WASHINGTON—The House Appropriations Committee on Labor, Health and Human Services, Education and Related Agencies this week proposed zero funding for local public broadcasting stations’ educational content and services in its fiscal year 2027 appropriations bills.

Congress nixed funding for PBS’s “Ready to Learn” children’s educational program—which provides competitive grants for local community educational initiatives—when it eliminated funding for the Corporation for Public Broadcasting in 2025. CPB voted to dissolve the organization earlier this year.

This week’s refusal to restore funding elicited a strong response from America’s Public Television Stations, which just last week held its virtual “Protect My Public Media” campaign.

“In addition to being deeply disappointed, as we noted last week, that the House Appropriations Committee did not restore funding for local public broadcasting stations in its FY 2027 Labor-HHS-Education bill, we now know that the bill also neglects to fund the Ready To Learn program, a critically important education competitive grant program that supports the creation and distribution of educational media content and services to millions of children across America,” said Kate Riley, president and CEO of APTS.

“It is deeply disheartening that the House Appropriations Committee proposes to eliminate a proven educational program that provides trusted, free access to content and local services for our nation’s youngest learners—content that is especially important for the over 50% of three- to four-year-olds that do not attend a formal preschool.

“For over three decades, this highly successful program has been proven to prepare 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, especially those from low-income families.

“The program combines the ability of public television to reach nearly 97% of Americans with a free over-the-air signal, with on-the-ground local station engagement that helps families and teachers make the most of these media resources locally,” she concluded.

Riley pointed to a recently released report from the Education Development Center documenting the significant positive impact Ready to Learn content and the wraparound local-station community outreach services have on the educational outcomes for our nation’s youngest learners.

“Ready to Learn provides parents and caregivers with scientifically based, state standards-aligned media tools to improve their children’s literacy and STEM skills,” she said. “It also builds community engagement through partnerships facilitated by local public television stations to effectively target services where they are most needed.

“Notwithstanding today’s committee action, we remain hopeful that the strong bipartisan support for local public media’s educational services, both in Congress and among the American people, will ultimately result in full funding for Ready to Learn as the appropriations process moves forward.”

BOSTON—Public Media Management (PMM) today announced the addition of Christian Siebeneck as VP, Technology & Innovation, bringing seasoned public media technology leadership to support the growth of PMM's Cloud and Classic Joint Master Control services across the public television system.

Siebeneck joins PMM with an extensive background in public media technology, most recently serving as Chief Technology Officer at Twin Cities Public Television (TPT) in St. Paul, MN, and prior to that as Chief Technologist at Ideastream Public Media in Cleveland, OH. He has also served as an advisor on PBS's Enterprise Technology Committee. His experience spans broadcast infrastructure modernization, cloud solutions, operations, and enterprise technology strategy directly aligned with the services PMM delivers to member stations.

“Christian brings exactly the kind of real-world public media experience that resonates with station leaders,” said Marc Hand, CEO of Public Media Management. “His understanding of the challenges stations face, from aging infrastructure to tightening budgets, makes him a natural advocate for what PMM delivers in support of local public stations.”

In his new role as VP, Technology & Innovation, Siebeneck will work directly with public television stations to advance adoption of PMM Cloud and PMM Classic, represent PMM at the NAB Show and the PBS Annual Meeting, and contribute to the ongoing development of PMM's Network Operations Center capabilities and technology roadmap.

“I’m excited to join PMM as VP of Technology & Innovation, where I can strengthen the cloud services that power public media while driving innovation that supports the vital work of stations across the country,” said Siebeneck.

Public Media Management (PMM) provides managed master control services to public television stations through its Network Operations Center at GBH Boston.

A federal judge ruled on Tuesday that the Trump administration’s executive order to end federal funding for National Public Radio and the Public Broadcasting Service was unconstitutional.

The ruling’s impact is unclear. The U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia noted that since Congress withdrew funding through last year’s Rescissions Act, and because the Corporation for Public Broadcasting has dissolved, no order can provide “meaningful relief” regarding that specific pool of money.

But Judge Randolph Moss repeatedly wrote in the Tuesday ruling that President Trump’s order crossed the line of the First Amendment. Moss was appointed to the D.C. district court in 2014 under President Obama’s administration.

Moss said that the order was issued without regard to nationwide interconnection systems, calling such distribution the “backbones” of public radio and TV.

Colorado Public Radio was a partner in the lawsuit challenging the executive order, along with NPR, Aspen Public Radio and KSUT. CPR said in a release that the ruling prevents the executive order from restricting CPR and other stations from using any federal funds for NPR content. In December, Radio World reported on the stations’ concerns.

NPR, according to its own reporting, said that it was not clear what the decision, which could be appealed by the Trump administration, would mean for the future of federal funding of public broadcasting. But the organization’s comments celebrated the decision.

“Today’s ruling is a decisive affirmation of the rights of a free and independent press — and a win for NPR, our network of stations and our tens of millions of listeners nationwide,” Katherine Maher, NPR’s president and CEO, said in a release.

White House spokesperson Abigail Jackson said in a statement: “This is a ridiculous ruling by an activist judge attempting to undermine the law.”

Representatives from the three Colorado public radio stations, according to a release, said the stations remain prepared to defend the ruling should the Trump administration appeal.

Timeline
The executive order issued by President Trump last May ultimately clawed back $1.1 billion in funding that Congress had set aside for public media outlets. Later last year, it led to a dispute between CPB and NPR over public radio distribution.

CPB dissolved this past February.

The D.C. court acknowledged in its order that while the federal government may impose limits on grants or fund its own speech to promote specific perspectives, “the First Amendment draws a line, which the government may not cross, at efforts to use government power — including the power of the purse — ‘to punish or suppress disfavored expression’ by others.”

Although CPB has been dissolved, the court clarified that this does not render the case moot because the executive order “sweeps beyond the CPB.”

The court is also issuing a permanent injunction to prevent federal agencies from enforcing the executive order.

In a statement, PBS, said it was “thrilled with today’s decision,” calling the president’s order a “textbook unconstitutional viewpoint discrimination and retaliation, in violation of longstanding First Amendment principles.”

BOULDER, CO. —The Public Media Venture Group (PMVG) today announced that TechConnect ’26, its fourth annual technology conference for public media executives and engineers, will be presented as a virtual event series in 2026.

TechConnect ‘26 will consist of four quarterly virtual conference days, each featuring two sessions that address sustainability, innovation, and operational efficiency for public television stations. The first meetings will take place March 25 & 27.

“Public media stations must now navigate the loss of federal support and rising operating costs,” said Marc Hand, CEO of PMVG. “But at the same time, transformative technologies—software-based systems, cloud infrastructure, and artificial intelligence—are opening the door to entirely new operating models and opportunities for service and impact. TechConnect is where station leaders come together to understand these changes and translate them into practical strategies for the future.”

Launched in 2023, TechConnect is PMVG’s annual gathering for public media technology leaders. The conference has previously been held each year in Las Vegas alongside the NAB Show, bringing together station executives, engineers, and technology partners to explore business models and service opportunities that support public media’s mission in a rapidly evolving media landscape. TechConnect features topics spanning RF engineering, IT infrastructure, and station technology management, including AI applications, IP- and cloud-based facility design, next-generation emergency alerting, and digital transformation strategies.

TechConnect ’26 sessions scheduled throughout the year will explore emerging technology opportunities for public media, including:

• Remote monitoring for reduced costs and strengthened reliability
• Eyewitness reports from NAB Show 2026
• ATSC 3.0 transition strategies and regulatory developments
• Passive radar and potential public media applications
• AI-powered archive management and new revenue opportunities
• Datacasting updates from Edgebeam

For more information, visit https://www.publicmediaventure.com/techconnect.

Public Media Venture Group is a nonprofit business development consortium of 32 leading public media organizations.

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.

On Thursday, Corporation for Public Broadcasting President and CEO Patricia Harrison delivered her final remarks during the organization’s last board meeting.

In remarks obtained by TV Tech sister brand NicRadio World, Harrison said that following Congress’ rescission of federal funding for public media, CPB realized it could no longer operate in the manner the American public has come to expect.

“In a profound irony, it is precisely because public media remains so essential to American civic life that CPB’s final act must be to dissolve for the greater good,” Harrison said.

Harrison, 87, became CEO of CPB in 2005.

