After fewer than half of PBS stations made commitments to carry a proposed multicast channel for school-aged children, the network pulled back its plan to launch PBS Kids Go! as a fully packaged DTV multicasting service in October. The network is instead exploring its options to distribute school-age fare via video-on-demand or broadband platforms. “I don’t want to bring up a service and not have the resources to support it,” said PBS President Paula Kerger, who announced the decision to stations July 6 [2006]. Only one-third of public TV licensees expressed interest in paying for Go! as an a la carte service, while PBS needed buy-in from least half, she said.

Some pubcasting leaders aren’t happy about surprise CPB Board nominee Warren Bell, a TV producer and contributor to the online version of the conservative National Review, reports the Los Angeles Times. “We are definitely concerned about Warren Bell’s nomination,” said APTS President John Lawson. “After the damage caused by Ken Tomlinson’s activities, the last thing we need on the CPB board is another ideologue of any stripe.”

Is your station podcasting, and if so how are you handling it? An Ohio University researcher is inquiring. Rachel M. Ward, a graduate student in the school’s public broadcasting program, has distributed her survey to radio managers and posted it on the Web. She says stations’ identities will not be linked to their replies in her work. Address questions to Ward at rw212605ohio.edu or 443-812-5357. Advisor: Dr. Gregory Newton, newtongohio.edu, 740-597-1882.

Broadcasters and entertainers are turning to indecency insurance, zero-tolerance on-air policies and studio tech upgrades to protect themselves against the recent tenfold increase to FCC indecency fine levels, reports the Washington Post. “This is like a blessing for us,” said one CEO of a firm that makes time-delay machines that allow broadcasters to “dump” naughty words before they hit the air.

Reuters reports on WBEZ’s decision to scrap music programming in favor of a 24-hour news and public affairs format, a move partially motivated by the growing popularity of the iPod as music lovers’ platform of choice. But not all music lovers, apparently. “We feel very empty . . . [i]t seems like a decision that was made arbitrarily and without the input of listeners,” said Mike Widdell, co-founder of protest/petition site savethemusiconwbez.org. Said WBEZ g.m. Torey Malatia: “This is a major decision for us and we knew it would have a strong reaction from people.”

PBS announced Thursday that it was abandoning its plan to launch a 24-hour Kids Go! digital multicast channel in October. “While PBS stations support the concept of a 24-hour educational service for early elementary school-age children, an insufficient number of stations are in a position to financially sustain the service,” Jill Corderman, associate publicity director for PBS Kids, wrote in an e-mail. (See also Broadcasting & Cable.) The two-hour Kids Go! block and companion website will carry on and PBS may offer additional Go! content via on-demand video or other new media platforms.

In the first of what promises to be many such partnerships, according to Google reps, the cyber-juggernaut has signed on to distribute original Sundance Channel films and series via its Google Video service, reports the Hollywood Reporter. Movie titles will be available for $3.99 for a 24-hour rental or $9.99 to own. Series are available only for purchase starting at $1.99 per episode.

An Advertising Age article about the pros and cons of an XM-Sirius merger includes an analyst’s comment that talk programming will become more important in satellite radio’s future.

New Jersey police arrested the former director of Seton Hall University’s WSOU-FM on charges of embezzling more than $500,000 from the university between 1985 and 2004, reports CMJ. (Via WFMU’s blog.)

BBC’s free iPlayer not only offers downloads of the past week of the TV network’s programs but also the listeners’ own choice of podcasts, tentatively called MyBBCRadio. Yet to come: details of how do-it-yourself scheduling will work. Meanwhile this week, the Beeb is offering downloads of BBC Philharmonic performances of Beethoven’s symphonies 6 through 9. Music lovers downloaded the first five symphonies 700,000 times. Downloads are offered for a week starting on the day after broadcast. The iPlayer holds down server costs by using Kontiki peer-to-peer technology also employed by the California-based nonprofit Open Media Network.

Bleak House leads PBS’s slate of programs nominated for Primetime Emmys. The Masterpiece Theatre miniseries received nominations in 10 categories and American Masters drew 9 Emmy nods. PBS fare earned a total of 34 Primetime Emmy nominations. Broadcasting and Cable runs down top nominees for the commercial nets, and the Post‘s Lisa de Moraes reports on how the Academy of Television Arts and Sciences overhauled its nomination process.

The New Yorker finds a few “blind spots” in The Long Tail: Why the Future of Business Is Selling Less of More by Chris Anderson, the book expounding on his influential 2004 Wired magazine article. The Long Tail blog links to this and other reviews in the blogosphere.

NPR’s Public Radio Satellite System rolls out the ContentDepot this month after almost two years of delays, reports Radio World. “ContentDepot promises to simplify operations for more than 400 satellite-interconnected stations, make program distribution more reliable and improve tracking and reporting of program carriage for producers,” writes Dan Mansergh.

Viewer responses to Frontline‘s “The Dark Side” and a botched NewsHour interview prompt PBS Ombudsman Michael Getler to expound on the patriotism of journalists.

What should CBS and Katie Couric do with the Evening News? On CBS’s site, guest columnist William Powers from the National Journal suggests, among other things, taking a page from NPR and PBS’s NewsHour: “Slow down. Tell us a few important stories, slowly. Help us breathe and think.” And let Couric talk at length with guests, as Jim Lehrer and company do.