reagan. (He was policy director of Baker for President in 1979-80.) Butler was also a speechwriter and the associate editor of the White House Editorial Office for President Gerald R. Ford. He was chairman of the impeachment task force for U.S. Rep. Lawrence J. Hogan, R-Md., a member of the House Judiciary Committee during its consideration of articles of impeachment against President Richard Nixon in 1974.

Butler was appointed by President Reagan and confirmed by the U.S. Senate to the National Council on the Humanities, where he served as chairman of the public programs committee for the National Endowment for the Humanities (NEH) under Chairman Lynne V. Cheney. During his tenure, Butler recommended the largest grant in the history of NEH for Ken Burns’ landmark public television series, The Civil War.

Butler is chairman emeritus of the Maryland Public Television Foundation, the retired chairman of the Corporate Advisory Board of SOME (So Others Might Eat, providing comprehensive care for the homeless people of Washington, D.C.), and the retired vice chairman of the board of trustees of American University and of the Foundation for the National Archives, where he secured a major grant from the Boeing Co. for the Boeing Learning Center.

He is a member of the boards of APTS (ex officio), the Howard H. Baker Jr. Center for Public Policy at the University of Tennessee, the Better Angels Society supporting the work of Ken Burns and other filmmakers following in his tradition, the Broadcasters Foundation of America, and the DC College Access Program, which since its founding in 1999 has helped more than 30,000 D.C. Public Schools graduates attend college.

Butler received the 2023 Champion Award from Maryland Public Television; the 2021 Champion of Public Broadcasting Award from the board of trustees of APTS; the Lifetime Achievement Award in 2019 from American Public Television, a leading provider of programming for public television stations; and the Excellence in Leadership Award in 2017 from the Corporation for Public Broadcasting.

After majoring in political science at the University of Tennessee, he earned a Master of Arts (with distinction) in communication from American University and a certificate in finance and accounting from the Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania. He has been accepted as a Joan Shorenstein Fellow at Harvard University’s John F. Kennedy School of Government, and he was a guest lecturer (The First Amendment in the Twenty-First Century) at the 75th anniversary of the Princeton University School of Public Affairs.

Butler is married to Donna Norton Butler, and they have three daughters and three grandchildren.

2024 Pillar of Public Service Award

During the summit, Molly Phillips, former executive director and general manager of Iowa PBS, received the 2024 Pillar of Public Service Award for her pioneering work in creating remarkable educational programming and content for the people of Iowa.

The Pillar of Public Service Award recognizes the contribution of an extraordinary leader and innovator in one or more of public television’s three essential public service missions: education, public safety, and civic leadership.

Under Phillips’ leadership, Iowa PBS has become deeply embedded in the life of the State. From the station’s high-quality educational resources that help prepare Iowa’s children for success in school, to its hyperlocal coverage of agricultural news, to its broadcast of high school sports State championships, Iowa PBS provides services unique to Iowans that are unrivaled by anyone else in the State.

“Over the course of a 34-year career at Iowa PBS, Molly Phillips has pursued public television’s public service missions in extraordinary ways,” said Patrick Butler, president and CEO of America’s Public Television Stations. “Having served a variety of professional roles, including human resources, communications and community engagement, and culminating with her service as Executive Director and General Manager, Molly has made extraordinary contributions to communities across Iowa and to the entire public broadcasting system.

“Molly and her talented team at Iowa PBS have dramatically demonstrated the power of public television to deliver a broad range of essential public services across the State of Iowa,” he continued. “Iowa PBS is doing what public television stations do best: educating our children and serving our communities as partners in public service. Molly has been an innovative and relentless advocate for community service at its finest, both on television and through on-the-ground initiatives, and has set a standard of public service to which every public television station should aspire. We are all inspired by Molly’s dedication and passion for our public service missions and are immensely grateful for her decades of commitment to Iowa PBS and our system. It is my great honor to present Molly Phillips with the most well-deserved 2024 Pillar of Public Service Award.”

“I consider public television an essential service,” said Molly Phillips. “Essential because we help kids become school ready regardless of where they live or what their families can afford. Essential because we help teachers fill their classrooms with high-quality resources regardless of their district’s budget. Essential because our infrastructure helps assure public safety messages reach the most remote citizen. Essential because we help the homebound feel connected to their communities and each other. Essential because we inspire civic and civil discussion on the issues important to our state. We change lives every day in public media. What could be more rewarding than that? It has been an honor and a privilege to serve my community and my state through my work at Iowa PBS, and it is an honor to accept this award on behalf of that work.”

Molly Phillips was executive director and general manager for Iowa PBS, where she was responsible for leading Iowa’s only statewide broadcast network since 2013. Molly served Iowa PBS since 1990, devoting her career to the advancement of public television and Iowa PBS’s mission to educate, inform, enrich and inspire Iowans. She was previously the director of communications and community engagement at Iowa PBS, where for nearly 15 years she was responsible for the network’s state and federal public policy advocacy. America’s Public Television Stations (APTS) presented Molly with its National Advocacy Award in 2010.

Molly volunteered her time and talents to a long list of organizations advancing the vision and goals of public media. She served as chair on the APTS Board of Trustees and was an active member of the Organization of State Broadcasting Executives (OSBE). She also chaired the Diversity and Inclusion Committee for APTS. Molly served on the Public Broadcasting Service Board of Directors where she co-chaired the PBS Diversity Advisory Committee. She also served as past-chair on the National Education Telecommunications Association (NETA) Board of Directors. She previously served NETA as chair and secretary. As past chair, she also served on the Affinity Group Coalition of Public Media Organizations where she led an initiative to create professional development training opportunities for public media employees.

Molly holds a Bachelor of Arts in Business degree from Grand View University in Des Moines. She was raised in Southwest Iowa and she currently resides in Grimes with her husband Steve. They have three grown children together: Courtney and twin boys Taylor and Trevor.

WASHINGTON—America’s Public Television Stations (APTS) has announced the election of its board leaders and board members.

Franz Joachim, General Manager and CEO of New Mexico PBS in Albuquerque, NM, has been re-elected Chair; Dolores Fernandez Alonso, President and CEO of South Florida PBS in Miami, has been re-elected Professional Vice Chair and David Steward II, Past Board Chair of Nine PBS in St. Louis, has been re-elected Lay Vice Chair.

The newly elected trustees are:
 

• Clarence “C.C” Copeland, President and CEO of Louisiana Public Broadcasting  
• Diana Enzi, Lay Trustee of Wyoming PBS in Riverton, Wyoming  
• Susan Reardon, Lay Trustee of PBS SoCal in Los Angeles, California

The re-elected trustees are:
 

• Eric Easter, Lay Trustee of WHUT in Washington, D.C. 
• Anthony Hayes, President and CEO of WMHT in Troy, NY 
• Ambassador Gaddi H. Vasquez, Lay Trustee/Former Board Member of PBS SoCal in Los Angeles

Clarence "C.C." Copeland has been president and CEO of Louisiana Public Broadcasting (LPB) since 2022. He has been with the organization for more than 25 years, serving in both engineering and management roles, including serving as acting director since 2021 and serving as Deputy Director prior to that. In 2023, Copeland was elected to serve on the American Public Television (APT) Board of Trustees. 

Since 2015, he has served on the PBS Engineering Technical Advisory Committee (ETAC) and was its vice chair from 2020-2022. In 2011, under Copeland’s leadership, LPB became the first Public Broadcasting Service station to air an NRT (Non-Real Time) program from a digital file, part of the PBS Interconnect Project. Copeland also led the agency’s FCC Television Spectrum Repack that began in 2016. He is a member of the National Society of Broadcast Engineers, the Louisiana Association of Broadcasters and serves on Louisiana’s Commission on Civic Education. He holds both a Bachelor and Master of Arts in Mass Communication from Southern University and A&M College.

Under his leadership, LPB has premiered multiple award-winning documentaries including The Precipice, which explores the cultural and climate challenges facing Louisiana’s Pointe-au-Chien Indian Tribe. The documentary went on to win a Suncoast Emmy® and was named the 2024 Louisiana Endowment for the Humanities Documentary of the Year. Other highlights include the Emmy nominated Louisiana history docuseries Why Louisiana Ain’t Mississippi… or Any Place Else!, Angela Gregory: A Legacy Chiseled in Stone, and A Tall Order: The Louisiana State Capitol, as well as the Suncoast Emmy® award-winning digital-to-broadcast series Safe Haven: Exploring Louisiana’s Green Book. LPB saw their digital offerings expand to include two seasons of Ziggy’s Arts Adventure, an educational children’s puppet series that highlights Louisiana artists and includes educational art activities. LPB also saw great success with strategic partnerships. Working with PBS Digital Media and Houston Public Media, LPB produced the successful series Ritual, which explores the depths and varieties of rituals across the American South. LPB expanded their Louisiana French language programming with the series La Veillée, in partnership with Télé-Louisiane, and recommitted to sports programming with an LPB first - the broadcast of the Louisiana Sports Hall of Fame 2023 Induction Ceremony.

Diana Enzi, Lay Trustee of Wyoming PBS in Riverton, Wyoming, and her husband, Mike, started their first shoe store in Gillette, Wyoming, soon after they married. They later owned two more stores in Miles City, Montana, and Sheridan, Wyoming. They were very involved in their community. She has been a member of business-related organizations, serving as chairman of the downtown Heart of Gillette and as president of the Chamber of Commerce. She also served the state on the Wyoming Private Industry Council for seven years and on the State Council on Vocational Organization. Enzi was tasked with reading grants for the U.S. Department of Education’s Even Start. She was also active in community organizations like Rotary and P.E.O. and in her church.
 
In Washington, D.C., Enzi continued her involvement in community. She was a member of the Senate Spouses, president of the International Neighbors Club 4, a member of the honorary board of N Street Village and chair of several fundraising galas for nonprofits. Elaine Chao, secretary of the Department of Labor, appointed her to a term on the national Advisory Committee on Apprenticeship, where she helped develop policy to prepare the American workforce for sustained employment. Enzi also was a board member of the Marshall Legacy Institute, which toils to rid affected areas of the world of deadly land mines, thus protecting people and animals and the land on which they live. She helped launch CHAMPS, children against the land mine problem, where children raise funds to train and place dogs and handlers who find and eliminate mines. Wyoming children were the first to raise quarters and fund a land mine-detecting dog that saved lives in Sri Lanka for eight years. Enzi was appointed to the National Job Corps Association to develop programs to train young people for jobs and life. Enzi is now a professional volunteer.
 