CPB’s board of directors voted to dissolve the organization at the beginning of the month, after 58 years of operation.

On the Senate floor Thursday, Sen. Ed Markey (D-Mass.) honored Harrison in his remarks.

“Throughout her tenure, Harrison ensured that CPB’s investments strengthened service to local communities and delivered lasting public value,” he said.

Why?
In her remarks, Harrison attempted to address the exact reasoning behind the organization’s defunding.

“Was it a burden to the taxpayer?” she asked. “Was this a cost-saving move? No. Unlike in other countries where citizens are heavily taxed — for example, the BBC and the NHK — American public media outlets reflect the free-enterprise and volunteer ethic of our citizens.

“For $1.65 a year in taxes — less than the cost of a cup of coffee — every American has access to content that inspires independent thinking and understanding of the rights and responsibilities of Americans living in a vibrant democracy,” she said.

But in the wake of the federal rescission of funding for public media, CPB came to the realization that it had limited time to protect its legacy and the work it had done, Harrison said.

“The longer CPB tried to exist without funding, the higher the prospect that our remaining funds would never reach the public media system already reeling from the defunding,” she said.

The organization was also concerned that any remaining funding could become subject to content-based restrictions and compliance demands that would “further harm stations” and erode public trust.

“After all of the political attacks and congressional defunding, we recognized a hard truth: Without funding and independence, CPB risked becoming a liability to public media rather than a protector of it — something that looked intact from the outside but was hollow at its core,” she said.

Compliance
According to Harrison, CPB was the first organization to sue the Trump administration over “attacks” on public media’s independence and the withholding of appropriated funds. She said that the organization refused to comply with executive directives that violated its mission or the editorial independence of local stations, continuing to fund PBS and NPR until the end.

“We could have survived by complying with demands for political control over news coverage, by rewriting history, by limiting the stories and information shared with the American public, by abandoning diverse talent, or by supporting content that increases divisiveness through disinformation,” Harrison said.

“But that was never going to happen on our watch, and that is less than what the American people deserve.”

Since October, Harrison said that CPB has granted approximately $170 million to the public media system. It has also invested in the American Archive of Public Broadcasting and helped to fund national distribution of locally produced programming through American Public Television, she said.

Legacy
Harrison concluded her remarks by thanking CPB’s board, PBS’ CEO Paula Kerger and then she closed with a call to action.

“The future of public media and our nation depends on each of you. It depends on our collective ability to look upon the next evolution of media and ensure it is harnessed for the purpose of educating and connecting all people,” she said.

“Together, we will prove that a nation of neighbors will survive.”

WASHINGTON—The Corporation for Public Broadcasting’s board of directors has voted to dissolve the organization that oversaw the federal government’s investment in public broadcasting and media for 58 years.

The move came after a decades-long political fight by conservatives to end federal funding for public media that culminated in 2025 with President Donald Trump asking Congress to rescind previously appropriated money for public media and votes by the Republican-controlled Congress to end federal funding. Most of the staff was laid off last fall.

CPB’s board took the vote after determining that maintaining the corporation as a nonfunctional entity without funding would not serve the public interest or advance the goals of public media. “A dormant and defunded CPB could have become vulnerable to future political manipulation or misuse, threatening the independence of public media and the trust audiences place in it, and potentially subjecting staff and board members to legal exposure from bad-faith actors,” the CPB said in a press release.

As it moved to dissolve the CPB, board members also highlighted the organization's longstanding work to develop and strengthen public media in the U.S.

“For more than half a century, CPB existed to ensure that all Americans—regardless of geography, income, or background—had access to trusted news, educational programming, and local storytelling,” CPB President and CEO Patricia Harrison said. “When the Administration and Congress rescinded federal funding, our Board faced a profound responsibility: CPB’s final act would be to protect the integrity of the public media system and the democratic values by dissolving, rather than allowing the organization to remain defunded and vulnerable to additional attacks.”

“What has happened to public media is devastating,” CPB Chair Ruby Calvert said. “After nearly six decades of innovative, educational public television and radio service, Congress eliminated all funding for CPB, leaving the Board with no way to continue the organization or support the public media system that depends on it. Yet, even in this moment, I am convinced that public media will survive, and that a new Congress will address public media’s role in our country because it is critical to our children's education, our history, culture and democracy to do so.”

First authorized by Congress under the Public Broadcasting Act of 1967, CPB helped build and sustain a nationwide public media system of more than 1,500 locally owned and operated public radio and television stations.

The board said CPB’s stewardship helped public media become a trusted civic resource, delivering educational programming, providing life-saving emergency alerts during natural disasters and crises and supporting rigorous, fact-based journalism that uncovers issues affecting people’s daily lives.

As part of the process of dissolving the organization, CPB will complete the responsible distribution of all remaining funds in accordance with Congress’s intent.

CPB will also provide support to the American Archive of Public Broadcasting to continue digitizing and preserving historic content, and CPB’s own archives—dating back to the organization’s founding in 1967—will be preserved in partnership with the University of Maryland and made accessible to the public.

“Public media remains essential to a healthy democracy,” Harrison said. “Our hope is that future leaders and generations will recognize its value, defend its independence, and continue the work of ensuring that trustworthy, educational, and community-centered media remains accessible to all Americans.”

In response to the vote, Kate Riley, president and CEO of America’s Public Television Stations, said: “The winddown and now dissolution of the Corporation for Public Broadcasting is the direct result of the rescission of public media funding last year. The consequences of that rescission continue to ripple throughout the public media system and the communities that depend on their local stations for lifesaving public safety services, exceptional education resources, and local storytelling that binds communities together and reflects their unique history, culture and aspirations for the future...The loss of CPB will be felt in every community large and small throughout this country."

“Local stations and the essential services they provide their communities continue to be at risk," Riley concluded. "We call on Congress to act now to restore some level of support for local stations in the final FY 2026 funding bills.”

LAS VEGAS—Advanced HDR by Technicolor announced that seven public TV stations have deployed ATSC 3.0 and are enabled with Advanced HDR by Technicolor.

The stations include:

• Maryland Public Television (MPT), Baltimore
• WPTD, Dayton, Ohio
• WXXI, Rochester, NY
• PBS Reno, Reno, Nev.
• Nebraska Public Media, Omaha
• Nashville PBS
• KBTC, Tacoma, Wash.

Advanced HDR by Technicolor says deploying HDR is “a significant development for public TV stations, which were initially excluded from channel sharing agreements formed by commercial stations in major markets at the start of the ATSC 3.0 rollout.”

Overall, there are now more than 150 ATSC 3.0 channels/services broadcasting in Advanced HDR by Technicolor.

“The backward compatibility of Advanced HDR by Technicolor makes it possible for public broadcasters to improve picture quality without creating barriers to ensure equitable services,” said Ling Ling Sun, vice president of technology for Maryland Public Television. “The Advanced HDR by Technicolor solution is in complete alignment with the mission of public TV. From an operational standpoint, Advanced HDR by Technicolor does not require meaningfully more bandwidth or parallel transmissions. The technology enables Maryland Public Television to enhance over-the-air television, reengage our audience and reinforce the relevance of this free, universally accessible public media.”

Public TV stations are currently moving rapidly through a technological transformation. Nebraska Public Media launched the nation’s first Broadcast Enabled Streaming TV (BEST) channel, which is a Full HD (1080p) hybrid OTA & broadband transmission with Advanced HDR by Technicolor that consumers can find on connected TVs as a broadcast virtual channel or access on the internet. Nebraska Public Media also deployed a customized RUN3TV-based Broadcaster Application, on its BEST channel, which integrates linear programming, on-demand content and interactive services within a single IP native interface. Maryland Public Television is currently in the process of acquiring a license for the RUN3TV app.

“The Advanced HDR by Technicolor solution is a perfect match for public media. Through the single stream transmission of Advanced HDR by Technicolor, consumers with HDR-enabled TVs, HDR-enabled receivers or conversion boxes can enjoy public media content with the rich contrast and vibrant colors that high dynamic range capabilities deliver. Consumers with standard dynamic range (SDR) TVs receive high quality in SDR without disruption while accessing exactly the same transmission,” said Rick Dumont, head of business development for Advanced HDR by Technicolor.

The deployment of ATSC 3.0 with Advanced HDR by Technicolor is a critical infrastructure upgrade for public media, enabling public TV stations to deliver a hybrid OTA and over-the-top service, the company said.

