SPONSORED

query

The U.S. public wants more news coverage of climate change, surveys find

As hurricanes, floods, wildfires, and heat waves have intensified over the past decade, public concern about climate change has grown dramatically. Today, 65% of the U.S. public is worried about the issue, up from 52% a decade ago, according to nationally representative surveys conducted by scientists at Yale University and George Mason University.

Connecticut Public Broadcasting Network

Conn. network strikes deal with LocusPoint on proceeds from spectrum auction

By |

The Connecticut Public Broadcasting Network plans to relinquish the spectrum assigned to WEDW-TV in Bridgeport, one of four stations in its statewide network, in the FCC’s upcoming auction, according to documents filed with the FCC. Under its agreement with spectrum speculator LocusPoint Networks, the pubcaster received an undisclosed cash payout from LocusPoint and will share a portion of its future auction proceeds with the company. Financial details of the contract, approved by the network’s board of trustees in June 2013, have been redacted from FCC records due to a mutual confidentiality agreement. Connecticut Public Broadcasting Inc. is among the sole-service public TV licensees identified in a July CPB white paper warning of the creation of a “white area” — the loss of PTV broadcast service — if pubcasters choose to auction off their spectrum. But that won’t happen in this case, according to officials from LocusPoint and CPBN.

Programs/Content

Final NPR newsmag clocks will take effect Nov. 17

By |

NPR has released the final versions of the new clocks for its newsmagazines and set a date of Nov. 17 for their implementation. The network unveiled proposed clocks in July after more than a year of work that involved staff and representatives from member stations. The clocks are the second-by-second scheduling of what happens when during the newsmagazines, including newscasts, music beds and funding credits. They also affect when stations can insert their own local content.

Quick Takes

NAB challenges parts of FCC’s plan for spectrum auction

By |

The National Association of Broadcasters filed a petition for review in the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Monday to challenge part of the FCC’s spectrum incentive auction order filed last week. NAB said it had no alternative but to file the lawsuit because the order as written could leave broadcasters footing the bill for tower relocation and other expenses when the spectrum is repacked. NAB also aims to have the court direct the FCC to drop a study that it plans to do ahead of repacking to determine broadcasters’ coverage areas. NAB said following the study, which would use a different methodology from previous surveys, could harm its members. “Under this new methodology, many broadcast television licensees, including NAB’s members, will lose coverage area and population served during the auction’s repacking and reassignment process, or be forced to participate in the auction (and relinquish broadcast spectrum rights),” the lawsuit reads.

Quick Takes

Join a webinar today on audio levels with Adam Ragusea, presented by AIR and PRX

By |

Current contributor Adam Ragusea’s July commentary “Why you’re doing audio levels wrong, and why it really does matter” has become one of our most popular posts in recent months. Today Public Radio Exchange and the Association of Independents in Radio continue the conversation with a webinar on audio levels hosted by Ragusea and American Public Media technical coordinator Rob Byers, whom Ragusea interviewed for his Current piece. The hourlong session starts at 1 p.m. Eastern time; register here.

People

Sherlock, Downton Abbey lead PBS to eight wins in Creative Arts Emmys

By |

Sherlock: His Last Vow won four of the eight Creative Arts Emmys awarded to PBS programs by the Academy of Television Arts & Sciences during the Aug. 17 Primetime Emmy gala celebrating technical achievement. Sherlock, a BBC production that aired on WGBH’s Masterpiece, picked up its four wins in the miniseries or movie categories. Editor Yan Miles won for outstanding single-camera picture editing for a miniseries or movie, and Director of Photography Neville Kidd won the Emmy for cinematography in a miniseries or movie. The detective drama also won awards for sound editing, with statuettes given to supervising sound editor Doug Sinclair; sound editors Stuart McCowan, Jon Joyce and Paul McFadden; Foley editor William Everett; and Foley artist Sue Harding.