Enzi graduated from Sheridan High School in 1967 and obtained a Bachelor of Science in social science and a master’s degree in adult education from the University of Wyoming. Enzi is a lifelong learner. Diana Enzi married Michael B. Enzi in 1969. They have three children, Amy Enzi Strom, Brad Enzi and Emily Enzi McGrady, and are grandparents to Trey and Lilly Enzi and Megan and Allison McGrady.

Susan Erburu Reardon is Principal of True North Charitable Advising, which she established in 2022 to provide philanthropic advice to individuals and consulting services to nonprofit organizations, with a particular focus on arts and culture and public media organizations. Reardon was a nonprofit executive for 15 years with KCET, the independent community public television resource for Southern and Central California (now part of PBS SoCal). She joined KCET in 1997 as its Senior Vice President and General Counsel. In 2004, Reardon was promoted to Executive Vice President and General Counsel, assuming the additional responsibility for obtaining grants for programming, production and general operations from federal and state government agencies and from charitable and corporate foundations. From December 2010 through October 2012, she served as Chief Development Officer, with overall responsibility for management of KCET’s fundraising efforts, including planned giving, major gifts, foundations and government grants, membership (annual giving), corporate underwriting and special events. 

 From September 2013 through May 2022, Reardon served as Director, Gift Planning of the Los Angeles Philharmonic Association (LA Phil). In this role, she created and managed a reinvigorated legacy giving program. During her tenure, she built legacy giving at LA Phil into a four-person dedicated Office of Gift Planning. As its leader, Reardon had overall responsibility for all solicitation, documentation, recognition and stewardship of legacy gifts, working with donors and their financial and legal advisors. She also devised, implemented and coordinated marketing, communications and stewardship plans for the LA Phil’s legacy society, the William Andrews Clark Society. From December 2015 through April 2020, Reardon was responsible for management oversight of the LA Phil’s major and principal gifts fundraising and its prospect management and research functions. In January and February 2020, she served as Interim Vice President, Advancement following the retirement of Kathleen Kane as its Chief Advancement Officer.

Reardon is a current member in good standing of the California State Bar, and has 43 years of experience as an attorney, including with the law firm of Gibson, Dunn & Crutcher, where she practiced law for 17 years and was a firm litigation partner for seven years. She has served as a trustee of the Los Angeles County Bar Association (LACBA) and as Chair of LACBA’s Corporate Law Department Section. She is a current member of the Los Angeles Council of Charitable Gift Planners (LACGP) and the National Association of Charitable Gift Planners. 

Reardon currently serves as Vice Chair of the Board of Directors of PBS SoCal, where she is Chair of its Advancement Committee and a member of the Executive Committee; as Vice Chair of the Los Angeles Master Chorale, as a Trustee and Chair of the Advancement Committee of Idyllwild Arts Foundation; as Chair of the Board of Directors of Lorelei Ensemble; and as a Director of the Pfaffinger Foundation. Throughout her work career, Reardon also served on the Boards of numerous arts and culture organizations, including as a member of the Board of the Los Angeles Master Chorale Association since March 1992 and as its Vice Chair, Strategic Initiatives from 2013-2018; as a member of the Board of Directors of Chorus America from 2006-2018; and as a member of the board of the Radcliffe Choral Society Foundation (RCSF) from 2011-2018, serving as RCSF’s President from 2015-2017.

Reardon graduated with her A.B. in History magna cum laude from Radcliffe College (Harvard University) in 1977 and received her J.D. in 1980 from Harvard Law School. She completed all course work in the Certified Specialist in Planned Giving program in 2015. As of 2023, she completed all course work and received certification from the American College of Financial Services as a Chartered Advisor in Philanthropy (CAP). 

The officers and trustees will begin their terms on Tuesday, Feb. 27, 2024.

WASHINGTON D.C.—America’s Public Television Stations (APTS) will hold its 2024 Public Media Summit, Feb. 26-28, at The Salamander Hotel here, the group said.

With the theme of “Partners in Public Service,” the summit will examine the public service mission of APTS stations as well as technological advancements that are changing the television industry.

“The Future of Technology” panel, scheduled for Feb. 27, 8-9:30 a.m. EST, will focus on must carry, Federal Communications Commission policies, spectrum business opportunities, streaming, ATSC 3.0, datacasting and possible partnerships between public stations and wireless careers that leverage 3.0.

Panelists will include: 

• Ajit Pai, former FCC chairman, partner at Searchlight Capital Partners and APTS board member
• Andrew Russell, president and CEO of PBS SoCal, Los Angeles, Calif.
• Franz Joachim, general manager and CEO of New Mexico PBS and APTS board chair 
• John Zeglis, retired chairman and CEO of AT&T Wireless, board member of WNIT, South Bend, Ind., and APTS board member 
• Michelle Shanahan, APTS general counsel who will moderate the panel.

FCC commissioners Brendan Carr and Geoffrey Starks are also scheduled to offer their thoughts on public TV’s role in the future of the media as well as public service.

The summit is only open to APTS members.

The full summit schedule is available on the APTS website.

WASHINGTON D.C.—America’s Public Television Stations (APTS) has elected former FCC Chairman Ajit Pai to a three-year term as an at-large member of the APTS board of trustees, effective Feb. 26. 2024.

“America's Public Television Stations are honored and delighted to welcome Ajit Pai to the APTS board,” said APTS president and CEO Patrick Butler. “Over the course of his four years leading the FCC, Chairman Pai saw clearly the value of public television stations’ public service missions of education, public safety and civic leadership, and his support on matters ranging from the spectrum auctions to the adoption of the NextGen TV broadcast standard reflected that vision.

“As we plan to make the most of our spectrum assets in service to the American people, Chairman Pai will bring an immensely useful perspective and extraordinary experience to our work,” he said. “We’re most grateful that he has agreed to contribute his formidable talents to help advance public television’s service to the public.”

Pai left the FCC in 2021. He is now a partner at international investment firm Searchlight Capital Partners.

“I am honored to join the distinguished board of America’s Public Television Stations,” said Pai. “For many years, I have appreciated the thoughtful approach APTS President and CEO Pat Butler and the entire APTS team have brought to challenging communications issues, and I’m delighted to have the opportunity to help shape that vision going forward as a member of the board of trustees. And I have long recognized the value of public television, from my childhood affinity for Sesame Street through my tenure at the FCC.”  

More information is available on the APTS website.

WASHINGTON—America’s Public Television Stations (APTS) has hired Michelle Shanahan as the organization's General Counsel. Shanahan begins this role today.

As General Counsel, Shanahan will oversee the legal affairs of APTS, including leading the governance, regulatory, contracting, corporate compliance and nonprofit legal work of the organization. She will be responsible for the FCC work of APTS on behalf of its member stations, and will serve as corporate secretary.

Shanahan will also manage the telecommunications and spectrum issues and strategies of the organization, including the development of spectrum-related business and service opportunities with public media stations and industry partners.

Shanahan previously worked in NPR’s Office of the General Counsel for 25 years, most recently serving as Deputy General Counsel and Assistant Secretary of NPR and Secretary of the NPR Foundation. From November 2020 through February 2021, Shanahan served as NPR’s Acting General Counsel, Chief Legal Officer and Secretary. 

Upon her departure from NPR in 2022, NPR’s Board of Directors issued a resolution honoring her contributions, noting that her 25-year “tenure at NPR coincided with — and was instrumental to — a time of incredible growth for the organization, during which she used her formidable legal talents to help NPR embrace the digital opportunities of the 21st century and further cement its position as an internationally trusted source of news and programming.” Prior to joining NPR, Shanahan worked in private practice at Hogan & Hartson (now Hogan Lovells) and Cohn & Marks as a regulatory attorney representing broadcasters and other communications providers before the FCC.

“We are so pleased to welcome Michelle to America’s Public Television Stations,” said APTS Executive Vice President and Chief Operating Officer Lonna Thompson. “She has decades of experience in nonprofit governance, technology law, digital privacy, content licensing and transactional negotiations. She will be a great asset to our stations on a broad variety of legal and regulatory issues arising in our media industry.”

“We are delighted that Michelle has joined America’s Public Television Stations,” said APTS president and CEO Patrick Butler. “Michelle brings an impressive background in public media to her new role as general counsel. Her decades of experience will be a valuable asset to our team,” Butler said, “and she will play an important role in inventing the future of America’s public television stations.” 

“I am honored and thrilled to join the wonderful and talented team at APTS,” said Shanahan. “America’s public television stations provide unique and vital public service to their local communities. As a longtime fan of public television and advocate for public broadcasting, I look forward to working with APTS member stations to advance their essential missions and support their continued excellence and growth.” 

WASHINGTON, D.C.—America’s Public Television Stations (APTS) and Corporation for Public Broadcasting (CPB) both issued statements applauding the U.S. Senate Appropriations Committee for proposing $535 million for the CPB for fiscal year 2026 and $60 million for public media stations’ interconnection system.

The APTS also commended the Committee for recommending that $53 million be spent for the Next Generation Warning System at FEMA to upgrade public broadcasting stations’ public safety infrastructure in fiscal year 2024. 

“America’s Public Television Stations are deeply grateful for the bipartisan support of the Senate Appropriations Committee for this continued investment in the work of public television,” said Patrick Butler, president and CEO of America’s Public Television Stations. 

Separately, Patricia Harrison, president and CEO of the CPB commented on the Senate  Labor, Health and Human Services, Education and Related Agencies (Labor-H) funding bill by saying “we are grateful for the strong bipartisan support in the Senate that provides level funding for CPB. This essential funding ensures that public media’s educational and informational content and services are available for free to all Americans.”

“Working under the challenging constraints of the Fiscal Responsibility Act, the committee nevertheless made clear its enduring endorsement of our public service missions of education, public safety and civic leadership,” Butler added. “The committee also made clear that fiscal responsibility need not mean a federal retreat from institutions which serve the American people in essential ways, as we do.”

Earlier this month, the Republican-controlled House Appropriations Subcommittee on Labor, Health and Human Services, Education and Related Agencies recommended providing no funding for the Corporation for Public Broadcasting (CPB), effective in FY 2026, a cut of $535 million from the current appropriation. 