“The Advanced HDR by Technicolor solution allows public broadcasters to continue meeting viewers where they are while sustaining free television in HDR over the long-term. It is clear that public TV stations are innovating quickly and shaping the future of TV,” Dumont concludes.

BOSTON—Frontline, PBS’s investigative documentary series produced at GBH in Boston, has announced the newest class of partners for its Local Journalism Initiative (LJI).

Since 2019, Frontline’s LJI has promoted sustainable, public interest journalism in communities where local news organizations have been hit hard by financial pressures. In 2025-26, the initiative will work with seven local newsrooms on three investigative projects.

In 2025-26, one of the projects involves three newsrooms—The Atlanta Journal-Constitution, The Post and Courier of Charleston and AL.com. They will investigate environmental pollution in the South. This joint reporting will also be supported by The Associated Press Local Investigative Reporting Program.

Additionally, Blue Ridge Public Radio, VTDigger and The Texas Newsroom (the collaboration among NPR stations in the state) will work together to examine the aftermath of devastating local floods, focusing on the victims and survivors as well as the federal government’s shifting response to natural disasters.

The reporting on pollution and local floods will be funded by the John S. and James L. Knight Foundation, as a part of a three-year, $1.5 million grant the foundation awarded to Frontline to support LJI. The Local Journalism Initiative began in 2019 with a $3 million grant from Knight Foundation and a $1 million grant from the Corporation for Public Broadcasting. To date, Knight has given $4.5 million to support Frontline’s LJI.

The 2025-26 cohort will also include The Pittsburgh Post-Gazette, which will investigate plummeting childhood vaccination rates throughout Pennsylvania. The Post-Gazette’s reporting will be funded by the Heinz Endowments as part of a one-year, $275 thousand grant to support Frontline’s LJI.

“We’re thrilled to welcome our fifth cohort of Local Journalism Initiative partners to Frontline. We’ve been proud to support and expand the reach of our partners’ enterprise reporting, which has tackled critical issues that impact communities across the country,” said Raney Aronson-Rath, editor-in-chief and executive producer of Frontline. “We are grateful to the Knight Foundation and to the Heinz Endowments, whose generous support makes our work with local newsrooms possible. We look forward to sharing the powerful and impactful storytelling from our partners over the next year.”

“We’re proud to join forces with these outstanding local investigative teams on projects related to health, the environment and public safety,” said Erin Texeira, Frontline’s senior editor and LJI director. “Now more than ever, strong newsroom partnerships can produce the vital accountability journalism our communities need.”

Frontline’s Local Journalism Initiative provides editorial and financial support for newsrooms, which can include paying journalists’ salaries and sharing Frontline’s expertise on investigative techniques, video storytelling and connecting journalism with wider audiences.

Since 2019, Frontline’s Local Journalism Initiative partners have included The Post and Courier of Charleston, Chattanooga Times Free Press, Milwaukee PBS, New Mexico PBS (KNME-TV), Oklahoma Watch, Rhode Island’s The Public’s Radio, Rocky Mountain PBS, Star Tribune, The Salt Lake Tribune, The Tampa Bay Times, The Texas Newsroom, The Texas Tribune and WFAE Charlotte NPR.

The initiative has helped produce major investigative projects, including “Breakdown”, a Peabody and Emmy Award-nominated multiplatform investigation into Maine’s deadliest shooting with Portland Press Herald and Maine Public Radio; “Fractured”, an 11-part WFAE radio series and Frontline documentary on North Carolina inmates living with mental illness; and stories about a polluting lead smelter in The Tampa Bay Times that won a George Polk Award and Pulitzer Prize.

“Frontline’s Local Journalism Initiative continues to support the creation of impactful and essential investigative reporting that deepens understanding of the issues shaping people’s everyday lives,” said Marisa Kwiatkowski, director for journalism at Knight Foundation. “It’s a powerful example of how local and national partnerships can strengthen journalism in service of the public good.”

“The Heinz Endowments is delighted to support this Frontline project and looks forward to seeing its impact on our region,” said Endowments Equity & Learning Vice President Carmen Anderson. “We are committed to helping ensure that the residents of western Pennsylvania receive accurate information that will enable them to make good decisions about their lives and their communities. More specifically, investigating the reasons behind declining childhood vaccination rates is a crucial step to safeguarding public health in Pennsylvania as it allows residents to understand the underlying causes and take action to address preventable diseases.”

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.”

WASHINGTON—As part of an ongoing push to strengthen local reporting, the Corporation for Public Broadcasting (CPB) has awarded a $649,703 grant to the Appalachia + Mid-South Newsroom (AMSN).

AMSN is a collaboration of public radio and television stations, led by Louisville Public Media, that was launched last fall to provide relevant, fact-based information to local communities across Kentucky, Tennessee and West Virginia.

One example of their work occurred when deadly floods swept through the region in the wake of Hurricane Helene last fall. In the wake of that disaster, AMSN and nine partner stations moved quickly, deploying a veteran journalist to cover storm damage in Eastern Tennessee, while statehouse reporters in Nashville provided useful information and context from the capital.

In addition to Louisville Public Media, the other stations in the Appalachia + Mid-South Newsroom are: WKU Public Radio (Bowling Green, Ky.); WEKU (Richmond, Ky.); WKMS (Murray, Ky.); WPLN Nashville Public Radio; WUOT (Knoxville, Tenn.); and West Virginia Public Broadcasting.

“Local journalism is essential to the civic health of America’s communities,” said Patricia Harrison, CPB president and CEO. “In addition to providing fact-based reporting and emergency information, public media stations respond to the information needs of the communities they serve, reflecting and respecting local voices and perspectives, including stories of civic pride and engagement. These stations are committed to working together with the communities they serve, and they have already started.”

The grant builds on the nearly $50 million CPB has invested in journalism collaborations across the country during the past 15 years. The collaborations, which involve public media stations working together to provide information and news to residents in rural areas of the country, cover topics of regional concern, such as agriculture, veterans and active military issues, and rural life.

“We’re thrilled to have CPB’s support to extend shared services and capabilities that will make our journalism more impactful and sustainable,” said Ellen Oost, co-interim CEO of Louisville Public Media. “This collaboration allows us to coordinate journalism resources to strengthen local news across our region, which covers a swath of rural America as well as population centers—each with a distinct culture and common concerns.”

In awarding the grant, the CPB noted that the 2024 Medill State of Local News Report found that 13 counties in Kentucky, Tennessee and West Virginia have no local news sources, and 187 counties have only one local news source.

It also stressed that rural communities are at especially high risk of losing local news and this region is no exception. The Appalachia + Mid-South Newsroom provides access to local and regional news to all these counties, connecting rural communities and nearby population centers.

“West Virginia Public Broadcasting can only strengthen our storytelling by working with other stations in greater Appalachia,” Eddie Isom, executive director of West Virginia Public Broadcasting, said. “We see this collaboration as a positive step in working together to tell the important stories that are happening in an often overlooked region.”

Each station in the collaboration contributes the equivalent of one reporter’s time to producing stories for a regional audience. CPB support over three years will fund a video journalist and a project manager and support four shared positions.

Leaders of the Public Broadcasting Service and National Public Radio appeared before the “DOGE subcommittee” on Wednesday in a congressional hearing in which the public broadcasters were severely criticized over programming and reporting that Republicans criticized as no longer trustworthy.

Although not yet annual, congressional hearings over public broadcast funding happen periodically on Capitol Hill and give both sides of the aisle a chance to air the latest culture war attacks on the opposition. The most famous hearing on public broadcasting occurred just after its launch, when in 1969, Fred Rogers appeared before Congress and explained how his show helps children grow emotionally and intellectually. His testimony was so eloquently delivered that one of his staunchest opponents on the subcommittee reversed his position immediately after Rogers spoke.

Alas, there was no Fred Rogers—or even Big Bird—on Capitol Hill yesterday so the heads of NPR and PBS, along with the head of Alaska Public Media—were left to defend the current state of public broadcasting on their own.

'Child Abuse'
Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene (R-Ga.) opened the hearing by attacking PBS for airing what she thinks is objectional content. After discussing a show about transgenderism that aired on PBS, Greene accused the network of “child abuse” and claimed that the public’s rejection of transgender issues played a major role in President Trump’s “landslide” election win in November.

