Apple announced Monday that fans of Downton Abbey from Masterpiece Classic can get early access to all Season 3 episodes — including those yet to air on PBS — by purchasing an iTunes “Season Pass,” available Jan. 29. PBS spokesperson Jan McNamara said that is the retail release date of the full DVD set for Season 3, which is available on iTunes through PBS Distribution (PBSd). “There have always been VHS or DVD release dates within the broadcast window of any given title,” McNamara told Current. “In this case iTunes is simply selling a digital version at the same time as the physical DVD becomes available.”

PBS Kids is premiering a new animated show for preschoolers this fall, Peg + Cat. Partnering is the Fred Rogers Co., which also helped bring Daniel Tiger’s Neighborhood to little viewers last year. Co-creators are Billy Aronson (Postcards from Buster) and Jennifer Oxley (The Wonder Pets!). In the daily program, a little girl named Peg and her sidekick, Cat, “embark on adventures and learn foundational math concepts and skills,” PBS said Monday in the show’s announcement at the Television Critics Association Winter Press Tour in Pasadena, Calif. The two encounter problems requiring math and problem-solving skills to get through.

PBS unveiled upcoming feature programming today at the annual Television Critics Association Winter Press Tour in Pasadena, Calif. Highlights include a week of special programming examining the killings at Sandy Hook Elementary School in Newtown, Ct. PBS NewsHour, Frontline, Nova, Need to Know and Washington Week with Gwen Ifill each will focus on different aspects of the tragedy; new offerings from P.O.V. and Independent Lens such as director Michael Apted’s 56 Up; the first autobiographical documentary on famed physicist Stephen Hawking, A Brief History of Mine; a six-part series, Latino Americans, narrated by actor Benjamin Bratt; and, for fans of British dramas, The Bletchley Circle, a three-part murder mystery, and How Sherlock Changed the World, a two-hour examination of the popular detective character.

This item has been updated and reposted with additional information. The Library of Congress has asked New Mexico PBS to contribute unedited footage of interviews from its program Bataan: A 70th Anniversary Commemoration, which recalls the horrors of the Bataan Death March, for inclusion in the library’s archives in Washington, D.C. In April 1942, following World War II’s Battle of Bataan in the Philippines, the Japanese Army forced some 60,000 Filipino and 15,000 American prisoners of war to march more than 60 miles between internment camps. Along the way, thousands of Filipino and up to 650 American soldiers died due to physical abuse and atrocities at the hands of their captors.

The production company behind NPR’s popular Science Friday has reached a settlement in its trademark infringement lawsuit filed against Colorado preacher Bob Enyart and his show, Real Science Friday, which has now been rebranded Real Science Radio, the National Center for Science Education reports. In a Dec. 28 letter to the court, Manhattan-based Sciencefriday Inc., the company behind the show heard on more than 300 NPR stations, and Bob Enyart Inc. said a settlement had been reached but terms of the deal were sealed. The main visible concession seemed to be name change of the show. The lawsuit was filed in the Supreme Court State of New York, County of New York in Manhattan Nov.

This item has been updated and reposted with additional information. A former volunteer at Houston’s jazz format NPR affiliate KTSU has been jailed for allegedly stealing credit card information from listener pledge sheets and using the information to buy electronics and gift cards, which he would then sell for cash. Michael Whitfield, whom the Houston Chronicle reports has a history of financial crimes, was charged Jan. 9 with the fraudulent use and possession of identifying information for more than 50 people, a third-degree felony. Investigators say there are more than 20 confirmed cases but there could be as many as 300 potential victims.

PBS was nominated in four categories at the 70th Golden Globe Awards Jan. 13, but only Dame Maggie Smith of Downton Abbey earned a win from the Hollywood Foreign Press Association. Smith won for Best Supporting Actress in a TV Series for the show’s second season. The awards, which celebrate both film and television, had also nominated Downton Abbey for Best Drama, while star Michelle Dockery had been nominated for Best Actress in a Drama. The Showtime series Homeland won in both categories. Sherlock star Benedict Cumberbatch had been nominated for Best Actor in a Miniseries or TV Movie, but lost to Kevin Costner for his work in History’s Hatfields & McCoys.

The State Educational Broadcasting Authority of West Virginia voted Jan. 10 to hire Scott Finn as the new executive director of West Virginia Public Broadcasting, the Associated Press reports. Finn previously served as a reporter and the news director of the network, but left in 2009 to become news director at WUSF in Tampa, Fla. He will replace Dennis Adkins, who is retiring on Feb. 1 and had been fighting the board for months over financial concerns. In August 2012, Adkins had proposed around $200,000 in funding cuts to the network in the wake of a looming 7.5-percent cut in state funding.

Sen. Jay Rockefeller (D-W.Va.), today announced that he will not seek re-election in 2014. Joining him for his appearance in Charleston was his wife, Sharon Rockefeller, who is president of WETA in Arlington, Va., and a past CPB chair. Sen. Rockefeller chaired the Commerce Committee, which oversees CPB and FCC funding. “As I approach 50 years of public service in West Virginia,” he said at the announcement, “I’ve decided that 2014 will be the right moment for me to find new ways to fight for the causes I believe in and to spend more time with my incredible family. Serving West Virginia in the U.S.

FM tuners on smartphones could soon be a reality. On Tuesday,  at the annual International Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas, representatives of Sprint Nextel said that some phone models could soon come equipped with FM chips. Sprint said it had entered into a preliminary agreement with radio industry representatives that will let its customers listen to local FM stations. “FM radio could be delivered through the NextRadio tuner application or other radio apps or services,” the company said, in a release. “This is a great development for the radio industry, one which will help us bring the content and services that only radio can provide to the wireless system,” said Bob Pittman, c.e.o.

Homicide Watch, a crowdfunded community reporting site that tracks city murder victims, will launch its third site in Chicago by the end of the month through a partnership with the Chicago Sun-Times, reports the New York Times. The startup is the brainchild of Laura and Chris Amico, who manage the site’s flagship Washington, D.C., edition. They’ve kept the site — which they started in September 2010 and most recently relaunched in August 2011 — running with help from crowdfunding campaigns on platforms like Kickstarter and Spot.us. Despite financial struggles, including their inability to find a local news organization to partner with, the Amicos have reaped many journalistic accolades for their data-driven reporting, including the 2012 Knight Public Service Award from the Online News Association.

Four years after the first iteration of PRX’s Public Radio Player iPhone launched, a complete, “ground-up rewrite” is ready, with features including a prominent “donate” button and the ability to download content for listening off-network. PRX announced the features of the newest version of its app during a conference call with stations Jan. 10. Director of Technical Projects Matt MacDonald said the overhaul’s goal was to continue to make the app one that individual stations without resources to build their own would continue to view as theirs. The Public Radio Player app, which is only available for Apple iOS devices, offers up thousands of stations streams, programs and podcasts from PRX, NPR, PRI and APM.

Will the FCC meet its self-imposed deadline of 2014 for completion of broadcast spectrum auctions? That’s still to hard to say, according to several experts speaking on panels at the International Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas, reports TVNewsCheck. Rick Kaplan, executive vice president of strategic planning for the National Association of Broadcasters, sounds doubtful. One sticking point: Spectrum complications along the Canadian and Mexican borders. “Border issues are enormous,” he said. “Does the FCC want to go forward with 2014, and potentially leave Canada and Mexico out? Some of that spectrum currently extends as far as New York City.