APTS Urges Congress to Support Digital Public Media
WASHINGTON—March 21, 2007—Public Television stations are about growth, moving forward, and the expansion of non-commercial public service media in the United States. So, as Congress debates public broadcasting’s FY 2008 funding requests, the Association of Public Television Stations (APTS) today is urging the House Labor, HHS and Education Appropriations Subcommittee to provide essential federal support for local Public Television and Radio stations to achieve these goals and be reliable partners in local communities.
“Those who think Americans no longer need public broadcasting have finally run into the brick wall of American public opinion,” APTS President and CEO John Lawson said. “Americans are not ready to give up our national parks just because we have Disney World. They are not prepared to ditch public libraries just because we have chain book stores in every mall. And they sure as hell aren’t ready to kill Public Television just because there are 500 channels on cable.”
Lawson continued: “Public Television stations are on the cutting edge of a new digital frontier with many opportunities to provide valuable added services to Americans. Our legislative agenda is transitioning from a focus on the digital conversion of physical infrastructure to a goal of creating virtual infrastructure—a new generation of content and services for the American people.”
APTS, working with PBS, for example, has developed a comprehensive initiative to expand educational services through its Ready To Compete effort that will leverage digital broadcasting in the classroom.
Moreover, APTS is working with the Department of Homeland Security to allow public alerts and warnings to be disseminated more effectively through the use of local Public Television’s digital broadcasts.
In addition, APTS is spearheading an initiative called “The American Archive” that will digitally preserve public broadcasting’s treasure trove of America’s audio, film and video history. APTS is asking Congress to repurpose digital funds to begin the development of this archive.
Despite these exciting opportunities to continue providing essential balanced programming and services to local communities, the Bush Administration proposed reducing federal funding for public broadcasting, including the Corporation of Public Broadcasting (CPB), by roughly $145 million in its FY 2008 budget submission to Congress.
“Over the past six years we have convinced Congress to override the President’s budget proposal. That’s the good news. The bad news is that maintaining level funding isn’t enough, as inflation and increased operating costs are taking their toll. For example, our stations face increased operating costs associated with simultaneously transmitting analog and digital signals. Local Public Television stations spend approximately $50 million a year for electricity, depreciation and other costs for maintaining analog transmission. Moreover, rechannelization of many stations is predicted to cost $76 million in capital outlays.”
The Government Accountability Office recently issued a report concluding that other sources of funds doesn’t exist to fill the void that would be left if federal funding were reduced or eliminated. This GAO report supports the case that Public Television stations would need to reduce their level of service, or some would completely shut down their operations, if federal funding was slashed.