“PBS is one of the founders of the trans child abuse industry, all while taking taxpayer money brainwashing,” she said. “Transient children is an issue so hated by parents across the country that it was a driving force in the landslide Republican and Trump victory in the 2024 election cycle and presidential race.”

She went on to say that “the news that these entities produced is either resented or increasingly tuned out and turned off by most of the hard working Americans who are forced to pay for it. They no longer view NPR and PBS as trusted news sources. As a matter of fact, to these people, they're a threat.”

To illustrate her point, Greene displayed several screenshots of Barack Obama, Hillary Clinton and several Democratic Congress members appearing to give hand gestures that could be interpreted as the Nazi “seig heil” salute, and compared them to news coverage when Elon Musk appeared to give the same salute at Trump’s inauguration.

“When Elon Musk put his hand over his heart and extended it and told the American people his heart goes out to them, PBS News posted the clip, calling it a fascist Nazi salute and described how it was similar to the Seig Heil used by Nazis at their victory rallies,” Greene said. “Not once did PBS or NPR report on the numerous accounts of Democrats making the same gesture. AOC, Kamala Harris, Barack Obama, Elizabeth Warren, somebody that lost a presidential race. Hillary Clinton, Tim Walz… why wasn't this treated exactly the same way? Well, is there not a standard in journalism today? Apparently, not.”

“I hear, respect and understand your concerns regarding bias,” responded Katherine Maher, Chief Executive Officer and President, National Public Radio, adding that “it is critical for [the] NPR newsroom to operate with the highest journalistic standards. That means that they do their jobs independently and as CEO, I have no editorial role at NPR.

“In other words, I do not decide what we cover or how we cover it,” Maher continued. “I lead NPR strategy ensuring we have resources and policies in place to serve all Americans, not just those with a specific point of view. I was brought into NPR to revive and reorient the organization and bring public media to a wider audience, a new generation and new platforms. We have a responsibility to serve Americans across the full political spectrum in a trustworthy, non partisan fashion.”

Changing Media Landscape
In addition to cultural issues, funding for public broadcasting was also brought into question in light of the rapid changes in how TV and radio are consumed by Americans today. With numerous streaming options and podcasts available on demand, questioning the value of public broadcasting in this new landscape is a legitimate concern.

Again, the arguments from both sides fell on predictable angles, with Democrats supporting the value of public television in strengthening local educational and community resources—particularly in rural areas—and Republicans questioning why taxpayer funds should be used to report what they consider “biased” news coverage and educational programming that is replicated elsewhere.

“PBS stations are focused on the needs and interests of the viewers they serve, especially in rural areas,” said PBS Paula Kerger, Chief Executive Officer and President for PBS. “PBS stations are the only outlet providing coverage of local events, for example, high school sports, local history and culture content, candidate debates at every level of the election, ballot and specialized agricultural news. Local stations also partner with other community organizations to address issues of concern, like Veterans Affairs and the opioid crisis. Finally, communities depend on the essential public safety information and emergency alerts our local stations provide. Our programming comes from our local stations.”

Maher noted that “the rise of podcasting has established a competitive free market for audio, news and information, and every day, I am honored to know that we have 43 million listeners from every state in the nation.

“Amidst this competition, local stations choose to become members of NPR for the value we provide,” Maher added. “For example, we are the only non pay walled news outlet with a dedicated reporter covering veterans issues. While NPR is only 25% of station programming on average, audiences for NPR bring the scale and revenue that subsidize essential local programming. Local public media journalism has never been more important to American families who consider it part of the fabric of their communities. It correlates with higher rates of civic engagement, greater civic cohesion and economic advantages, such as better municipal bond ratings. Recent independent polling found that more than 60% of all Americans and more than half of Republicans trust public broadcasting to deliver fact based news.”

Telling Conservatives to 'Get Lost'
Mike Gonzalez from the Heritage Foundation, a conservative think tank, excoriated public broadcasting for wasting money and being irrelevant in today’s fiscal environment. He prefaced his criticism by saying that his views were his own and didn’t represent those of his employer.

“For decades, they've asked for more money while telling conservatives to get lost,” Gonzales said. “But the nation today is in a very different place, with $36 trillion in debt. And more importantly, we're seeing not just a shift in our cultural vibe, but a shift in societal paradigms through their greatest bias; NPR and PBS have violated the public trust.”

Ed Ullman, president and CEO of Alaska Public Media defended public broadcasting’s importance, especially in rural areas.

“The people of Alaska rely on public media to provide free, universal access to essential services and public safety, education and community connections,” he told the committee. “This includes potentially life saving alerts, updates on community affairs, coverage of state and local government, proven educational content, engagement services and local and national news. In many parts of Alaska and communities throughout the country, public media is often the only locally operated, locally controlled broadcasting service. We are more than nice to have. We are essential, especially in remote and rural places where commercial broadcasting cannot succeed.”

NPR 'Not News'
Rep. Jim Comer (R-Ky.) spoke about how he used to listen to NPR decades ago when working on a farm in Kentucky, adding that now “I don't even recognize the station anymore.”

“It's not news, I feel like it's propaganda,” Comer said. “I feel like there's disinformation every time I listen to NPR. And, you know, a media entity like MSNBC or Huffington Post that, in my opinion, consistently spews disinformation; they can do that, they're a private company. But NPR gets federal funds and I have a problem with that, because if people in Alaska, if all they have is Public Radio, then all they know is what these headlines say, and they're wrong.”

In fiscal year 2025, the Corporation for Public Broadcasting was appropriated $535 million from Congress to fund both PBS and NPR. Maher defended the value of public broadcasting and outlined where the money goes.

“The vast majority of federal dollars—more than $100 million of the $121 million annual appropriation for public radio goes directly to 386 local, non commercial stations across the nation,” Maher said. “This highly efficient investment enables your local stations to raise an average of $7 for every federal dollar.

“As a grantee of the Corporation for Public Broadcasting, NPR received federal funding of $11.2 million last year,” Maher added. “These funds allow us to maintain the National Public Radio satellite system helping safeguard our national security, civil defense and disaster response and enabling public radio to reach every corner of America. Additionally, these funds help protect journalists covering our troops overseas and reverse the decline of local journalism.”

FCC Chairman Brendan Carr recently announced that the commission was opening an investigation into PBS and NPR running commercials, something that is prohibited by the Public Broadcasting Act of 1967. When asked about this allegation, both public broadcast officials replied that their organizations are following the law.

“We are in full compliance with the FCC inquiry and will continue to cooperate,” said Ms Kerger.

“We are underwriting announcements, and we believe we are in full compliance with the FCC, and we look forward to delivering the material required in this part of this investigation,” replied Ms. Maher.

Is Elmo a 'Commie?'
In an attempt to inject some humor into the two-plus hour hearing, several members of the subcommittee peppered Ms. Kerger and Ms. Maher with rhetorical questions designed to illustrate what they considered the absurd allegations made by their opponents. One came from a Republican on the committee.

“Ms. Kerger, the American people want to know, is Elmo now, or has he ever been a member of the Communist Party of the United States? A yes or no. Now, are you sure, because he's obviously red,” asked Rep. Mike Garcia (R-Calif.). “He also has a very dangerous message about sharing and helping each other. He's indoctrinating our kids that sharing is caring. Now maybe he's part of a major socialist plot, and maybe that's why the chairwoman is having this hearing today."

When asked about whether Health Secretary RFK Jr.'s campaign against fast food and baked goods is silencing Cookie Monster, Kerger replied that "cookies are a sometime food."

“I agree with you, and let's also talk about the most important character on Sesame Street, Big Bird," Garcia added. "Now, since Elon Musk actually fired USDA workers who have been working on the bird flu, does it make sense to also fire Big Bird? Yes or no?”

Mr. Kerger replied that “We would like to keep Big Bird.”

Rep. Gregorio Eduardo Casar, (D-Texas) complained that the subcommittee was wasting its time and instead should be investigating the man who created “DOGE.”

“The total funding for public broadcasting is just 1/6 the amount that Elon Musk's companies make off of the government every single year. But you will not see Elon Musk being grilled by this committee,” he said. “If we want to look into waste, fraud and abuse, why not look into that?

"Elon Musk, who's running cabinet meetings, who's running the White House, was trying to funnel money to himself," Casar added. "So let's stop investigating Cookie Monster and start investigating how the Trump administration lied about this and was trying to funnel money to their biggest political supporter. Maybe you're trying to defund NPR because they expose this kind of corruption.”