WASHINGTON, D.C.—The House Appropriations Subcommittee on Labor, Health and Human Services, Education and Related Agencies has recommended zeroing out public media funding in its FY 2024 appropriations bill, according to America’s Public Television Stations (APTS).

The bill reported out of the subcommittee today would provide no funding for the Corporation for Public Broadcasting (CPB), effective in FY 2026, a cut of $535 million from the current appropriation.

There is also no funding for system interconnection and infrastructure for FY 2024, a cut of $60 million from current levels.

The APTS said that the bill does not include information on funding for Ready To Learn, a competitive grant program at the Department of Education that supports the creation and distribution of educational media content to millions of children across America.

“This is a dark day for America’s Public Television Stations,” said APTS president and CEO Patrick Butler, “and we are only one of the casualties of a severe cutback that would also affect other important national institutions.”

“We understand the need for fiscal responsibility in the federal budget, and we are proud of the fact that America’s public television stations do so much for our communities and our country with an investment that constitutes less than one-hundredth of one percent of the federal budget – the very definition of fiscal responsibility,” Butler added, noting that ““We’re the only preschool education there is for 60 percent of America’s children. We’re indispensable partners in national, state and local public safety and homeland security communications, from early earthquake warnings in California to Amber Alerts everywhere to presidential communications in times of national emergency. And we’re the only media institutions in the country telling the story of heartland America: its history, culture and civic affairs.”

“We remain hopeful that the strong bipartisan support for public media, both in Congress and among the American people, will ultimately result in full funding for CPB, system interconnection and infrastructure, and Ready To Learn as the appropriations process moves forward,” Butler concluded. 

Congresswoman Kay Granger (R-Texas), is chairwoman of the House Appropriations Committee in the Republican-controlled House of Representatives. The Subcommittee chair is Robert Aderholt (R-Ala.).

WASHINGTON, D.C.—Following a vote by the House Homeland Security Appropriations Subcommittee to recommend reduced spending of $40 million for fiscal year 2024 for the Next Generation Warning System (NGWS) supporting public broadcasting’s public safety infrastructure, the America’s Public Television Stations issued a statement highlighting the importance of the program that urged Congress to restore the funding.

“In these times of severe budget constraint, America’s public television stations are grateful that the subcommittee proposed $40 million to continue the Next Generation Warning System,” said Patrick Butler, president and CEO of APTS. “But this level of funding represents a $16 million cut from the current appropriation for NGWS, and we are hopeful that at least level funding will be approved in the final appropriation by Congress later this year.

“Public safety and civil defense are essential parts of public television’s mission to serve the American people,” he continued. “Public broadcasting stations reach 99% of the American population, and we are the only local media in many communities, making our work in alert and warning critical to the safety of people and communities throughout the country. Public television’s digital infrastructure provides the backbone for emergency alert, public safety, first responder, and homeland security services in many States and communities, including many local stations that serve as their States’ primary Emergency Alert Service (EAS) hub for severe weather and AMBER alerts.”

Butler also stressed that “public television has partnered with the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) to provide the Wireless Emergency Alert (WEA) system that enables cell subscribers to receive geo-targeted text messages in the event of an emergency — reaching them wherever they are in times of crisis, even if the internet is disrupted. Between March of 2020 and January of 2022, over 13,000 WEAs were sent to millions of mobile devices using the WEA system. This program is critical to ensuring that public broadcasting station infrastructure can continue to reliably provide alert, warning and interoperable communications and incorporate enhanced technology in those lifesaving activities.” 

In addition “[p]ublic television stations have worked with the U.S. Department of Homeland Security to demonstrate the effectiveness of our public safety communications capability in flood control and evacuation, school shooting scenarios, large crowd management, over-water emergency communications and other life-saving applications,” he continued. “Public television stations have also partnered with the California Office of Emergency Services to reduce the early earthquake warning standard from 30 seconds to less than 3 seconds. We’ve built a Statewide Emergency Communications Network with the State of Tennessee, public media stations in Florida created an emergency network that delivers up-to-the minute weather and news reports during severe weather events in Florida and South Carolina, and we’ve pursued many other alert and warning initiatives across America.”

WASHINGTON—Throughout its 50+ year existence, PBS has had a long history of using technological innovation to serve its viewers and communities—from educational and interactive services to datacasting, emergency alerting and coverage of local events. But as the past three years have shown, the disruption caused by the pandemic—which coincided with the emergence of streaming as the dominant force in television—is prompting public broadcasters to explore ways to use new technology to enhance and expand their presence in communities large and small. 

This was the focus of a session at the APTS Public Media Summit this week, featuring John Zeglis, former chairman and CEO of AT&T Wireless and current board member of APTS and WNIT, South Bend, In.; Jeffery Cole, director of the Center for the Digital Future at the University of Southern California; Andrew Russell, president and CEO of PBS SoCal and KCET in Los Angeles and APTS Board Chair, and Madeleine Noland, president, ATSC.

Zeglis opened the session by paraphrasing his favorite business writer, Peter Drucker, who once said that the greatest danger in times of turbulence is not the turbulence, it is to act with yesterday's logic. Aligning that sentiment up with the impact of the last three years was a common thread during the session. 

Zeglis commented on how the pandemic and the increasing dominance of streaming services has impacted how public broadcasters communicate with their audiences and the search for the "that next wave of killer apps."

"[Our panel] is billed as 'discussing a changing media landscape,' but I gotta say that I think it's more like 'rearranging' the landscape because who would have thought that half of all former television content is now being distributed through streaming?" Zeglis mused. "This really has the attention of small stations like us in Northern Indiana—most of what we broadcast we don't produce. so what's our role in the future when suddenly our content can be pulled down from some central server or from that 'great jukebox' in the sky? 

Lessons Learned
Cole reminded attendees that APTS’s last in-person gathering was exactly three years ago, just prior to the March 2020 global shutdown. “We lived through the greatest disruption of our lifetime,” Cole said, adding “your last meeting face to face was within a couple of weeks of that disruption.”

Cole focused on the shutdown’s impact on the film industry which perhaps, among all media, suffered the greatest disruption of all when movie theaters closed and studios were forced to experiment with the traditional method of determining when a movie was released and on which platform. Although the studios had been testing the boundaries of the traditional 90-day window between theatrical release and streaming availability, the pandemic allowed the studios to put such experimentation into reality.

For example, companies like Disney and Warner Bros., which owned both film production companies and streaming services, experimented with premiering new releases on their streaming services as part of the subscription. Cole noted that Warner Bros.,—which had just unveiled its HBO Max streaming service during the early months of the pandemic— was among the most extreme in its experimentation. 

“Warner Brothers wanted to get attention [for HBO Max] and decided that every movie they released in 2021—which included ‘The Matrix,’ ‘In the Heights,’ ‘Dune,’ every single one of them would be available on the day it appeared in the movie theater on HBO Max. While all this experimenting went on, people were wondering ‘would we ever go back to the movies?’” Cole mused. 

All of those experiments failed, Cole said.

“They cannibalized the box office and people didn't see them. We began to learn that you could probably not have a billion dollar movie without movie theaters. If you can't have a billion dollar movie you can't have a $200 million budget.”

Although box office in 2023 is still lagging behind pre-pandemic levels, last year saw the return of the first $1 billion grossing movies since before the shutdown, a return to a sort of semi-normalcy that Cole attributed to one of the only persons on earth with the kind of clout to fill movie theaters again. 

“The guy who saved the movie business—and this isn't an exaggeration— is Tom Cruise,” Cole said. “‘Top Gun Maverick’ was finished before Covid but Tom would not let them release it in ‘20 or ‘21. He had the power of control when it was released. He wouldn’t release it until last May. No one ever sold or marketed a movie the way he did and brought people back for the first billion dollar movie after Covid.” 

As the country began to open up again, viewers started becoming preoccuped with things other than TV viewing, Cole said.

“As we began to leave our homes, 2022 was the year that we learned that streaming was not the answer,” he said. Prior to the launch of Disney+ in 2019, the dominant player in streaming services was Netflix, but with the influx of new streaming services from major studios that happened to coincide with the onset of the pandemic, saturation has taken hold and so has competition for viewers. And with declining subscription numbers impacting revenues, this is leading to companies like Netflix launching lower cost ad-supported tiers. 

“I think it's a war between Disney+, HBO Max and Netflix and the streamers are realizing that they cannot raise their prices, they’ve got to find other ways to enhance their revenue,” Cole said. “That's why they're moving to advertising.”

What does all of this mean for PBS and their commercial brethren? “I think local television got rediscovered during Covid,” Cole said. “Local television usage was over 50%—but so too was cable, and streaming was up 74%.” 

Cole added that the Center for the Digital Future has been tracking viewership of local news for the past eight quarters, and when it comes to what viewers’ primary source of news is, “what we found was really quite astonishing for people who don’t know how good local and public TV is.”

The number one answer in both the first and final quarters was local television, according to Cole who added that “17% of Americans use local television as the primary source of news; and it grew from 15% in Q1 while cable television dropped from 13 to 10; broadcast television went from 12 to 13 and the internet dropped from 13 to 11.”

“People discovered how much they care about what's happening in the local community,” Cole said, adding that with more streaming services adopting advertising, “public television is now the only place to go to escape advertising.”

“All of a sudden streaming’s looking a lot like cable television,” he concluded.

Maintaining Close Community Relationships
Russell spoke to the unique relationship public broadcasters have with their local communities and the focus on providing the types of services and outreach that other media outlets can’t or won’t, particularly for rural viewers.

“We need to continue to serve those unserved and underserved communities, especially those without broadband content,” Russell said, adding that, in contrast to broadcast’s “one to many” paradigm, public broadcasters should also take advantage of streaming’s unicast model. 

“We must lead into innovation with this powerful one-to-one technology,” Russell said. “We must use this technology, not just for membership, enrollment, and renewals, but also to support and strengthen our wide range of station local business models, such as K-12 education, university services, local journalism, early education, to impact initiatives to address local community issues.”

Pointing to Amazon’s approach to encouraging user loyalty, Russell urged his fellow public broadcasters to focus on the themes that have engaged viewers with their local stations and to use new technologies to enhance those relationships. 

