BOULDER, Co.—Public Media Venture Group (PMVG), a nonprofit business development consortium, has received a $400,000 grant from The Tow Foundation to accelerate its work building sustainable business and technology models that help local public stations modernize operations, reduce costs, and strengthen their impact nationwide.
The two-year general operating grant will support PMVG’s efforts to sustain the public media system at a time of significant disruption across the sector, including the loss of federal funding, aging technical infrastructure, and growing pressure to compete in an increasingly digital-first media environment.
PMVG is working to address these challenges by helping stations modernize their operations and adopt technologies that expand their reach beyond traditional broadcasting, including streaming, digital audience engagement, cloud-based infrastructure, shared engineering services, and other emerging technologies.
“Public media’s future depends on its ability to evolve,” said PMVG CEO Marc Hand. “The Tow Foundation’s generous support allows us to accelerate the development of practical, scalable, cost-effective solutions that help stations preserve local broadcast service and build long-term sustainability.”
PMVG reported several examples of how those efforts are already having an impact. In Eureka, California, PMVG is working with KEET-TV as part of a stabilization effort to reduce capital and equipment costs, lower ongoing operational expenses, and help preserve the station’s local service in a financially vulnerable market.
Another component of PMVG’s broader efforts is TechBundle, a coordinated suite of technology and operational services designed to help public media stations reduce costs, strengthen operations, and connect with new audiences across platforms.
The Tow Foundation was established in 1988 by Leonard and Claire Tow as a way to give back to the communities that shaped them. Based in New Canaan, Connecticut, the Foundation supports visionary leaders and effective organizations in Connecticut and New York, advancing opportunity and well-being in five impact areas: arts and culture, civic engagement, higher education, justice, and medicine and public health.
Public Media Venture Group is a nonprofit business development consortium of leading public media organizations working to preserve and strengthen public media. PMVG member organizations own and operate over 100 public stations that collectively reach 250 million people.