The Committee to Protect Journalists issued a statement criticizing the committee's allegations. “Casting them as propaganda machines undeserving of taxpayer support is a dangerous mischaracterization that threatens to rob Americans of the vital reporting they need to make decisions about their lives,” said Jodie Ginsberg, the committee’s CEO.

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.”

Faced with a $C125 million ($92.1 million) budgetary shortfall for its fiscal 2024-2025 year, the CBC/Radio-Canada has announced that it will reduce programming costs and cut approximately 10% of its workforce. 

The corporation said that the belt-tightening measures are as a result “of the same structural factors affecting all media companies in Canada,”  including rising production costs, declining television advertising revenue and fierce competition from the digital giants. 

The CBC/Radio-Canada is also faced with forecasted reductions to its parliamentary funding beginning in the next fiscal year, including the end of program integrity funding of $C21 million ($15.47 million) received annually since 2021.

As part of the cost cutting, the corporation expects to cut about 600 union and non-union positions across the entire organization. It has also identified about 200 currently vacant positions across the corporation that will be eliminated. 

CBC and Radio-Canada will each be cutting in the range of 250 jobs, with the balance coming from Technology & Infrastructure and other corporate divisions. Each division will begin phasing-in reductions based on their business plans and operational requirements. Some will begin immediately; most will take effect over the next 12 months.

The Corporation will also be reducing its English and French programming budgets for the next fiscal year, including approximately $C40 million ($29.47 million) in independent production commissions and program acquisitions. This will result in reduced renewals and acquisitions, fewer new television series and episodes of existing shows, as well as fewer digital original series, the broadcaster said.

Earlier this year, the Corporation also said that it began implementing over $C25 million ($18.42 million) in discretionary cost reductions including travel, sponsorships, marketing and postponement of technology initiatives. It also limited filling vacant positions.

“CBC/Radio-Canada is not immune to the upheaval facing the Canadian media industry,” explained Catherine Tait, president and CEO, CBC/Radio-Canada. “We’ve successfully managed serious structural declines in our business for many years, but we no longer have the flexibility to do so without reductions. We understand how concerning this is to the people affected and to the Canadians who depend on our programs and services. We will have more details in the months ahead, but we are doing everything we can to minimize the impact of these measures.”

WASHINGTON, D.C.—NextGen TV technologies once again demonstrated the usefulness of their advanced datacasting capabilities during the 2023 Marine Corps Marathon, where a partnership of Washington, D.C., federal and regional agencies and broadcasting organizations used NextGen TV (ATSC 3.0) broadcasts to help monitor large crowds.

The effort involved NextGen TV broadcasts and infrastructure from Howard University’s public television station WHUT and Sinclair Broadcast Group station WIAV as well as the D.C. Homeland Security and Emergency Management Agency, the U. S. Park Police, and Arlington, Va. 

Working together, they were able to use NextGen TV datacasting capabilities to monitor the 26.2-mile course and protect the 30,000 runners and thousands of spectators from traffic mishaps and other public safety threats.

More specifically, the NextGen TV broadcasts allowed the agencies, covering multiple government jurisdictions, to seamlessly coordinate their protective services across a wide geographic area through encrypted video streams broadcast using the television stations infrastructure and transmitted to agency personnel through the IncidentOne datacasting system developed and deployed by the SpectraRep technology firm.

Content uniquely broadcast via data transmission capabilities embedded in the NextGen Broadcast standard is secure and cannot be viewed on traditional TV sets, those involved in the effort said. 

Data is encrypted and requires a receiver and special software to decrypt and view. Broadcasting’s one-to-many communications architecture makes it possible to send huge streams of datacast information quickly to an unlimited number of law enforcement officers and first responders without risk of the congestion and system failure often associated with cellular networks during emergencies.

That meant that NextGen datacasting could be used to add an overlay network for sharing onsite camera feeds from Arlington County and the National Mall with all involved agencies that would not otherwise have access to those cameras.

The event used two TV stations and transmitters to allow for optimized reception at geographically distant receiver sites and to provide additional overall data capacity.

“America’s Public Television Stations are committed to using our communications infrastructure to support public safety and first responders through datacasting,” said APTS president and CEO Patrick Butler. “The 2023 Marine Corps Marathon test shows that public television’s datacasting enables the sharing of critical information with first responders on the ground quickly and efficiently, saving time and saving lives. This event is another important step forward in public television’s work to protect communities and keep Americans safe.”

Sean Plater, general manager of WHUT, added that “WHUT is committed to serving the Washington, D.C. metropolitan community not only with high quality educational and informational television programming, but also with public safety, alert and warning, and other critical public mission services.”

“Our work to advance public safety information sharing during the Marine Corps Marathon represents another way public television serves their local communities,” said SpectraRep president Mark O’Brien. “Dartacasing was both a resilient backup communications path and served as the primary source for interagency video sharing. The addition of ATSC 3 this year also highlighted the benefits of this new capability, and broadcast television’s value beyond what you see on your TV set.”

Jerald Fritz, executive vice president for strategic affairs for ONE Media Technologies, the NextGen deployment subsidiary of Sinclair Broadcast Group, added, “The NextGen Broadcast standard is a tremendous advancement for the industry and the public, especially for advanced emergency information. Simply put, broadcasters around the country can provide this advanced technology to help save lives. That is the highest form of meeting our public interest responsibilities.”

NextGen TV broadcasts were also used for a successful trial of emergency communications datacasting during the 2022 Marine Marathon. 

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. 

Public broadcasters have played a vital role in their communities and across the country for years, frequently bringing to the public programming and ideas that otherwise might not have seen the light of day on commercial television. 

So, it shouldn’t be too surprising that a pair of novel ideas about how public broadcasters can better serve viewers by advancing reception of 3.0 were proposed during the Public Media Venture Group’s Public Media Technology Summit on the eve of the 2023 NAB Show in Las Vegas.

First up is an idea from Jerome McDonald, chairman of the Western Sanders County TV District—a TV translator service district in Montana. 

McDonald proposed special districts, such as those responsible for firefighting and public safety, launch bond initiatives to fund deployment of NextGen TV receivers for residents in their service areas to ensure reception of ATSC 3.0-delivered Advanced Emergency Information (AEI) messages.

His proposal was particularly eye-opening for those unfamiliar with special districts. Currently, there are more than 30,000 single-purpose districts across the United States that deal with various public concerns ranging from mosquito abatement and sewage to fire protection, flood control and highways. That number does not include school districts, he added.

“Bonding,” as McDonald puts it—not the cellular IP type for ENG, but rather for funding public works—could be the right mechanism to advance the public’s uptake of NextGen TV. 

As McDonald sees it, funding 3.0 receivers—set-top boxes, HDMI dongles or even NextGen TVs—as part of a public safety service is reasonable and appropriate for certain special districts. What’s needed is a focused effort to educate the people on the boards of these districts about how 3.0 reception will advance their specific missions with the public. That’s a perfect mission for public broadcasters, said McDonald.

Next up is an idea presented on behalf of Madeleine Noland, president of the Advanced Television Systems Committee, by Jerry Whitaker, ATSC vice president for standards, during the PMVG conference. (Noland was scheduled to present the conference keynote on April 14 but was delayed in arriving in Las Vegas due to the torrential rains in Florida.) 

The idea is simple. Identify a market or portion of a market with a relatively small population. Under the leadership of a public broadcaster, in other words funding from that broadcaster, outfit all households in the market with NextGen TV receivers and do a flash cut to ATSC 3.0.

Not only would the broadcaster be able to advance its mission of better serving the public in its coverage area with additional programming and the other benefits the standard brings to broadcasting, but the effort could demonstrate to regulators a path forward for accelerating 3.0 and hastening sunsetting of legacy DTV.

Given the FCC’s announcement that it too is looking for ways to move 3.0 along and end 1.0 without disenfranchising millions of DTV households, these ideas—or a combination of the two—could prove to be important parts of the solution it seeks. 

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—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—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.

BOSTON—Jonathan Abbott, President and CEO of public media company GBH, will step down after 15 years as chief executive, and 23 years with the organization. He will remain through the end of 2022 while a search is conducted for his successor. 

Abbott led GBH—the largest producer for PBS—through its transition to digital, built its endowment and vastly expanded service to audiences, the organization said. 