“We care about education and learning; we care about our connection to our communities; we care about engagement; we care about serving and growing,” Russell said. “The underlying technology of screens allows us to build relationships and at scale. We're looking at the beginning of exploring the powerful potential of this technology as examples in our own stations.”

“Now this requires a lot of technology,” Russell added. “It requires data warehouses, adaptive marketing technology, systems and software, artificial intelligence, new tools for our staff. It requires new roles for our staff and our relationship managers to build and curate relationships in our community and with our viewers.”

“As we think about where we stand today, we stand at an open unknown frontier before us,” he concluded. “Our mission is strong and unique. It is about public service. It is about local. It is about using the power of media for public good. Ahead for us is innovation and creativity, using local and national technology at scale, providing tools for all stations large and small, and new efficiencies in the way we can deliver our mission.”

3.0 Outlook and Opportunities
Although deployments of ATSC 3.0 (aka NextGen TV) among PBS stations have lagged behind their commercial counterparts, public broadcasters have developed new ways to use the advanced TV standard to keep communities safe and informed—from PBS North Carolina’s PILOT-funded field tests, using 3.0 as an alternative to the  analog paging systems first responders rely upon, to a pilot project in New Mexico to deliver classroom content via ATSC 3.0 broadcasts to students without broadband services. 

Madeleine Noland, ATSC president updated the APTS audience about where the other half of the 3.0 transition—the consumer side—currently stands. 

Since hitting the market in late 2020, approximately 5 million 3.0-enabled TV sets from Sony, LG, Samsung and Hisense have been sold in the U.S.. While 2023 is considered a transitional year, Noland believes the market for NextGen TV consumer products will reach maturation by 2026. 

As for peripherals such as set-top boxes and dongles that consumers can use to receive 3.0 on their non-3.0 sets? That’s probably the most exciting part of the consumer equation, Noland said. 

Products such as the Zapperbox and HD HomeRun 4K have been on the market for awhile but a new device from Tolka promised later this year will be the first to sport the NextGen TV logo. 

“Having the NextGen TV logo [on such devices] is extremely important marketing for us,” Noland said. “And it's going to potentially include the smallest USB dongle for $75." 

Noland is optimistic about the pace of the transition, especially in terms of the availability of consumer products. 

“If you were to compare where we are with the transition to NextGen TV now versus where we were at this time for the digital transition from analog, we are further ahead,” she said. "And when you consider that the first set-top box that came out for the original digital standard cost $1,700 in today's dollars, and these [3.0 devices] are coming out for $75-$250 already, we're doing really really well.”

Noland urged the audience to take advantage of the wealth of new services enabled by ATSC 3.0, which combines over the air broadcasts with IP, giving broadcasters the ability to offer advanced services including 4K, immersive audio, datacasting and other OTT-type services. It’s through such capabilities that broadcasters will have the ability to compete in the current crowded media market, she said.

“The world is your oyster, but it's really important for you to open the toolbox of NextGen TV,” she said. “Just the power that we have to work with local content, new revenue opportunities for new business models, new ways of doing hybrid OTA OTT services—that’s all for the taking. So I know the transition is hard, but we gotta get there. We cannot compete with 25 year-old technology in today's media landscape.”

WASHINGTON, D.C.—America’s Public Television Stations (APTS) gave out five major awards at the Public Media Summit that honored leaders and supporters of public media in such areas as innovation, public service, championing public media and lay leadership.

The awards included:  

• The 2023 Pillar of Public Service Award was given to Jonathan Abbott, president emeritus of GBH in Boston, Massachusetts, for his pioneering work in creating innovative educational programming and content for people in Boston and across America.
• The 2023 Excellence in Innovation Award to Dolores Fernandez Alonso, President and CEO of South Florida PBS in Miami, Florida, for her groundbreaking leadership in the creation and ongoing success of the Health Channel. 
• The 2023 National Advocacy Award was given to Jack Williams, governmental relations manager at Alabama Public Television, for his work in building relationships and support for public broadcasting within the Alabama congressional delegation and State Legislature.
• The 2023 David J. Brugger Lay Leadership Award was given to Diana Enzi, representing WyomingPBS, for being a tireless advocate for public broadcasting, both on the national and State levels. 
• APTS gave its Champion of Public Broadcasting Award to Domenic Ruscio, a long-time advocate who recently retired.

APTS said the Pillar of Public Service Award, which was given to Jonathan Abbott, recognizes the contribution of an extraordinary leader and innovator in one or more of public television’s three essential public service missions: education, public safety, and civic leadership. 

Under Abbott’s leadership, GBH helped create PBS LearningMedia, a rich digital resource platform which helps two million K-12 teachers enhance 40 million students’ education every day with tens of thousands of engaging, interactive learning objects adapted from the best of public television programming and additional resources from the Library of Congress, the Smithsonian Institution, the National Archives, NASA, National Science Foundation and more. This service has been widely used throughout the pandemic by students and teachers alike, with a record 20 million users visiting the site during the 2020-2021 school year.

As a trusted leader in educational media for more than 50 years, GBH is the largest producer of PBS content for television and the web. Its programming has ranged from iconic children’s programming such as Molly of Denali, Where in the World is Carmen San Diego, Arthur, Martha Speaks, Curious George, Between the Lions, and Pinkalicious and Peterrific, and Zoom to the lifelong learning series including American Experience, Antiques Roadshow, Frontline, Masterpiece and NOVA.

"Over the course of a 24-year career at GBH, first as general manager and then as president and CEO, Jon Abbott has made so many extraordinary contributions to public broadcasting that it’s difficult to catalog them all, much less pay adequate tribute to each of them,” said Patrick Butler, president and CEO of America’s Public Television Stations. “He was a founder of the Contributor Development Partnership, which has helped revolutionize fundraising for public television stations. He was a co-creator of the WORLD and CREATE channels that provide rich public affairs and how-to programming content to stations nationwide. With the Library of Congress, he launched the American Archive of Public Broadcasting, digitizing and preserving decades of public media content. And the list of such accomplishments runs on and on.”

The 2023 Excellence in Innovation Award  was given to Dolores Fernandez Alonso, president and CEO of South Florida PBS in Miami, Florida, for her groundbreaking leadership in the creation and ongoing success of the Health Channel.

Created by South Florida PBS in 2018, the Health Channel is the first TV channel of its kind, connecting viewers with medical and well-being specialists in real time and promoting healthier lifestyle options. In partnership with local organizations including Baptist Health South Florida and Miami’s Community News, the service provides the latest health information to enable viewers to better manage their own health. To complement the 24/7 broadcast and live interactions with medical and well-being specialists, the Health Channel offers a robust companion digital platform that provides access to specialized services.

“Under Dolores’s innovative, dedicated and passionate leadership, South Florida PBS and the Health Channel are offering their community – and Americans across the country -- a wealth of trusted information on everything from the coronavirus to mental health and medical breakthroughs to help people live healthier lives,” Butler said. “This is truly pioneering work, and it’s one more excellent example of the power of public television to invent a better future for all of us.”

The Champion of Public Broadcasting Award, which was given to Domenic Ruscio, is given to political leaders and other individuals who safeguard the ability of local public television stations to provide education, public safety and civic leadership services to their communities.

As a budget official of the former Department of Health, Education and Welfare, Ruscio delivered the first federal check for $5 million to the Corporation for Public Broadcasting (CPB) in 1969. From his service on the Senate Appropriations Committee staff, to his successful advocacy for our federal funding over the past 25 years as a consultant to APTS, Ruscio’s unwavering engagement has significantly strengthened the public media system. This exceptional work culminated over the last four years with consecutive increases in funding for the Corporation for Public Broadcasting, and a cumulative increase of $188 million across all public media programs, resulting in the highest level of federal funding for public broadcasting in history.

“From the moment Dom Ruscio delivered the first federal check to CPB more than 50 years ago, no one has done more, over a longer period of time, to ensure the essential public investment in our work,” Butler said. “His wise counsel, effective advocacy and personal passion for the mission of public media have been indispensable to our success over the past five decades. It’s my great honor to present him with this most well-deserved 2023 Champion of Public Broadcasting Award.”

The 2023 David J. Brugger Lay Leadership Award was given to Diana Enzi.

Elected to the WyomingPBS Foundation Board of Directors in 2020, Diana Enzi has been a tireless advocate for public broadcasting, both on the national and State levels. In addition to the foundation board, Mrs. Enzi serves on its Outreach and Events Committee and has helped organize screenings of Wyoming PBS programs, generated ideas for such programming, and connected Wyoming PBS with new friends and supporters across the State.

As the wife of the late U.S. Senator Mike Enzi, who was a faithful supporter of public broadcasting and federal funding for local stations for more than two decades, Mrs. Enzi has been, and continues to be, an influential and effective voice highlighting the important role of local public television and the need for continued federal investment in public media. Senator and Mrs. Enzi were partners in life for more than 50 years, from running shoe stores in Gillette to representing Wyoming in the United States Senate.

Mrs. Enzi has also been an active member of the board of the National Job Corps Association, which said upon her retirement in 2021, “Her commitment to education for young people has made a great impact on many students’ lives.”

“Diana Enzi has been a quiet but extraordinarily effective advocate for public broadcasting for decades,” Butler said. "She marshals her amazing network of friends and admirers in Wyoming for the benefit of Wyoming PBS in countless ways, and she was a beloved ambassador for our work on Capitol Hill with Senators and spouses alike for a quarter of a century. We are deeply indebted to her for advancing bipartisan support for public television over so many years, and we are honored to present the 2023 David J. Brugger Lay Leadership Award to Diana Enzi.”

The National Advocacy Award, which was given to Jack Williams of Alabama Public Television, is presented to station leaders who excel in telling the story of their local station’s work in education, public safety and civic leadership and how federal and State funding make that work possible.

“Jack Williams is a tireless advocate for public broadcasting, helping to strengthen our ever-growing bipartisan support both in Congress and throughout the State of Alabama,” Butler said. “Jack has been an extraordinarily effective champion of our cause with the Alabama congressional delegation, investing considerable time and energy in educating these leaders about our public service missions of education, public safety and civic leadership, and about the indispensable nature of the federal investment in our work.

WASHINGTON, D.C.—Total government funding for public media rose to record levels last year, passing the $1 billion mark for the first time, America’s Public Television Stations president and CEO Patrick Butler said in his annual address to the Public Media Summit. 

