Monday roundup: Iowa loves Doctor Who most of all; Sesame Street disappears from Netflix

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• Which TV station has been airing Doctor Who for the longest consecutive period of time? The answer might surprise you: Iowa Public TV. According to the New Statesman, IPTV has been airing the popular British sci-fi program “with very few breaks” since 1974. The article chalks up the Good Doctor’s longevity in Iowa to the nature of the pubTV pledge system, with viewers rewarding the station financially for continuing to broadcast their favorite shows. What’s more, a professor at the University of Northern Iowa started the first major Doctor Who fan site.

• Episodes of Sesame Street have temporarily disappeared from Netflix due to contract negotiations. A Facebook post from the show says the blackout is temporary and that PBS and Netflix hope to reach an agreement within a few weeks. A Fortune story reports that PBS’s streaming deal with Netflix expired before the two parties could renew their contract.

• But never fear: Sesame Street‘s own streaming service, Sesame Go, is a strong competitor to Netflix, according to Streaming Media. The article discusses Sesame Workshop’s desire to connect more directly with its audience.

• Former Shark Week host Mike Rowe recently called out NPR’s All Things Considered on Facebook for using an eight-year-old picture of him in scuba gear to illustrate a story that criticized the popular Discovery event’s portrayal of facts. Rowe, who has a new show appearing on CNN soon, said he has not been associated with Shark Week since 2008 and asked that the picture be changed. The show changed the photo after Rowe’s post.

• NPR Ombudsman Edward Schumacher-Matos weighed in Wednesday on accusations of plagiarism in a GlobalPost story that appeared on NPR’s website. Schumacher-Matos said that while the story shared subject matter with a piece that appeared on Cracked, a humor site, he didn’t think plagiarism had occurred.

 

 

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