“The mission to share knowledge, inspire learning and strengthen community is why I’ve devoted my career to expanding the reach and impact of public media. There is no more exciting place to do this work than GBH,” said Abbott. “It has been my great privilege to work with an extraordinary group of talented and dedicated colleagues, supporting the creation of compelling, world class content and trusted journalism that helps us understand the critical issues of our times. I am grateful to our community for its enduring support of GBH and public media.” 

A nationally recognized leader and innovator, Abbott reimagined the ways that GBH, the largest producer for PBS, creates and distributes content locally and nationally across new platforms, offering greater access to its award-winning journalism, educational and cultural programs for millions of Americans. He invested in public media’s essential role as a community resource, expanding coverage of local issues with the re-launch of GBH 89.7 as an audience-focused NPR news service, amplifying local arts and performances with the acquisition of all-classical radio CRB, and opening a studio and community convening space at the Boston Public Library, a national first. 

“Jon’s vision and passion for the mission of public media to serve all people and to promote educational equity and citizenship has made GBH both a vital resource and a local treasure,” said Ann Fudge, Chair of the GBH Board of Trustees. “Over more than two decades he has strategically guided the organization to create purposeful, trusted content in the public interest. He leaves GBH in a strong position to continue to serve Boston, the Commonwealth and the nation with programs that inspire us to engage with one another, and with the world around us.”

Under Abbott’s leadership GBH has grown to encompass ten digital and broadcast media channels. He was at the forefront of the launch of digital public TV services, taking the lead on the creation of World Channel, now a thriving source of diverse documentary films. He affiliated GBH with PRI and then with audio technology leader PRX, and supported the merger of GBH’s western Massachusetts TV affiliate WGBY with New England Public Radio to form the multiplatform New England Public Media and expand service across southern New England. He has championed public media’s vital role in education to support teachers and parents, partnering with PBS to expand GBH’s innovative digital learning platform to launch PBS LearningMedia, a free national online service that offers classroom-ready resources for educators in all 50 states and has nearly 20 million users. 

“Jon has boldly re-shaped and re-imagined public media, not only for our Boston community, but for audiences across the country,” said Lee Pelton, CEO and President of the Boston Foundation. “His commitment to the creation of opportunities to close inequity gaps has been both remarkable and effective. He has been a dynamic partner to civic, educational and cultural organizations throughout Boston and New England. His creativity, generosity and peerless leadership will be sorely missed, but his unparalleled legacy will endure for years to come.”

Abbott has driven new approaches to strengthen GBH as an organization, and prioritized making it a more inclusive workplace. He brought on GBH’s first Chief Inclusion and Equity Officer and initiated organization-wide diversity, equity, inclusion and access efforts. Throughout his tenure he added significantly to GBH’s financial stability, creating new services to provide additional revenue for GBH. He partnered with PBS to form PBS Distribution (PBSd), for home entertainment licensing and formed the Contributor Development Partnership (CDP), a collaborative fundraising service to strengthen local public media organizations across the country. Last year GBH completed a $215 million capital campaign, the largest in public media history. Under his leadership GBH’s endowment grew substantially from $63M to $523M.

New productions across television, radio and the web have flourished during Abbott’s tenure, ranging from arts and education programs to a new pipeline of PBS children’s productions including Molly of Denali, the first national series to feature Native American and Alaska Native lead characters. He has supported original broadcast and digital series and numerous special productions, as well as podcasts and programs for social media platforms and apps. In 2020 Abbott rebranded the organization from WGBH to GBH to reflect its expansion beyond broadcast.  

“Jon Abbott is a leader within our public television system whose innovation and strategic thinking have helped propel key initiatives and services that are at the very heart of public media’s mission,” said Paula Kerger, President and CEO of PBS. “His deep commitment to education and serving teachers and students is evidenced every day through PBS LearningMedia, a broadband service built in partnership between GBH and PBS, which has made a pivotal difference to millions of families.”

Abbott began his 34-year career in public media at NPR/PBS station KQED in San Francisco where he helped launch the nation’s first all-news NPR station. He then moved to PBS in Washington, DC as Senior Vice President for Development and Corporate Relations. He joined GBH as Vice President and General Manager in 1998 and was named President and CEO in 2007.  He holds a bachelor’s degree in political science from Columbia University and an MBA from Stanford University.  

Abbott serves on the boards of GBH, PBS, National Public Media, the Contributor Development Partnership, PBS Distribution and the Business Advisory Council for Childcare Innovation in the Commonwealth. His past board service includes chairing the Stanford Business School Alumni Advisory Board and the Public Television Major Market Group, and serving on the boards of American Public Television, PRI, PRX, Project Healthy Children, the Boston Children’s Museum and ArtsBoston. He is an elected member of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences and the recipient of the John Jay Award from Columbia University. 

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—The House Appropriations Committee has officially proposed $515 million in advanced funding for the Corporation of Public Broadcasting in Fiscal Year 2023, which would represent a $50 million increase from the $465 million in funding it received in 2020.

The proposal is included in the FY 2021 Departments of Labor, Health & Human Services, Education and Related Agencies Appropriations Bill.

In addition to the increase for FY 2023, the proposal has recommended level funding of $20 million in FY 2021 for station interconnection, what American Public Television Stations (APTS)—which provided the proposal details via a press release—calls “the backbone of the public broadcasting system.”

The proposal also would commit $30 million in FY 2021 to Ready To Learn, a competitive grant program at the Department of Education that supports public television’s work in early childhood education. 

In addition to education, which public broadcast stations took on an increase role in during the COVID-19 pandemic with remote learning, public broadcasting funds also help with public safety services and providing platforms for state governments to produce programming regarding local affairs, elections and history, according to APTS.

“The federal investment in public broadcasting is essential to local public television stations’ public service missions of education, public safety and civic leadership, and to ensuring that everyone, everywhere, every day has access to these essential services,” said Patrick Butler, president and CEO of APTS.

“We are encouraged that this bipartisan congressional support continues to grow year by year, and we will do our best to earn this support every day in service to America’s communities,” Butler added.

EAST LANSING, Mich. – WKAR Public Media at Michigan State University and Gaian Solutions, Inc., have launched the Apollo PublicTV Platform, a NextGen TV accelerator platform for public broadcasters.

Apollo PublicTV Platform offers broadcasters a suite of services including NextGen TV master classes, ATSC 3.0 receiver and transmitter starter kits, access to NextGen TV broadcast chains, and the capability to conduct lab and field trials. Apollo PublicTV Platform also offers a certification program for technology providers, plus business consulting services for organizations interested in identifying and launching specific market-by-market NextGen TV opportunities.

This new platform offers NextGen TV services through tools that apply artificial intelligence (AI) and machine learning (ML) in a fully cloud-based, virtualized environment to enable the convergence of broadcast and digital workflows.

[See also NEXTGEN TV Innovation Lab Running at Michigan State's WKAR]

Through Apollo PublicTV Platform, public broadcasters can now offer rich content experiences in education, alerting, health information, community fundraising, and other domains, according to Susi Elkins, general manager at WKAR Public Media.

“Putting the tools of the Apollo PublicTV Platform in the hands of public broadcasters means that local communities can begin to benefit right now from the promise of NextGen TV,” Elkins said. “Barriers to moving forward immediately include a lack of significant investment and the absence of a clear migration path to NextGen TV. The Apollo PublicTV Platform partnership we’re announcing today is a marketplace collaboration designed to address those barriers. Apollo PublicTV Platform will help stations manage the convergence of operations now, to be well positioned for the future.”

Apollo PublicTV Platform tools include data analytics, app designer tools, AI agents, Software Development Kits (SDKs) and Application Programming Interfaces (APIs) for rapid service curation, an ATSC 3.0 receiver application stack, and the necessary business applications to manage carrier-grade content services.

“The coming NextGen TV economy will ensure overall growth of the broadcast industry and its long overdue integration with the digital transformation ecosystem,” said Chandra Kotaru, CEO and founder of Gaian Solutions. “Public broadcasters are in a unique position to leverage NextGen TV opportunities. Apollo PublicTV Platform was designed to accelerate this phenomenon.”

“The Apollo PublicTV Platform instantly opens up new opportunities and better experiences through cutting edge technology, open APIs, and toolkits,” said Prabu David, dean of the College of Communication Arts and Sciences at MSU. “Gaian Solutions has been instrumental in conceptualizing, designing, developing, and operating the Apollo PublicTV Platform with WKAR at MSU. We are very hopeful this will put public broadcasters at the forefront of leading innovation in the NextGen TV space.”

