“The Prenups: What Filmmakers and Funders Should Talk About Before Tying the Knot” is an informative new site “dedicated to improving communications and collaborations among filmmakers, funders, strategists and advocates,” according to the Center for Social Media, which advises the project. Money people, policy people and film people each bring different skills, needs, concerns and assets to collaborations, the center says. The Prenups explores why some funder/maker relationships thrive, while others don’t.

Now the Red Cross is getting involved in the final DTV transition, which occurs June 12. In a press release, the group said the switch from analog to digital signals “will have a real effect on the disaster preparedness plans of many people who have relied on small portable televisions with antennas for emergency communications in a disaster.” Those sets won’t work without a converter box, as Broadcasting & Cable points out. The FCC issued a statement (PDF) instructing viewers to connect a battery-powered digital-to-analog converter box to continue to receive emergency warnings in a power outage.

Remember Budget Hero? That’s the interactive national budget game launched in May 2008 by American Public Media. Players use the same economic model and data as the Congressional Budget Office, choosing from among more than 160 policy options to try to balance the budget. The game caught on quickly: Within three weeks it had been linked in at least 100 blogs. Since its inception about 10 percent of players, around 15,000, left enough anonymous data to do some crunching. David Rejeski, director of the Serious Games Initiative at the Woodrow Wilson International Center for Scholars in D.C., offers up some interesting stats.

Wisconsin Public Television is cutting five positions. Gone are three unfilled slots, and two contracts that will not be renewed, James Steinbach, WPT director of television tells WisBusiness.com. Travel expenses have also been cut. One of the network’s flagship shows, the half-hour weekly magazine In Wisconsin also shrinks from 19 new episodes per year to 13. Steinbach cited the ongoing recession and state budget woes. Milwaukee Public Television, distinct from the Wisconsin network, also has frozen hiring and salaries, reduced use of freelancers, and dropped programs with no underwriting support, says Ellis Bromberg, g.m.

Now pubcasters can keep up with the Association of Public Television Stations through its Twitter account and Facebook page. Jeffrey Davis, vice president of communications, said in an email to Current that APTS will use Twitter to update stations on legislative and regulatory hearings, press conferences, projects of importance and other tweets. On its Facebook page, visitors can read APTS news updates, post links and comments, and find out about hearings and other events. Davis said APTS hopes both will “enhance the presence of APTS in the online community.”

Michael Kinsell imagined that his Michael’s Enchanted Neighborhood show would replace Mister Rogers’ Neighborhood on public television. Instead, Kinsell and his dream ended up on The Museum of Hoaxes website, which tracks “dubious claims and mischief of all kinds.” For at least the past 18 months, the young San Diego man took his plans to a sequence of top entertainment pros, pitching a gala fundraising concert that would pay tribute to the late Fred Rogers while presenting Kinsell as Rogers’ successor. Though the event fizzled last month, leaving an empty concert hall in the San Diego suburb of Escondido on Sunday night, May 31, Kinsell had demonstrated he could come from nowhere, win the assistance of others and nearly reach the spotlight.

CPB has announced it will be accepting applications for Round 14 Digital Distribution Fund grants from qualified noncommercial educational TV licensees for Priority One: Digital Television Transmission Facilities and Priority Two: Digital Master Control Services projects. More information is now online.

Debra Delman has been named NPR’s senior vice president for strategic operations and finance, the network announced today. Since 2005, she has been with Discovery Communications Inc. as senior vice president, CFO, leading a global team of more than 150 and managing a division with more than $1 billion in revenue. Delman assumed her post June 1.

Parody site CAP News (motto: “Are you in on the joke?”) “reports” that scientists investigating the origins of human laughter now know that baboons have a laugh reflex very similar to humans — and a special fondness for certain types of comedy, such as pubradio’s Prairie Home Companion and Wait Wait, Don’t Tell Me. The site said baboons laughed “consistently” at episodes of Car Talk, “even though few of them had ever actually been in a car, much less driven one.”

University of Florida’s public radio station will soon begin airing more news in addition to its current classical music, according to The Gainesville Sun. It broadcasts as WUFT/Classic 89 in that city, and WJUF/Nature Coast 90 in Citrus County. The move comes as the university consolidates its media operations of several radio and television stations. College of Journalism and Communications Dean John Wright said there are no plans to close any station, although jobs may be lost. A detailed announcement will come in the next few weeks.

Three $10,000 awards have gone to students for work on children’s media projects in the spirit of Fred Rogers. The annual scholarships are presented by the Academy of Television Arts & Sciences Foundation and Ernst & Young. Alexis Lauricella of Georgetown University is at work on a project about the relationship between children’s media use and learning. Mayuran Tiruchelvam of Columbia University is developing live-action short film and animated series. And Thy Than of the UCLA plans to create an animated short about a girl who emigrates with her family. The students also will each have TV academy mentors. They were honored at a recent ceremony attended by Rogers’ widow, Joanne Rogers.

A federal appeals court turned down a lawsuit that would have stopped the FCC from protecting low-power FM stations from full-power station signal interference, reports the Ars Technica website. Around 800 educational stations operating at 10 or 100 watts commit to eight hours of local programming a day in exchange for licenses. After the FCC first authorized the service, the National Association of Broadcasters and NPR claimed that the stations would interfere with full-power signals (Current, May 2008), and persuaded Congress to force a “third adjacent rule” on the service. Citing potential interference from LPFMs, the two also wanted the FCC not protect these smaller stations from signal “encroachment” by new full power licenses nearby.

Lots of letters in the PBS ombudsman’s mailbag this week, including more “dealing with challenges arising from the five-part American Experience series ‘We Shall Remain’ on American Indian history,” writes Michael Getler.

The Tony Awards belong on PBS, actor Kevin Spacey told New York Post theater columnist Michael Riedel. In fact, Spacey said: “The Tonys should be produced by theater people. Mike Nichols should be the director. The show should be on PBS and everyone should get their award, and then we don’t have to give a (bleep!) about ratings.” The show currently airs on CBS.

KRVS-FM, the University of Louisiana at Lafayette licensee, has a new home on campus. Spiffy new equipment includes Wheatstone Evolution 5 consoles in editing suites and studios, and custom-made furniture for console units. An Evolution 6 console operates the master control room positioned to oversee interview and performance studios, according to 2TheAdvocate.com, website of the local WBRZ-News 2 comstation in Baton Rouge. “We experienced no down time,” reports Dave Spizale, KRVS g.m. “It was a great coordinated effort with the construction, the university and our staff.”