Noting the important role that public media played during the pandemic, where more than 100 million American contracted COVID and a million died, Butler stressed that the future of local public television stations is “a public service enterprise reaching far beyond the confines of the television screen.

Local stations are already “inventing the future,” launching dedicated education and health channels, interactive job training courses geared to local market demands, public safety and border security communications networks, and more, he said. 

Butler also hailed the adoption of the Next Gen broadcast standard as a platform for greater progress and innovation in the future. 

“Twenty markets have made the transition to the new ATSC 3.0 NextGen TV broadcast standard with all of its potential for greater mobility, security, addressability interactivity, spectrum efficiency and signal strength, as well as dramatically better picture and sound quality and more stations are converging every month,” Butler said. “Software on display at this summit will give NextGen stations the ability to connect directly with viewers, increase engagement with them and enable new revenue opportunities. And before us lies the intriguing prospect of using a portion of our spectrum to support a national data distribution that work connecting consumers and institutions of all kinds to the billions of devices on the Internet of Things….[This] pathbreaking platform…deploys the right spectrum for the right purpose at the right time for precisely such applications. Without the need for elaborate station engineering. South Korea has found a way to link the NextGen broadcast standard with 5G technology for such a network and we can too.”

Public media’s work in delivering a host of new services for education, emergency alerts and entertainment during the COVID period of “sorrow and anxiety” also helped them build public support for increased funding during recent years, Butler said. 

“At our last in-person Summit in 2020, I was proud to report that federal funding for the Corporation for Public Broadcasting (CPB) stood at $465 million as a result of a $20 million increase that you and we at APTS secured for the appropriation cycle just passed,” Butler said. “Since then, the CPB funding has increased every year by a total of $70 million. And the CPB appropriation now stands at an all time high of $535 million.”

Meanwhile, state governments have stepped up their support, Butler said. “Thirty-nine states now provide funds for public broadcasting and 20 of those states, providing more than half of our state funding, have both Republican governors and Republican legislatures. Including investment in capital projects and other special initiatives as well as station operations, state funding for public broadcasting reached $363 million last year and all the time record altogether government support for public broadcasting past the $1 billion dollar mark last year and that is a milestone worth celebrating.”

Butler acknowledged, however, that public stations face a difficult fiscal climate going forward. 

“A new Republican majority in the House of Representatives has come to Washington determined to rein in federal spending and reduce the national debt, investing only in programs they deem efficient, effective and essential,” he said. “One influential proposal making the rounds right now would reduce federal spending by $9 trillion over the next 10 years, largely through cuts in domestic programs. And we are on that list. Securing further increases for public broadcasting in such a climate is a daunting proposal."

"But we can say with absolute confidence that no federal appropriation does more with less than we do with one hundredth of one percent of the federal budget," he continued. "….[It] will be our responsibility, our opportunity to show them and every lawmaker how essential our work and public safety, education and civic leadership is to their constituents….We must impress on them that most stations in most markets simply don't have the donor base of corporations, foundations and generous individuals to sustain these services, much less enhance them without federal support. The Government Accountability Office reached precisely that conclusion when Congress asked them to study the question several years ago and the answer hasn't changed. This is why we're asking for an increase of $40 million for CBP in the next appropriation cycle, and level funding for ready-to-learn interconnection and system infrastructure and the next gen warning system. Securing that funding won't be easy. It never is. We're already advised that level of funding is a win for the next two years.”

WASHINGTON—America’s Public Television Stations (APTS) has announced that it will present two awards to lawmakers for their support of public broadcasting during its annual meeting in Washington next week.

The Champion of Public Broadcasting Award will be presented to Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-NY), "for his support and leadership over the years, and especially for his central role in securing significant increases for public media funding—our first in over a decade," and to Rep. Mark Amodei (R-NV) "for his stalwart support of public media funding over many years and strongly advocating for local public broadcasters during the spectrum auction and repacking process," the APTS said.

The Champion of Public Broadcasting Award is given to political leaders and other individuals who, according to APTS, "safeguard the ability of local public television stations to provide education, public safety and civic leadership services to their communities."

Representative Earl Blumenauer (D-OR), Co-Chair of the Congressional Public Broadcasting Caucus, will also provide remarks at the March 1st event.

WASHINGTON, D.C.—America’s Public Television Stations (APTS) has issued a statement commending the U.S. Senate for approving the $1.7 trillion fiscal year (FY) 2023 omnibus appropriations package that includes a record $682 million federal investment in public media.

The bill must still be passed by the U.S. House. 

“America’s Public Television Stations are enormously grateful for this bipartisan congressional support of a growing public investment in our work and for the Congress’s recognition of the critical role our local stations play in their communities,” said Patrick Butler, APTS president and CEO.

This package includes:

• $535 million for CPB’s two-year advance funding in FY 2025 – a $10 million increase.
• $60 million for Interconnection – a $40 million increase.
• $31 million for Ready To Learn – a $500,000 increase.
• $56 million for the second year of funding of the Next Generation Warning System – a $16 million increase.

“The $10 million increase for CPB in this bill will help restore some of the $100 million in purchasing power public broadcasting lost over 10 years of flat federal funding — and with it our ability to continue strengthening the educational services, the public safety communications, the civic literacy and the beloved programming which make public television such an essential part of the lives of millions of Americans,” Butler said. 

“We are also very pleased that this bill recommends an appropriation of $56 million for public broadcasting’s Next Generation Warning System for fiscal year 2023,” Butler continued. “Public broadcasting provides a critical communications infrastructure for emergency alerting and has active and growing partnerships with the public safety community at the local, State and federal levels. Reliable and resilient public broadcasting infrastructure is crucial to the success of this public safety mission.”

“We are also thankful for the $60 million in FY 2023 for station interconnection, which is the backbone of the public broadcasting system, supporting nationwide emergency alerting, providing local stations with national programming, connecting stations with each other, and creating operational efficiencies,” Butler said. “This $40 million increase would also support important system-wide digital infrastructure initiatives in cybersecurity, content delivery networks and data management, among others.”

“And we are appreciative of the $31 million investment, a $500,000 increase, for Ready To Learn,” he added. “This competitive grant program at the Department of Education supports public television’s essential work -- on-air, online and on-the-ground -- in early childhood education, to help build science, math and literacy skills of children between the ages of two and eight. Public television content created through Ready To Learn grants has been proven to help close the achievement gap between children from low-income families and their more affluent peers.”

WASHINGTON—Public broadcasters are urging the FCC to consider its unique position in the U.S. broadcasting environment when it comes to using DMA data to determine “must carry” status, warning the commission that the consolidation of cable headends is threatening public broadcasters’ obligations to serve the viewing public. 

In comments filed with the FCC this week, America’s Public Television Stations (APTS) and PBS filed reply comments in connection with the commission’s consideration of new rules in determining a television station’s designated market area (DMA).

Noncommercial TV stations can qualify for must-carry status if the MVPD’s headend is within the station’s contour or located within 50 miles of the station’s community of license “reference point.” Because of their unique requirements to provide statewide coverage, some public broadcast stations are often purposefully sited in counties far from any other broadcasters (that happen to be at the edges of DMAs) in order to ensure over-the-air service to all viewers throughout the state.

Since the Cable Act of 1992, technology advances have allowed cable operators to carry many more signals per headend, allowing them to consolidate into fewer headends. This can harm the ability of public broadcasters to maintain must-carry status, the groups told the FCC.

“Cable operators today can serve far more systems from a single headend than in 1992. While headend consolidation may well result in cost efficiencies for cable operators, it can disrupt long-stable viewer access to noncommercial stations when a headend is moved to a location beyond a station’s contour and more than 50 miles from its community of license reference point (i.e., a location with respect to which the station may no longer qualify for “must carry”). This can result in cable subscribers losing access to their local public TV stations,” they told the commission.

APTS and PBS said numerous examples of this issue have popped up around the country, citing one example along the area where Ohio, Pennsylvania and West Virginia border each other.  

“WNEO(TV), Alliance, Ohio (“WNEO”) provides PBS programming to viewers in northeastern Ohio, western Pennsylvania, and northern West Virginia. Earlier this year, a cable operator informed WNEO that its signal would no longer be carried on four western Pennsylvania cable systems that had carried the station for decades because of ‘the consolidation of the cable systems’ headend operations’ into a headend located in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. 

“As a result of the change, the cable operator explained in a letter, ‘WNEO is no longer a ‘qualified local noncommercial educational television station’ with respect to each of these cable systems.’ The cable operator noted that these ‘operational changes’ were made ‘to better serve [its] subscribers in the Pittsburgh Designated Market Area.’ As a result of these changes (which were solely within the cable operator’s control), WNEO can no longer rely on carriage on cable systems serving approximately 22,000 viewers who live within its over-the-air service contour,” they said in their filing. 

The groups also told the commission that because of rule changes imposed in 2019, public broadcast licensees are no longer required to elect carriage on DBS providers on a triennial basis; instead, carriage requests are considered “evergreen” once they are placed in a station’s online public inspection file and e-mailed to a DBS provider. 

Nevertheless, they said, triennial DMA information is relevant to noncommercial stations located in counties that may be reassigned to a different DMA from one carriage cycle to another. 

“Such stations would be entitled to seek DBS carriage in their new DMAs and, similarly, could lose carriage rights in their old DMAs upon the commencement of a new triennial cycle. Therefore, these stations currently must acquire DMA assignment data every three years in order to protect their statutory satellite carriage rights. PTV is presently exploring options for addressing this important issue so that public television stations in impacted counties can safeguard their scarce resources while serving their local communities.”

APTS and PBS offered three suggestions for the commission when considering new must carry rules for public broadcasters. 

“First, the Commission should recognize the significant burden of DMA changes imposed on noncommercial educational (NCE) stations. Second, the Commission should take note of the cumulative impact that Multichannel Video Programming Distributor (MVPD) headend consolidation has had (and could continue to have) in reducing the public’s access to noncommercial educational stations. Third, the Commission should consider ways to encourage Direct Broadcast Satellite (DBS) carriage of statewide public television licensees throughout their entire state, including in “orphan” counties, because DBS operators have made little to no progress in public television statewide carriage in the past decade.”

WASHINGTON D.C.—In comments to the FCC regarding NextGen TV/ATSC 3.0, public broadcasters said public stations are rapidly embracing the new broadcasting standard and that the number of stations offering NextGen TV broadcasts grew from three in June of 2021 to 12 in July of 2022. 