“America’s Public Television Stations see great potential in the Apollo PublicTV Platform developed by Gaian in cooperation with Susi Elkins and her team at WKAR-TV,” said Patrick Butler, president and CEO. “We look forward to working with them and with the public station community to make Apollo PublicTV Platform an accelerator of ATSC 3.0 adoption and of all the new service and revenue opportunities the NextGen broadcast standard holds in store for public television.”

Butler continued, “APTS intends to play an active role in familiarizing stations with the Apollo PublicTV Platform and ensuring that every station understands the transformative promise of ATSC 3.0 and the ability of Apollo PublicTV Platform to help make that promise come true for stations of every size.”

WKAR at Michigan State University, Gaian Solutions, and APTS invite all content and spectrum based entrepreneurs, digital transformation agencies, broadcasters, and technology vendors to collaborate on Apollo PublicTV Platform, the new open platform for NextGen TV. 

For a comprehensive source of TV Technology’s ATSC 3.0 coverage, see ourATSC3 silo.

CHANTILLY, VA.—SpectraRep, a provider of datacasting technology for homeland security and public safety, has appointed John McCoskey as its new Chief Operating Officer.

McCoskey has more than 30 years of experience in the broadcast technology. Prior to SpectrRep, he headed up the technology, media and entertainment practice at Eagle Hill Consulting, was the first chief technology officer for PBS as well as the CTO and executive Vice President for the Motion Picture Association of America. He is also a contributor to TV Technology.

“John will be responsible for guidance, alignment and prioritization of SpectraRep strategy at a time when we are seeing incredible adoption of datacasting to improve public safety information sharing and as SpectraRep expands into public alerting,” said Mark O’Brien, president of SpectraRep. "His expertise in broadcast technology, coupled with his knowledge of the public television landscape will reinforce our course as law enforcement and first responders recognize the benefits of ATSC digital television transmission.”

[Read: SpectraRep Datacasting System Helps Share Public Safety Info]

“I am very pleased to be joining SpectraRep at this particular time because there’s such a tremendous opportunity to extend the community service mission of public television stations with datacasting,” McCoskey said. “Using my background, experience and relationships in this domain, I will focus on implementing SpectraRep’s vision to pursue new and existing opportunities that help solve problems on the local level. 

WASHINGTON—Public television is seeking an exemption for noncommercial educational licensees from the ATSC 1.0-3.0 simulcast mandate that’s part of the FCC’s November 2017 authorization of over-the-air transmission of Next-Gen TV.

Representatives from America’s Public Television Stations (APTS), the Corporation for Public Broadcasting and the Public Broadcasting Service met with the media advisor in the office of FCC Chairman Ajit Pai April 26 to make the appeal.

The group, collectively called "PTV,: told the FCC that the exemption is “warranted and essential” because of the unique mission, structure, governance, finance, history, geographic layout and regulatory treatment of noncommercial educational stations.

“The regulatory certainty of an exemption will ensure that PTV stations can invest confidently in their futures knowing that they will be able to serve their local communities in innovative ways based on their unique needs and circumstances,” the group said in a document filed with the commission regarding the meeting.

[Read: Research: Americans Want Public Broadcasting To Provide Earthquake Early Warnings]

The group told the FCC that “the driving purpose” of PTV stations is to serve the public in their local communities. In 19 states, that means a PTV station serves its entire state regardless of DMA boundaries. Often such stations, like WIIQ in Demopolis, Ala., are “sited far from any potential simulcasting partners,” the document said.

Similarly, 57 university licensees are located at their parent institution, such as WUNC in Chapel Hill, N.C., and are far away from possible simulcast partners. In 89 instances, licensees serve “some of the most rural, remote, and isolated parts of the country,” such as KAWE in Bemidji, Minn., “where commercial counterparts often do not exist,” the document said.

While the PTV group asked for the exemption, it told the agency that licensees “have no interest, and nothing to gain, in leaving their viewers behind.”

PTV stations along with their community advisor will examine many factors “to determine when it is appropriate and in the communities’ best interests to transition to ATSC 3.0,” the document said. They include items, such as surveys of dual-mode receiver penetration in communities, voluntary MVPD ATSC 3.0 adoption and the availability of low-cost converter devices.

Not only would the exemption make it possible for PTV to leverage the many benefits of ATSC 3.0 to better serve the public, but it also will give the 43 percent of public stations that will be repacked –many of which are in rural locations—the confidence “to make supplemental out-of-pocket investments” in equipment with ATSC 3.0 capabilities. Similarly, those that aren’t being repacked but are working with ageing gear can confidently plan for Next-Gen TV as they replace their infrastructure, it said.

The document reminded the agency that PTV stations receive most of their revenue from individual donations and “therefore have every incentive to closely align their transition to the Next Generation standard with their audience’s needs and capabilities.” 

For a comprehensive source of TV Technology’s ATSC 3.0 coverage, see our ATSC3 silo.

Click on the Image to Enlarge

At the NAB Show in April, I had the privilege of moderating a panel that explored the growing role of the public media system in supporting public safety. I was joined by Roger Stone, assistant administrator of National Continuity Programs at the Federal Emergency Management Agency; Tom Axtell, general manager of Vegas PBS; Dana Golub, senior director of Public Programs for PBS; Lisa Trapani Shumate, associate vice president and general manager of Houston Public Media; and Lonna Thompson, executive vice president, COO and general counsel of America’s Public Television Stations.

This group has plenty of firsthand knowledge and experience, and our discussion yielded some very compelling information about the role of the public media system in supporting safety:

· Some 90 percent of survivors are saved not by first responders but by their fellow citizens and neighbors. Arming the public with information and tools helps turn potential victims into survivors.

· Public television stations reach more than 97 percent of the public. In some rural and tribal areas, public broadcasting represents the onlysource of information during a disaster.

· Many local, state and federal agencies—including FEMA—have longstanding and successful partnerships with the public media system. These collaborations give public agencies access to infrastructure and services that would cost millions for them to replicate on their own.

Of course, the role of public broadcasting in supporting public safety isn’t a closely guarded industry secret. In fact, new research from Eagle Hill Consulting affirms that 80 percent of the public is already aware of the role of the public broadcasting in supporting public safety. What’s more, 87 percent see a role for public media in educating underserved populations—including low-income communities, individuals with disabilities and rural communities—about responding to emergencies. Even more (91 percent) view public television as an effective channel for educating children about responding to emergencies. The Eagle Hill research tells us that public trust is there. And, increasingly, so is the technology.

INNOVATIONS IN EMERGENCY INFORMATION & COMMUNCATION

For more than a decade, FEMA has partnered with public television—relying on public broadcasters as one of the vital channels for the Integrated Public Alert and Warning System, which receives and authenticates messages from alerting authorities and then routes them to appropriate public alerting systems. The IPAWS system is highly redundant to maximize the probability of important messages reaching citizens. Public television transmitters provide one of those redundant paths for messages, using a robust infrastructure that includes backup generators at nearly every transmitter. This ensures continuity when conditions are challenging, just when such a system is likely needed the most.

More recently, many public television stations have begun making the investments necessary to support high-speed datacasting. This technology is a game-changer when it comes to educating the public about emergency preparedness and communicating following an incident. High-speed datacasting makes it possible to use TV to deliver rich, real-time information that would normally be available only on the internet. Imagine the ability to send and receive tornado tracking maps, evacuation routes and photos of a missing child as part of an Amber alert. First responders can also use datacasting for secure incident response communication, such as providing a remote fire commander the real-time video feed of a drone to help firefighters on the ground. All of these capabilities exist today, using the datacasting features available with ASTC 1.0. 

PUBLIC SAFETY AND NEXT GEN TV

When it comes to public broadcasting and public safety, what will the future bring? Along with my fellow panelists at the NAB Show, I foresee significant opportunities to further expand and enhance these collaborations. By implementing innovative technologies—and supporting them with effective change management—the public media system can add even more value.

