N.C. pubcasters in “hissing contest” over doc filmed in state?

A documentary on North Carolina is “caught in a hissing contest” between pubTV stations UNC-TV and WTVI, reports the News & Observer in Raleigh. Mike Lassiter, an attorney in Statesville, and videographer Scott Galloway captured businesses throughout the state and the people behind them in their film, Vanishing Americana. But it probably will only be seen in 13 of the state’s 100 counties, on WTVI alone. Statewide pubcaster UNC-TV refuses to show the film. “It’s a bit of an overstatement to call it a policy, but it’s a general rule that we don’t broadcast things originating from WTVI,” said UNC-TV spokesperson Steve Volstad. “Our service area overlaps and much of the time our broadcast schedule is the same.” Response from WTVI’s Eric Davis, v.p. of broadcasting and content: “‘Overlap’ . . . is meant to be pejorative,” he told the paper. “We only carry 25 percent of the PBS schedule, and we time-shift the ones we do run.”