In addition half a dozen more are planning to offer the broadcasts in the near future and a number of others are looking for partners to help them launch the services. 

America’s Public Television Stations (APTS), The Corporation For Public Broadcasting (CPB), and the Public Broadcasting Service (PBS) made the comments to the FCC as part of the agency’s “Third Further Notice of Proposed Rulemaking” on the state of the transition to NextGen TV. 

“PTV member stations are focused on leveraging ATSC 3.0 technology to better serve local communities with enhanced educational content and improved educational effectiveness of curriculum-driven resources, along with advanced accessibility and public safety services,” the groups said. 

But they also stressed that public stations are a diverse group of broadcasters, serving both small rural and large urban communities that face “many challenges” in adopting ATSC 3.0. 

As a result there is no “one size fits all” approach for ATSC 3.0 across public TV and “stations are vigorously pursuing ATSC 3.0 deployments through many varied paths," the groups said. 

Many stations also face challenges in finding partners so that they can launch ATSC 3.0 while continuing to offer their legacy ATSC 1.0 broadcasts. 

“Overall, PTV stations have made great strides forward with ATSC 3.0 deployment, especially given their nonprofit noncommercial status and limited funding availabilities,” the groups told the FCC. “Despite PTV’s solid progress with ATSC 3.0 deployments, many challenges nonetheless remain. These include determining feasible simulcast partners, funding ATSC 3.0 equipment and deployment, funding research on ATSC 3.0 enhanced content and the educational effectiveness of that content, experimenting with the wide range of ATSC 3.0 public service use cases, collaborating with PTV content creators on leveraging ATSC 3.0 enhanced content features, determining optimal transition timing for individual local stations, and assessing ATSC 3.0 receiver penetration and consumer adoption, among others.”

The groups also provided a current snapshot of ATSC 3.0 deployments by public stations: 

• “APTV member station WKAR-TV, an early ATSC 3.0 adopter, continues to operate an experimental ATSC 3.0 station in conjunction with Michigan State University’s Next Generation Innovation Lab, researching and studying outcomes related to education and public media content,” the groups said. 
• “Nine PTV member stations (including KAET in Phoenix, the first PTV station to implement ATSC 3.0) are participants in commercial “group” launches facilitated by Pearl and/or Bitpath. One of the nine stations (WHUT-TV) is serving as the ATSC 3.0 “host,” and the remaining eight stations across the country are ATSC 3.0 sharees.”
• “Three PTV member stations (in Albuquerque, New Mexico; Greenville, North Carolina; and Richmond, Virginia) have implemented simulcast/hosting arrangements with their own co-owned stations (i.e., simulcasting with themselves). In these circumstances, the PTV licensee is both the “host” station and the “guest” station.”
• “PTV member station WNET (d/b/a Thirteen) has announced its upcoming transition to ATSC 3.0 in the New York City area with co-owned PTV station WLIW.”
• “APTS and PBS are advised that at least half a dozen other PTV member stations are planning ATSC 3.0 launches in the near future.”
• “Other PTV stations are actively exploring ways to use their existing TV translator stations or to partner with LPTV stations to experiment with ATSC 3.0, given the greater flexibility afforded to such low-power licensees. At least one such arrangement between a PTV station and an LPTV station is already in place, and PTV has been advised that several other TV translator and LPTV arrangements are currently under development.”

 The groups also noted that stations have been experimenting with a variety of use cases. These include:  

• “Michigan State University station WKAR-TV, with an experimental ATSC 3.0 license, created a Next Generation Media Innovation Lab that has been experimenting with, among other things: programming that facilitates lesson attentiveness and social interactions; campus alerting services; real time targeted fundraising; and technology that enables a return path, making interactive content available to audiences, such as educational children’s content that augments and builds on traditional television programming.”
• “Statewide network PBS North Carolina, which operates two ATSC 3.0 stations (WUNC-TV 6 in Raleigh-Durham and WUNK-TV in Greenville, NC) is using its ATSC 3.0 stations to research and explore the use of ATSC 3.0 for improving public safety, digital paging, and long-term sustainable remote learning efforts. In 2019, PBS North Carolina established a NextGen TV Laboratory to test ATSC 3.0 applications, including public safety and remote learning efforts. Through an effort funded by the U.S. Department of Homeland Security, PBS North Carolina is actively testing “Digital Paging over Public Broadcasting,” a system that will greatly reduce the amount of time needed to get critical emergency information to first responders.”
• “New Mexico PBS (“NMPBS”) stations KNME-TV, Albuquerque, and KNMD-TV, Santa Fe, are offering both ATSC 1.0 and 3.0 services with KNME-TV as the 1.0 host and KNMD-TV as the 3.0 host. NMPBS is working with its licensee, the University of New Mexico, to build a Remote Learning Lab in the College of Education tailored to creating 3.0 datacasting resources and educational assets. Further, NMPBS is creating a ATSC 3.0 datacasting library with school content, family-centric information, early learning, English as a second language, and adult literacy content. During the wildfire season, NMPBS also worked with public safety organizations to datacast emergency response information around the areas impacted by wildfires, particularly when the Internet and cellular service available to local residents was lost. NMPBS is working to expand its ATSC 3.0 datacasting offerings to include full length VOD services (providing non-linear on-demand viewing using a broadcast signal).”
• “In 2021, PTV member station WHUT-TV, in conjunction with local commercial stations and the National Association of Broadcasters, transitioned to ATSC 3.0 transmissions. WUHT-TV launched the NextGen TV Digital Learning Lab, working with the Howard University schools of Engineering and Communications to make the most of the  opportunities provided by ATSC 3.0 to enhance public service and to train the next generation of broadcast leaders.”

CHANTILLY, Va.—SpectraRep, a provider of  datacasting services for more than 20 years, in concert with Sinclair/ONE Media says it completed a successful NextGen Broadcast pilot of its IncidentOne datacasting solution for D.C. Homeland Security and Emergency Management and six other federal and local public safety agencies. This application delivered sophisticated emergency communications through improved video, alert, and file sharing among multiple public safety agencies during the 2022 July 4th celebrations in Washington, D.C. on the National Mall using the advanced spectrum platform capabilities enabled by the NextGen Broadcast standard.  

Based on the NextGen Broadcast standard, IncidentOne layered a new secure wireless network on top of existing communication procedures to facilitate inter-agency sharing of data at unprecedented levels. Employing the NextGen Broadcast facilities of Sinclair Broadcast Group’s station WIAV and partnering with America’s Public Television Stations and the Advanced Television Systems Committee, the pilot program was a significant demonstration of the new capabilities of the Internet Protocol-based standard that dramatically improves television transmission, SpectraRep said.

IncidentOne is an existing enterprise-grade wireless emergency communications solution that uses over-the-air digital television (DTV) technology to deliver operational and crisis incident data quickly and securely. 

While IncidentOne has been used in the past to datacast public safety information via DTV airwaves, SpectraRep says datacasting with the new and efficient NextGen Broadcast standard supports a more robust transmission signal, higher data capacity, and, for the first time, mobile reception.

“SpectraRep and our partners are extremely pleased that the datacasting pilot supported by ATSC 3.0—NextGen Broadcasting—provided an enhanced ability to protect the public with more bandwidth and reliable mobile reception around data sharing,” said Mark O’Brien, President of SpectraRep. “As shown during the pilot, our datacasting solution helps first responders identify potential threats and disseminate emergency response information more quickly and efficiently than ever before possible. It remains our goal to increase the ability of emergency responders to have what they need to protect lives.”

O’Brien also noted that the NextGen Broadcast signal provided flexibility for optimizing data capacity and signal reception in both indoor and mobile facilities, which is key to fully supporting public safety professionals in the field. He added that large-scale events typically overload cellular systems, making it difficult for public safety departments to communicate and exchange critical data.

Mark Aitken, president of Sinclair’s technology subsidiary, ONE Media 3.0, added, “The advanced datacasting capabilities using the NextGen Broadcast standard is exactly the type of service that broadcasters around the country can provide and is a unique example of why accelerated deployment of these capabilities is so critical. NextGen can save lives.”

NAB EVP, Technology/CTO Sam Matheny said "this live datacasting pilot spotlights the unique and valuable opportunities made possible by the ATSC 3.0 standard, especially when it comes to public safety. This successful program can provide a blueprint for federal, state and local first responders to strengthen their emergency communications capabilities and reliably share lifesaving information during times of disaster. 

"NAB thanks the agencies and technology partners that participated in this project, as broadcasters continue to leverage ATSC 3.0 features to best serve the American people."   

This article was updated to add NAB's statement. 

Confirming the success of the pilot program is DC Statewide Interoperability Coordinator (SWIC), Charles Guddemi, who reported, “We observed success with streaming encrypted video over the datacast signal, and then could successfully target and send that video to other agencies. We also confirmed the ability to send alerts and files to the authorized participating agencies.”

Top successful outcomes from the pilot program include:

• Safe and secure inter-agency sharing of video, messages, and files was achieved using SpectraRep’s IncidentOne datacasting solution.
• Select agencies transmitted secure alert messages that also included attached files.
• SpectraRep’s datacasting solution reached command staff and decision makers across agencies without requiring access to or interconnection between individual agency secure networks.
• SpectraRep’s mobile phone video application provided access to handheld video sourced from agency personnel in the field to operations centers.

Technology partners in the pilot program include DigiCAP Ltd., West Pond Technologies, Sinclair Broadcast Group (WIAV) and their technology group ONE Media 3.0, E/M Wave, Winegard, Osprey Video and SpectraRep LLC. Key Association partners include APTS America’s Public Television Stations, ATSC, and the National Association of Broadcasters.

SpectraRep's partnership with APTS, in particular, stretches back nearly 20 years when it announced in 2003 it was working with the association to deliver public safety information via DTV airwaves. 

A case study for the pilot program is available on the SpectraRep website. Click here to download.

WASHINGTON—A House subcommittee this week approved President Biden’s $40 million increase in funding for public broadcasting for FY2023. The vote from the House Appropriations Subcommittee on Labor, Health and Human Services, Education and Related Agencies on the $565 million in advance funding drew praise from .America’s Public Television Stations.

