Stanley Karnow, whose book Vietnam: A History was the basis of a critically acclaimed 13-hour documentary on PBS, died Jan. 27 at his home in Potomac, Md. He was 87.

Independent Television Service (ITVS) and the United States Institute of Peace are partnering on the fourth Media as Global Diplomat leadership series, this time titled Media that Moves Millions, Thursday in Washington, D.C. It’s aimed at leveraging media worldwide to highlight innovative models for international conflict prevention. Speakers include Kathy Calvin, president of the United Nations Foundation; Pulitzer Prize-winning author and journalist Nicholas Kristof; Ben Keesey, c.e.o. of Invisible Children, the organization behind the Kony 2012 initiative; journalist Frank Sesno; Matthew Perault, manager for privacy and global policy at Facebook; and Alec Ross, senior adviser for innovation to the Secretary of State.

For the last few years, three well-funded buyout firms have been quietly picking up licenses to commercial and noncommercial TV stations in a gamble on big payouts from next year’s FCC incentive auction of television spectrum. Current’s research of FCC license applications filed since 2010 found at least 25 separate deals involving three firms: OTA Broadcasting, NRJ TV and LocusPoint Networks. The stations they’ve acquired to date are on the peripheries of major markets, primarily ranging from Boston to Washington, D.C., in the eastern U.S. and from Seattle down to Los Angeles along the West Coast. The three firms are all owned or funded by private equity firms that command billions in assets.

Rod Bates, general manager of NET in Nebraska, is postponing his March 31 retirement by three months to allow the search for his successor to continue, according to the Omaha World-Herald. Also, Jeff Beckman, the state pubcasting network’s top fundraiser, announced his resignation last month, just days after learning he was not among finalists for Bates’ job. He told the newspaper he had been on  “parallel” tracks for both positions, and that failing to make the final cut with NET just “made my decision a whole lot easier.” Bates, who announced his retirement last July, also said that he would be willing to stay past June 30 to ensure a smooth transition in leadership and fundraising.

CPB is presenting its Thought Leader Award tonight to former West Virginia Gov. Bob Wise, president of the Alliance for Excellent Education. The alliance is a partner in CPB’s ongoing American Graduate drop-out prevention initiative. “Gov. Wise and the Alliance for Excellent Education are champions for public media’s American Graduate initiative and the educational services that public broadcasting stations provide to their communities,” said CPB President Patricia Harrison in the announcement. “His lifelong commitment to the education of American youth is making a difference, helping more students to graduate from high school ready to succeed in college and in their careers.”

Representatives from four sectors of the public service community made a case for more partnerships with public television during the opening session of the Association of Public Television Stations’ 2013 Public Media Summit Feb. 24 in Arlington, Va. Jane Oates, assistant secretary of employment and training administration with the U.S. Department of Labor, was the most vocal of the panel as she urged public television to collaborate more with local and state government workforce-training programs as a way of sharing key information to the nation’s legions of unemployed workers. “Think how much better we could do if you joined with us.

Bidding has closed on the most recent round of offers in the sale of KCSM-TV, licensed to San Mateo Community College District in California. Potential buyers are Public TV Financing, an arm of Independent Public Media, a nonprofit working to preserve noncommercial spectrum; KMTP-TV, a multicultural noncom channel licensed to Minority Television Project Inc. in San Francisco; the Oriental Culture and Media Center of Southern California, a nonprofit promoting communication among different cultures; and Locus Point Networks, a spectrum speculator that is also buying Towson University’s Class A television channel just outside Baltimore. KCSM went on the market in December 2011, due to a projected $800,000 deficit.

Nightly Business Report, the public TV business news show that has repeatedly shed staff during nearly three tumultuous years under two owners, has been sold again – this time to financial news powerhouse CNBC. The cable network will produce the weeknightly series exclusively for public TV stations from its headquarters in Englewood Cliffs, N.J., effective March 4. The show’s bureaus in New York and Washington and its headquarters at Miami’s WPBT will shut down. The sale brings another round of changes to the staff who produce and appear on the show. Anchor Susie Gharib will stay with NBR, but co-anchor Tom Hudson is exiting.

Ted Krichels, associate vice president for public media and general manager of WPSU at Penn State University and a thought leader on public broadcasting ethics, is resigning his station post effective Feb. 28. A short statement from the university said Krichels, a 30-year pubcasting veteran, will “focus on consulting opportunities and independent projects within the public media industry.” In addition to his leadership at the station, Krichels led work to establish the Local Public Media Organizations Code of Editorial Integrity, an update of the 1984 Wingspread Conference’s Statement of Editorial Principles that has been under development for several years.

The Nielsen Co., the stalwart television-ratings tracker, announced Feb. 20 that it plans to track viewing on additional devices beginning in September. The news was reported by the Hollywood Reporter. Among the media Nielsen will include are Xboxes and over-the-top devices that stream programming from services such as Amazon, according to the Reporter. In January, PBS signed a deal to bring some of its local and national programming to Xbox and over-the-top device Roku. Amazon also signed a deal with PBS Feb. 1 to become the exclusive paid-streaming home of the mega-popular Downton Abbey. In recent years PBS has started mining Nielsen data more regularly to garner information about its audience during pledge drives, and it has also pointed out Downton‘s ratings successes.