System/Policy
WQEX deal wins at FCC, loses in the end
Seventeen million dollars slipped through WQED’s fingers last week when a partner in its long-delayed deal to sell sister channel WQEX abruptly ...Nonprofits courting DBS for set-aside channels
A ground-floor chance to secure channel space on direct broadcast satellites is opening up for noncommercial organizations that have the wherewithal to ...CPB bans list dealings with politicos
To continue receiving CPB aid, public stations must now certify that they don’t exchange member or donor names with political groups, or ...Congress reacts hotly to station donor-list swaps with Democrats
Suddenly, pubcasting is in for a severe talking-to, if not a whupping. The House subcommittee that held such a congenial hearing on ...PBS and Nesmith settle home-video dispute but are mum on price
LOS ANGELES — The 63-month-old legal fight between public TV and the former distributor of PBS Home Video, Michael Nesmith, was “resolved amicably,” both ...Rumors rampant as Ottenhoff steps down
Chief Operating Officer Bob Ottenhoff is leaving the No. 2 position at PBS after eight years working for Ervin Duggan and the ...Lawsuits are latest fallout from 1996 staff revolt in Wichita
The bitter conflict that led to the departure of the top two executives at Wichita, Kan., public TV station KPTS in 1996 ...Michael Nesmith wins $47 million in video suit against PBS
Almost five years after PBS sued its former home-video distributor, the legal action boomeranged last week, hitting the network with a $46.8 million ...Gore panel endorses adding educational DTV channels
An extra digital TV channel should be reserved in every community for noncommercial educational purposes, the Gore Commission recommended last week in its ...DBS ruling: FCC reserves 4% of channels for education
Direct broadcast satellite companies will have to set aside 4 percent of their video channel capacity for noncommercial educational programming, the FCC ...On to the White House
The House and Senate resolved last-minute differences over public broadcasting’s fiscal 1991-93 authorization bill and late last week passed the three-year, $800 ...High court upholds authority of Arkansas network in debate case
The broadcast decision that embroiled Arkansas ETV in a landmark First Amendment struggle ever since 1992 was “a reasonable, viewpoint-neutral exercise of ...Court gives WFUV fifth victory for its tower plan
New York state’s highest court early this month unanimously upheld WFUV-FM’s right to complete the radio tower on Fordham University’s Bronx campus, ...Minnesota net endows itself with sale of mail-order firm
With the $120-million sale of for-profit sister company Rivertown Trading to Dayton Hudson, Minnesota Public Radio (MPR) gains a secure subsidy while ...Merger: we’re not talking now, but we might be talking later
It may be a simple question–are PRI and NPR talking about a merger?–but that doesn’t mean it gets a simple answer. To ...
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