“America’s Public Television Stations are most grateful that the subcommittee has recommended $565 million for the Corporation for Public Broadcasting, an increase of $40 million,” said Patrick Butler, president and CEO of America’s Public Television Stations. “After a decade of level funding, resulting in $100 million in lost purchasing power, this legislation would go a very long way toward restoring that purchasing power — and with it our ability to provide the educational services, the public safety communications, the civic literacy and the beloved programming which millions of Americans need and value.

“While this is the first step in this year’s appropriations process, it is a big step in the right direction, and we are most grateful to subcommittee Chairwoman Rosa DeLauro and Ranking Member Tom Cole for being such strong champions of public broadcasting.

APTS also applauded the subcommittee’s decision to add $60 million in funding for upgrading and maintaining network facilities.

“We are also appreciative that the subcommittee has recommended increased funding of $60 million in FY 2023 for station interconnection, the backbone of the public broadcasting system, supporting nationwide emergency alerting, providing local stations with national programming, connecting stations with each other, and creating operational efficiencies," Butler said. This account also supports important system-wide digital infrastructure and is essential to addressing cybersecurity, content delivery networks, and data management, among other needs.

Butler also reiterated public broadcasting's important role in providing public safety communications and educational initiatives particularly in rural communities.

“The federal investment in public broadcasting is critical to local public television stations’ public service mission, and to ensuring that everyone, everywhere, every day has access to these essential services for free," he said.

“This mission includes remote learning services in all 50 States, providing a datacasting communications bridge for students without adequate access to broadband, working with federal, State and local governments on public safety communications ranging from early earthquake warning to National Guard readiness, connecting government officials directly with their constituents on health information and other issues, and chronicling the history, culture and public affairs of hometown America.

“America’s public television stations are ready to do more, to help revolutionize education in a post-pandemic America, to train more of America’s adults for the employment opportunities available in their communities,  to expand our work in civil defense, to create a more well-informed citizenry that considers issues in a civil and constructive manner, and to use a portion of our licensed spectrum to enhance telehealth, national security, Smart Cities connections, transportation efficiency, precision agriculture and more.

“The broad support for public media funding among both Republicans and Democrats in Congress reflects the overwhelming support of the American people for our service in communities throughout America, and we couldn’t be more proud of the subcommittee’s confidence in our work.

“We await further word on funding for Ready To Learn, a competitive grant program at the Department of Education that supports the creation and distribution of educational media content to millions of children across America. This program has been proven to help close the achievement gap between children from low-income families and their more affluent peers. We remain hopeful that Ready To Learn’s essential work will continue to be supported through full funding.

“In the meantime, we are most grateful to the full membership of the subcommittee for the critical support they have demonstrated today for the work of America’s public television station,” Butler said.

WASHINGTON D.C.—America’s Public Television Stations has issued a statement praising President Biden’s recommendation of $565 million in advance funding for public broadcasting in his fiscal year 2023 budget.

“We very much appreciate the President’s endorsement of public media’s public service missions and his proposal for a $40 million increase in the federal investment for the Corporation for Public Broadcasting,” said Patrick Butler, president and chief executive officer of America’s Public Television Stations. “We are grateful for this recognition of the critical role our local stations play in their communities and the essential services they provide all Americans in education, public safety and civic leadership.

Butler also noted that the “President’s funding recommendation would help restore the $100 million in lost purchasing power caused by 10 years of flat federal funding for CPB, and if approved by Congress will set us on a path toward dramatic improvements in the ability of local public television stations to provide the educational services, the public safety communications, the civic literacy and the beloved programming which millions of Americans need and value.

The group also praised the fact that “the President’s budget recommends $60 million in FY 2023 for the annual station interconnection account, which is the backbone of the public broadcasting system, supporting nationwide emergency alerting, providing local stations with national programming, connecting stations with each other, and creating operational efficiencies,” Butler said. “This fund also supports important system-wide digital infrastructure, addressing our system’s growing needs including cybersecurity, modern content delivery networks, and data management, among others.

The group also applauded the President’s continued support and recommendation of funding for Ready To Learn, a competitive grant program at the Department of Education that supports the creation and distribution of educational media content to millions of children across America and it said APTS remains “hopeful” that Congress will include level funding of $40 million for the Next Generation Warning System at FEMA to support the public media infrastructure that the nation depends on to transmit emergency alerts and warnings to every part of the country. 

Public broadcasting stations reach 99% of the American people, the APTS said, making them an essential part of the national alert and warning system. But it also noted that a recent CPB study identified at least $300 million in unmet infrastructure needs throughout the public media system – needs which threaten the reliability of our public safety mission.

WASHINGTON D.C.—America’s Public Television Stations (APTS) has announced the results of the election for its board leaders and trustees.

In terms of the results for Board Officers, Andrew Russell, president and CEO of PBS SoCal and KCET in Los Angeles, California, has been re-elected chair; Susi Elkins, director of broadcasting and general manager of WKAR Public Media at Michigan State University in East Lansing, Michigan, has been re-elected professional vice chair; and David Steward II, immediate past board chair of Nine PBS in St. Louis, Missouri, has been re-elected lay vice chair.

The newly-elected trustees are: Annette Herrington, commissioner of Arkansas PBS in Conway, Arkansas, as a lay trustee; John D. Zeglis, retired chairman and CEO of AT&T Wireless Services, former President of AT&T, and a member of the board of WNIT Public TV of South Bend, Indiana, as an at-large trustee. 

APTS Board of Trustees who were re-elected are: Carolyn Edwards, lay trustee of Vegas PBS in Las Vegas, Nevada; Susi Elkins, director of broadcasting and general manager, of WKAR Public Media/MI State University in East Lansing, Michigan; Franz Joachim, general manager and CEO of New Mexico PBS in Albuquerque, New Mexico; Garrett King, board member, Friends of OETA in Oklahoma City, Oklahoma; Vickie Lawson, president and CEO of East Tennessee PBS in Knoxville, Tennessee; David Steward II, immediate past board chair, Nine Network of Public Media in St. Louis, Missouri. 

John Zeglis began his board term on Wednesday, January 5, 2022. The officers and other trustees will begin their terms on Monday, February 28, 2022.

More biographical information on the officers and trustees can be found here. 

WASHINGTON, D.C.—America’s Public Television Stations (APTS) have issued a statement applauding Senate Appropriations Subcommittee Chair Senator Patty Murray (D-WA) for recommending $565 million for the Corporation for Public Broadcasting for Fiscal Year 2024.

The recommendation will likely serve as the basis for negotiations with the House of Representatives on the final appropriations bills. The House has already approved the same $565 million for CPB in the two-year advance funding for FY 2024.

APTS also noted that the draft Senate bill providing appropriations for Labor, Health and Human Services, Education and Related Agencies also includes $30 million for Ready To Learn and $20 million for public broadcasting interconnection.  

“This is an important day for public television,” said Patrick Butler, president and CEO of America’s Public Television Stations. “We lost $100 million in purchasing power over 10 years of flat federal funding, and this chairman’s mark would restore much of that loss — and with it our ability to provide the educational services, the public safety communications, the civic literacy and the beloved programming which millions of Americans need and value.”

Butler added that “we are also appreciative of the $20 million in FY 2022 for the annual station interconnection account, which is the backbone of the public broadcasting system, supporting nationwide emergency alerting, providing local stations with national programming, connecting stations with each other, and creating operational efficiencies. And we are grateful for the $30 million for Ready To Learn, a competitive grant program at the Department of Education that supports the creation and distribution of educational media content to millions of children across America. This program has been proven to help close the achievement gap between children from low-income families and their more affluent peers.”

WASHINGTON—America’s Public Television Stations and the National Association of Broadcasters have filed a brief with the FCC opposing a petition submitted by Microsoft Corporation asking the Commission to revise its rules governing Distributed Transmission Systems (DTS).

The controversy, which could have important implications for the deployment of NextGen TV broadcasts and services, revolves around the FCC January 13 Report and Order updating its DTS coverage rules.  

The order expanded the permissible range of signal spillover and replaced the subjective “minimal amount” language used to describe spillovers, giving broadcasters more flexibility in the placement of DTS transmitters. This flexibility  could help with DTS deployment and help ATSC 3.0 services reach their full potential.

In a May 21 filing with the FCC, Microsoft detailed a number of complaints about the order and argued the order would hurt their Airband Initiative to use TV white spaces to provide broadband services in rural areas. It "needlessly worsens an already-difficult environment" for TV white spaces deployments, the filing noted.

This was quickly attacked by the NAB. 

A May 25, 2021 blog post by NAB deputy general counsel Patrick McFadden blasted Microsoft's efforts to get the FCC to revise a January ruling, calling Microsoft's Airband Initiative "hot air" and a heavily hyped solution to the rural broadband gap that has not lived up to its promises.

In the new August 3 filing with the FCC, APTS and the NAB continue their opposition to Microsoft, arguing that “Microsoft’s petition presents no legitimate case for reconsideration and the Commission should promptly deny it.”

“Microsoft’s petition asks the Commission to elevate Microsoft’s parochial interest in television white spaces (TVWS) technology above the public interest in allowing broadcasters to make more efficient use of spectrum and provide improved service to viewers,” the two groups wrote. 

The filing argues that the TVWS initiative has been a failure, with “fewer TVWS devices operating in the United States today than there were four years ago....[M]ost companies previously supporting TVWS technology have abandoned it for other unlicensed spectrum opportunities, leaving Microsoft as the sole major proponent of the technology.”

Meanwhile the brief notes that “broadcasters...are moving forward quickly with ATSC 3.0 deployments and are already planning DTS deployments to improve service to consumers.” 

"The Commission cannot in good conscience bar broadcasters from making real-world investments to improve service to viewers based on nothing more than more empty promises,” from Microsoft, the groups argued. “We urge the Commission to promptly deny Microsoft’s petition for reconsideration.”

The two groups also opposed Microsoft’s proposed waiver standard. 

WASHINGTON—America’s Public Television Stations has issued a statement praising the House Appropriations Subcommittee on Labor, Health and Human Services, Education and Related Agencies for recommending $565 million in advance funding for public broadcasting in Fiscal Year 2024.

“This is an important day for public television,” said Patrick Butler, president and CEO of America’s Public Television Stations. “We lost $100 million in purchasing power over 10 years of flat federal funding, and this legislation would go a very long way toward restoring that purchasing power — and with it our ability to provide the educational services, the public safety communications, the civic literacy and the beloved programming which millions of Americans need and value.”