With the recent significant focus on the ATSC 3.0 next gen TV standard, emergency alerting and public safety support are even more integrated. Rather than an afterthought, ATSC 3.0 Advanced Emergency Alerting has been considered with the standards from the beginning and is a key focus throughout. Features such as a “wake up” function for receivers and location-specific targeting have been built in from the start. Coupled with a new modulation scheme that will support mobile devices and deep indoor penetration, ATSC 3.0 will provide a new level of public safety support—one that will no doubt be embraced by public television stations to further their missions as important resources in the communities they serve.

John McCoskey is the Industry Lead Executive –Technology, Media & Entertainment at Eagle Hill Consulting in Arlington, Va. He can be reached atjmccoskey@eaglehillconsulting.com.

See als0

Ohio Public Stations Datacast EAS Messages Over ATSC 1.0

SpectraRep Datacasting System Helps Share Public Safety Info

The author is membership program director of theNational Federation of Community Broadcasters.

DENVER—A day before Pres. Donald Trump was sworn into office, reports of sweeping cuts to or outright elimination of certain programs such as the Corporation for Public Broadcasting, National Endowment for the Arts and National Endowment for the Humanities sent many in the noncommercial media world, especially some who thought funds were safe, into a tailspin. Make no mistake about it—what would essentially be killing off the Corporation for Public Broadcasting could mean is absolutely devastating.

Created by the 1967 Public Broadcasting Act, CPB supports noncommercial media, providing financial help for initiatives at nearly 1,500 organizations nationwide. When you think about your childhood public television, there’s a good chance CPB gave to it. When you recall that wonderful public radio moment, it is quite possible CPB backed it. For millions of parents, CPB has been that quiet partner, here to give their kids a chance to learn and grow. The Trump administration’s suggestion of privatizing an already separate entity is as good as ending it.

CPB matters because, with a stroke of Pres. Lyndon B. Johnson’s pen almost 50 years ago, the United States acknowledged the importance of educational media. CPB is part of our nation’s commitment to ensuring culture, learning and the arts are available to all Americans. Just as the Dept. of Defense protects the homeland, public media nourishes the fertile fields in our minds. Leaving future generations’ imaginations fallow would be a burden too heavy to bear.

By its own definition, CPB sees noncommercial media as “champion[ing] the principles of diversity and excellence of programming, responsiveness to local communities and service to all.” Whether you’re at a megamedia outlet or an organization in a tiny town, these values speak to all of us. If Congress and Pres. Trump are unswayed by Americans who believe in the importance of funding for educational media, we all lose ground.

Why does Trump want to kill off CPB? Ostensibly, the proposed budget cuts are a cost-cutting measure. Conservatives have long been at war with NPR over charges of liberal bias. The Media Research Center alleges “the left has a massive, taxpayer-funded radio network.” The website Breitbart criticized NPR election analysis as unfair to conservatives.

NPR heard bias complaints from its listeners as well. Criticism of NPR matters because many on the right are hanging their hats on perceptions of a cozy relationship between CPB and NPR or with radio stations who carry predominantly NPR programming as a reason to end funding for CPB. Few know the range of projects CPB supports. What an end to taxpayer funding would mean to many communities, which in turn have no editorial role at NPR in the first place, is like throwing out the proverbial baby with the bathwater.

A few endeavors recently supported by CPB:

· Early childhood learning programs, digital tools and materials in low-income communities, with an emphasis on science

· A documentary on how medicine and technology are savingU.S. soldiers

· Funding for health and economy reporting in the Great Lakes region

As an organization that receives tax money, CPB is certainly expected to spend those funds responsibly. By all credible accounts, CPB does its best to spend wisely and honor Americans’ investment. The CPB Office of the Inspector General has not been shy about calling out errors by grant recipients. Its fidelity to the public trust should be lauded.

Congress and the president are fair to expect all agencies meet rigorous and exacting standards. Surely an assessment of CPB’s budget decisions is something in the purview of lawmakers. How are media organizations based in underserved communities faring? What kind of assistance is community-based media, including low-power community radio, getting in order to represent culture in the heart of America? They’re all germane questions. Ending CPB is not the answer.

Protect My Public Media, a coalition of radio, television and digital groups of which the National Federation of Community Broadcasters is part, is ramping up to educate Congress about the necessity of noncommercial media and why Americans want it funded. The #ProtectPublicMedia social media campaign is one part of that effort. The public is invited to submit testimonials about why noncommercial media matters. The window in which to raise our voices is small. We can act now or pay dearly for it later.

 This story originally apperaed on TVT's sister publication Radio World.

WASHINGTON—A week after the U.S. House Labor, Health and Human Services, Education and Related Agencies Subcommittee made its recommendation for public broadcasting funding, the U.S. House Appropriations Committee did the same.

The approved funding will see $445 million provided to the Corporation for Public Broadcasting in 2019 Fiscal Year, as well as level funding of $25.7 million for the 2017 Fiscal Year for Ready to Learn, and $10 million for the 2017 for the new public broadcasting interconnection system. According to America’s Public Television Stations President and CEO Patrick Butler, this is first time in six years that both the House Labor-HHS-Education Subcommittee and the House Appropriations Committee have voted to provide funding to Ready to Learn, which supports the creation of public television’s on-air, online and on-the-ground educational media content.

“We very much appreciate the Committee’s broad bipartisan support for funding the Corporation for Public Broadcasting and through it the public service missions of 170 public television licensees serving 99 percent of the American people in the hundreds of communities around the country,” Butler said in a statement. “We remain hopeful that as the appropriations process runs its course, full funding of $50 million will be provided for the new interconnection system to help ensure that public television service remains available to every American everywhere, for free, particularly those in the most rural and remote regions.

“We are especially appreciative of the leadership of Chairman Hal Rogers (R-KY) and Ranking Member Nita Lowey (D-NY), and subcommittee chairman Tom Cole (R-OK) and Ranking Member Rosa DeLauro (D-CT), in creating a broad bipartisan consensus in favor of this funding. We are greatly encourage by this growing support in Congress—on both sides of the aisle—for public broadcasting’s essential public service missions in education, public safety and civic leadership, and we will continue to serve our communities across the country and earn that essential support every day.”

WASHINGTON—A little less than a month after the U.S. Senate Appropriations Committee approved funding for public broadcasting, the U.S. House Labor, Health and Human Services, Education and Related Agencies Subcommittee has followed suit.

The House Appropriations Subcommittee recommended level funding of $445 million for the 2019 Fiscal Year for the Corporation for Public Broadcasting under its two-year advance funding mechanism, the same amount recommended by the Senate. The subcommittee also recommended $10 million in the 2017 Fiscal Year as an investment in the new public broadcasting interconnection system. The bipartisan effort was led by subcommittee chairman Tom Cole (R-OK) and ranking member Rosa DeLauro (D-CT).

“We remain hopeful that as the appropriations process runs its course, full funding of $50 million will be provided for the interconnection system and $25.7 million for Ready to Learn, public Television’s unique national-local partnership with a proven record of helping America’s children get ready to learn in school and succeed in life—and helping close the educational achievement gap between children from low-income families and their more affluent peers,” said America’s Public Television Stations President and CEO Patrick Butler.

“But we are most grateful that today’s Labor-HHS-Education Subcommittee mark-up demonstrates support for public broadcasting across the political spectrum. We are determined to earn that support every day in communities across America.”

WASHINGTON—Patrick Butler, president and CEO of America’s Public Television Stations, praised the U.S. Senate Appropriations Committee on its recent funding of public broadcasting. The bipartisan committee—which included Thad Cochran (R-MS), Roy Blunt (R-MO), Barbara Mikulski (D-MD), and Patty Murray (D-WA)—approved funding for multiple public broadcasters for a combined total of more than $500 million in the 2017 and 2019 Fiscal Years.

The largest sum of funding was provided to the Corporation for Public Broadcasting, which received $445 million level funding for the 2019 Fiscal Year. The Ready to Learn program will receive $25.7 million during the 2017 Fiscal Year. The Committee also approved the request for $50 million for a new interconnection system for public broadcasting in the 2017 Fiscal Year.

“These federal funds are essential to local public television station’s public service missions of education, public safety and civic leadership, and to ensuring that everyone everywhere in America has access to these services,” said Butler in his statement. Some of the specific services that Butler points out include the PBS LearningMedia initiative that turns public television programming into digital learning objects, a public safety capability, and a network billed as the “C-SPAN” of local government.

“We are hopeful that the Congress will continue to demonstrate its bipartisan support for public media as the appropriations process moves forward,” concluded Butler.