BOSTON, LOS ANGELES AND NEW YORK—The Writers Guild of America has announced that it has reached a tentative agreement with management at PBS member stations WGBH Boston, WNET New York (branded on-air as Thirteen) and PBS SoCal (Los Angeles stations KOCE and KCET), on a new three-year collective bargaining agreement.

The agreement was reached just hours before the current contract expired.

The WGA said the deal breaks new ground with first-ever union protections for animation writers, paid parental leave, AI protections, expanded union protections for made-for-new-media programs, increased residual payments for reuse on streaming services, industry-standard raises, and easier paths for members of writing teams to access health coverage.

The council of the Writers Guild of America East and the board of the Writers Guild of America West will vote on sending the tentative agreement to the 94-member bargaining unit for a ratification vote. The specific details of the agreement will be released before the bargaining unit is asked to vote to ratify the agreement, the union said.

LOS ANGELES—PBS SoCal, Southern California's flagship PBS station, has announced a rebranding that will consolidate both the KCET and PBS SoCal local PBS stations under one name: PBS SoCal. 

Starting Tues. Feb. 6, the KCET broadcast channel will be referred to as ‘PBS SoCal Plus’ in order for both PBS flagship broadcast stations in Southern California to be under one unified brand, the public broadcaster said. 

The programming that viewers are currently used to seeing on KCET will not change, the stations said. 

“PBS SoCal and KCET merged in 2018, and since then, we have grown into a strong public media entity serving Southern California that reflects the diversity of our region and provides a full schedule of beloved and trusted PBS programs,” explained PBS SoCal president and CEO Andrew Russell. “While the broadcast channel name may be changing, the programs that viewers love on KCET—Artbound, Lost LA, Father Brown, Must See Movies and more -- will remain available on the channel and across all of our platforms. Our honored tradition, built by KCET, of producing original, thoughtful and inspiring content around the arts, local culture, environment, news and public affairs remains core to our deep commitment of serving our community with high-quality public media.”

The organization said that it had decided to make the change to unify its brand under one name, PBS SoCal, to improve efficiency and create better awareness. 

PBS SoCal has already consolidated the two websites under the PBS SoCal name, making it easier for visitors to discover programming, editorial content and resources, as well as making it more efficient for the organization to manage video assets and content. 

Viewers’ favorite programs will all be available to stream on one website destination pbssocal.org. Both KCET and PBS SoCal’s social media platforms and YouTube content will soon also be consolidated under the PBS SoCal brand.

The organization also said that the brand simplification reflects PBS SoCal's strategy of adapting a digital world and strengthening connections to a community where more audiences are engaging on streaming platforms. 

Currently, a combined seven broadcast channels are managed by PBS SoCal and are available to almost 19 million viewers in ten counties across Southern California through traditional linear broadcast television, as well as on the website, the PBS and PBS KIDS apps, YouTube and with highlighted content on social media platforms.

“While traditional, over-the-air, broadcast programming and scheduling efforts will continue to be as vital as ever to our organization’s success, the new branding effort recognizes the current media landscape and PBS SoCal’s commitment to on-demand and digital-first content for both regional and nationwide audiences,” commented PBS SoCal senior vice president of marketing and communications Dan Ferguson.

Over-the-air, local viewers will continue to be able to watch their favorite KCET (now ‘PBS SoCal Plus’) programming on 28.1 while PBS SoCal viewers will continue on 50.1. Cable and satellite carriers will host PBS SoCal Plus content on the same channels previously carrying KCET. Viewers will still see the broadcast call letters of KCET referenced during FCC mandated station identifier breaks.

SAN FRANCISCO—With the coronavirus (COVID-19) shutting down schools, San Francisco and Southern California PBS stations KQED and KCET (PBS So Cal) have collaborated on broadcast and digital content that will serve as at-home educational resources for children, as well as support for teachers and parents.

KQED will begin broadcasting a California state standards-aligned educational TV schedule, created by PBS So Cal and the Los Angeles Unified School District. The schedule was developed to “bridge the digital divide and provide equitable access to learning” for all students, regardless of internet or computer access, per KQED. The educational programming will run each weekday starting March 16 on KQED Plus.

KQED has also developed collections of free digital learning resources that can be used with the scheduled TV broadcasts or on their own. The resources—which include PBS LearningMedia collections, teacher training webinars and remote learning tools tips—are hosted on PBS LearningMedia.

In addition to KQED Plus TV programming, KQED point parents to PBS KIDS for Parents to access free resources and information created by educators and child development professionals. 

LOS ANGELES —PBS SoCal KOCE, the flagship PBS station for Southern California, including Los Angeles, announced it earned $49 million in the FCC incentive auction and will invest the one-time revenues in content, broadband distribution platforms and its financial well-being. The station said it would continue broadcasting the full line-up of PBS programs on “all four of its current channels over the air, via cable and satellite and online.”

“Our priority as the primary PBS station for greater Los Angeles is to ensure we can deliver PBS programs to the 18 million people across the six counties in our region well into the future. We retained the bandwidth necessary to accomplish that,” said Andrew Russell, president and CEO of PBS SoCal. “The one-time auction revenues allow us to achieve another important objective: to invest in expanding our mission by providing more services to more people across the region.”

PBS SoCal said it would retain most of its coverage through a channel-sharing agreement with KSCI. The reinvestment plan includes “increasing investment in PBS and other programming, making strategic investments in content production and broadband services that reach more audiences via mobile and web, and building a strong financial foundation for PBS SoCal’s future by restructuring debt and creating an investment fund that generates annual revenues.”

Russell continued, making a pitch to Viewers Like You: “PBS SoCal remains deeply committed to serving Southern California and advancing the PBS mission. While these one-time auction revenues will help us expand our mission, we are grateful for the individuals, foundations and corporations whose collective ongoing support comprises more than 80 percent of our annual budget. Your support continues to be essential – particularly as our important federal funding is under threat – to ensuring the news, public affairs, arts and science programs that are critical for an educated and informed citizenry.”

The PBS SoCal announcement noted that “the president’s budget proposes the elimination of federal funding for public broadcasting, which amounts to $1.35 per citizen per year and underwrites programs such as “Daniel Tiger,” documentaries from Ken Burns, “PBS NewsHour” “Frontline” and “Masterpiece Theater.”

“There is no viable replacement for federal funding of public broadcasting,” Russell said. “The one-time funds from the spectrum auction will not come close to closing the large fiscal gap that would be left by the loss of annual federal support. Federal funding is vital seed funding that helps stations raise the local support that represents more than half of our annual budgets.”

LOS ANGELES—PBS SoCal KOCE is one the move, picking up shop from its Huntington Beach, Calif., location and heading to Los Angeles in mid-November. The station will move its master control systems and signal transmission line to a shared site in the Sawtelle district of L.A., and centralized master control facility Centralcast LLC will serve as the station’s central hub.

Centralcast will provide PBS SoCal with automation services, content recording, storage, synchronization of traffic data, signal monitoring and a consolidated traffic system. The station will also receive satellite equipment and space for the station’s microwave dish for line-of-sight microwave signal transmission as part of the move.

According to PBS SoCal President and CEO Andrew Russell, this move “expands our footprint across the region and strengthens our operations.”