Butler also noted that the APTS was pleased that “the subcommittee has recommended level funding of $20 million in FY 2022 for the annual station interconnection account, which is the backbone of the public broadcasting system, supporting nationwide emergency alerting, providing local stations with national programming, connecting stations with each other, and creating operational efficiencies.”

The importance of public broadcasting was highlighted during the pandemic, when it played an important role in offering distance learning to students when in person classes were cancelled, the group said. 

“Public television datacasting has been used to deliver IP data over the broadcast television signal to provide digital educational resources to students without broadband connections, helping to bridge the digital divide and close the homework gap,” Butler said.  

The group also noted that “America’s public television stations are ready to do more, to help revolutionize education in a post-pandemic America, to train more of America’s adults for better jobs, to provide more essential public safety communications services, to create a more well-informed citizenry that considers issues in a civil and constructive manner, and to use a portion of our licensed spectrum to do more to enhance telehealth, national security, Smart Cities connections, transportation efficiency, precision agriculture and more.”

Such services could become more available as public stations roll out ATSC 3.0 signals. The NAB and Howard University recently demonstrated a remote learning prototype using NextGen TV broadcasts. 

WASHINGTON—Citing the goal of quickly and accurately informing the public about safety threats, America’s Public Television Stations and PBS (collectively PTV), supports the FCC’s efforts to increase submissions of false emergency alerts. It is something that PTV believes that it is already well-equipped to assist with.

The organizations submitted these comments in response to the FCC’s Notice of Proposed Rulemaking that has proposed changes to the emergency alert system. Specifically, it seeks to “formalize and enlarge the process by which government entities may submit reports of false alerts to the commission.”

In its comments, PTV said that it is uniquely positioned to help increase the knowledge and transparency about how emergency alerts appear in real time with its PBS WARN System. It claims that PBS WARN would help lead to more reporting of false alerts, and thus help the FCC better study and strengthen EAS’s effectiveness and reliability.

More details on false reports will help the FCC better detect potential trends and patterns that need looking into to improve the EAS. PTV says that the current system relies on an awareness that a false alert was actually issued.  The new rules would encourage government entities to report a false alert if it “becomes aware of transmission” to the public.

Based on this proposed rule, PTV wants government entities to have an increased ability to be made aware of such false reports. To help with this, PTV suggests the FCC encourage and facilitate the development and support for tools and resources to help stakeholders identify false alerts.

PBS says that it has such a system in its Warning, Alert and Response Network (WARN). The PBS WARN system distributes all WEA messages to commercial mobile service providers across the country, with a reach to 97% of the U.S. population. It is connected directly to the Integrated Public Alert and Warning System (IPAWS). PBS WARN can be used to view both active and expired WEA messages based on location, alert type and date.

The PBS WARN system features two validation tools. First, users can confirm whether a WEA message was in fact transmitted through the IPAWS infrastructure and confirm the correct geographic location was selected. Second, the system can determine whether appropriate information was communicated to the public using Common Alerting Protocol.

“PTV believes that raising awareness about the PBS WARN System website as part of the commission’s efforts to report and reduce false alerts will ultimately result in much more accurate reporting,” PTV’s comments read.

However, the PBS WARN system is a federal grant-funded public safety initiative and is not currently funded for further enhancements beyond July 15, 2021. PTV therefore asks that the FCC be mindful of potential costs that might result from its NPRM proposed changes.

WASHINGTON—As part of the $1.9 trillion American Rescue Plan for COVID relief approved by the Senate over the weekend, $175 million has been earmarked as emergency assistance for public TV and radio stations.

The inclusion of these funds for public broadcasters is being called “vital” for public stations to continue to provide and expand the essential services that they provide Americans, according to America’s Public Television Stations (APTS) President and CEO Patrick Butler.

Butler, in a press release praising the relief package’s passing in the Senate, said that public TV stations have been providing remote education services, health information, government coverage and public safety communications to people throughout the country with mostly unbudgeted funds and while losing hundreds of millions of dollars in revenue. The funding included in the bill will help public TV stations continue to provide these services.

“We are grateful for the broad bipartisan support for this emergency funding for public media among both Republicans and Democrats in the Senate,” Butler said. “We will do our best with the resources we have to continue to respond effectively to serve our country and our fellow citizens as we get through this crisis.”

The Senate passed the American Rescue Plan with a 50-49 vote. The bill will go back to the House for a vote early this week, where it is expected to pass.

WASHINGTON—America’s Public Television Stations (APTS) has awarded its 2021 David J. Brugger Lay Leadership Award to David Steward II, who is the immediate past board chair of Nine PBS in St. Louis. Steward was recognized during APTS 2021 Public Media Summit.

Steward has been an APTS Board member since 2019 and has played a role in building bipartisan support for federal funding for public media, APTS said. He is being recognized with the David J. Brugger Lay Leadership Award for his efforts to increase public media funding by a total of $30 million over the last two years—the first increase in funding in a decade.

“Dave Steward is an extraordinarily effective lay leader of public broadcasting, both at the national and local levels,” said Patrick Butler, president and CEO of APTS, “and his voluntary efforts in support of our work perfectly capture the spirit of the Brugger Award. He is a relentless and eloquent champion, whether with the chairman of our Appropriations subcommittee, his network of business leaders or his neighbors in St. Louis. We are immensely grateful for his generous investment of time, energy and towering reputation on our behalf, and we are honored to present the David J. Brugger Award to David Steward II.” 

Steward owns and operates multiple companies with a mission of creating, discovering and highlighting multicultural and diverse content in the entertainment industry. In 2018, he founded the Polarity holding company, which in 2019 launched the Lion Forge Animation Studio that produced the Oscar-winning animated short film “Hair Love.”

“Receiving the David J. Brugger Lay Leadership Award is a tremendous honor and something that, for me, evokes a sense of shared pride in the tireless work of so many,” said David Steward II. “I’m extremely proud of the progress made with much needed funding increases. While our work is not done, we do have movement and results to celebrate and fuel us going forward. I thank APTS for this meaningful recognition of leadership, and my home public media affiliate, Nine PBS, and it's CEO Amy Shaw. I'd also like to thank our community of fellow leaders, supporters and partners who motivate me every single day.”

WASHINGTON—The efforts toward greater diversity, equity and inclusion (DEI) that have emerged across the country following the killing of George Floyd last summer are not just morally responsible decisions, but are also forward-thinking steps toward success. This was a key point in a discussion on DEI during the APTS 2021 Public Media Summit.

APTS conducted several DEI-focused sessions on Feb. 22 that detailed how public media as a whole can benefit from steps for greater inclusion, as well as how a specific station is working toward these goals.

First, during a discussion with Lonnie G. Bunch, secretary of the Smithsonian Institution and founding director of the Smithsonian Museum of African American History and Culture, “Firing Line” host Margaret Hoover provided statistics from the American Public Media Group that showed only 23.1% of executives and senior managers in media are black, indigenous or people of color. Later, in the “Diversity, Equity and Inclusion Initiatives to Strengthen Service Station” session, Nikki Bethel, president and CEO of the Emma Bowen Foundation, said that RTDNA’s most recent newsroom diversity report showed that just 7.1% of general managers at broadcast stations are people of color, down from 10.3% in 2019.

However, as Bunch noted, more often than not the companies that are among the top in diverse leadership also see some of the strongest economic growth.

“So in many ways the key is to recognize that having a diverse leadership is about being right, being moral, but it’s also about being successful,” said Bunch. “And I think as long as people can begin to realize that is the key to their success of their business in the future, I think that’ll be one of the ways that it will happen.”

In introducing the “Diversity, Equity and Inclusion Initiatives” session, Milton Clipper, founder of Clipper and Co. and president emeritus of Public Broadcast Atlanta, said that more companies are making a commitment to DEI because they see the “long-term financial stability by harnessing the top-down strategic power of diversity, equality and inclusion,” as well as being recognized as vital parts of their communities social fabric.

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During this session, WXXI, which serves Rochester, N.Y., provided specific examples of how it has been working to increase its DEI practices. One example was the creation of a Diversity, Equity & Inclusion Council, and within that “Change Teams” focused on capacity (policies to attract and engage with a diverse work group), content, community engagement and structural integrity, i.e. ensuring those that they do business with have similar policies.

WXXI has also offered its employees listening sessions to openly discuss their experiences, a DEI online channel, DEI Book Club and the station took part in a 21-day Racial Equity Challenge within its community. 

Even with these promising steps, WXXI recognizes that DEI needs to be an ongoing mission.

“I liked to see two, three, even five years from now that continued commitment,” said Ajamu Kitwana, a board member for WXXI. “This isn’t the type of effort that is going to be achieved in a year or two. I think we’ll be a lot better at it three years from now. But we should still be committed to it and hopefully we’ll have several successes to look back on that we feel really good about, and probably some other things that we look back on and [realize] we’re really learning and getting even better as we move forward.”

“Now and in the future, public media will depend on a more diverse audience for viewership and support,” Clipper added. “With generational changes and new managers entering the system, public media has an opportunity to position itself as a leader of the successful utilization of diversity, equity and inclusion.”

Recordings of these APTS Public Media Summit diversity sessions are available online. 

WASHINGTON—America’s Public Television Stations (APTS) has elected its new board leaders and board members, who will officially begin their terms on Feb. 22.

Andrew Russell, president and CEO of PBS SoCal and KCET in Los Angeles, has been elected to the role of chair of the board. Susi Elkins, director of Broadcasting and general manager of WKAR Public Media at Michigan State University in East Lansing, Mich., is the new professional vice chair. David Stewart II, immediate past board chair of Nine PBS in St. Louis, will serve as the lay vice chair.

Newly elected board trustees include: Eric Easter, lay trustee of WHUT in Washington, D.C.; and Anthony Hayes, chief operating officer and general manager of New England Public Media in Springfield, Mass.

A number of trustees were re-elected this year as well, including W. Craig Fugate, at-large trustee in Gainesville, Fla.; Jeffrey Gilbert, board chair of New Hampshire PBS; Mimi Chapin Gregory, lay trustee of WGCU in Fort Myers, Fla.; and Edward Ulman, president and CEO of Alaska Public Media.

For more information, visit www.apts.org.