Viva TV, World, Create, PBS Kids Go! to Join PBS HD as Next Generation of PTV Programming

WASHINGTON, October 12, 2005 — John Lawson, president and CEO of the Association of Public Television Stations (APTS), was joined by leaders in public television programming in announcing four ground-breaking public television digital programming services and the expansion of a fifth.

This next generation of services will be available on local public television stations across the country, and will be carried by cable systems operated by the largest cable MSOs.

Mr. Lawson said: “Americans support public broadcasting for quality, intelligent programming, as a safe haven for kids, and as the last of the locally controlled media in many communities. Increasingly, people, including policymakers, also support us for our innovation with digital technology. The new generation of programming on display today is evidence that we are making real progress on a positive, strategic agenda for digital public television. We’re not talking today about basic survival. We are talking about seizing the digital opportunity and thriving in the 21st Century.”

Under the terms of the digital TV carriage agreement between APTS, PBS and the National Cable & Telecommunications Association (NCTA), every major cable system will carry both the analog channel and four digital programming streams (if a station chooses to provide that many) from at least one public station.

Mr. Lawson said: “When we signed the carriage agreement, we predicted that this unprecedented distribution guarantee, combined with the duplication limits, would stimulate the creation of a new generation of content and services from public television. That expectation is becoming a reality.”

Viva TV, World, Create, and PBS Kids Go! are the next generation of public television programming slated to be made available as part of local public television stations’ multicast offerings, in addition to an expanded PBS HD. Some of these innovative services target communities and interests that were under-represented in the single channel world.

Mr. Lawson observed: “This exciting programming will be available for free to anyone with a DTV receiver and to digital cable subscribers. Over the next few years, even more services with different programming that appeal to different audiences will be developed and presented by digital public stations.”

Mr. Lawson concluded: “Public television is bullish on DTV, and the services we’re announcing today justifies that optimism.”

For more information, contact Kristin Wilson at 202.654.4222 or kwilson@apts.org.