Broadcasting & Cable is reporting that CPB is close to announcing an initiative to help stations fund the cost of deploying mobile DTV. CPB issued an RFP for a Mobile/Handheld Digital Television Program in July. Jay Adrick, broadcast technology v.p. at Harris Corp., a major broadcast equipment manufacturer, told the mag that stations can launch basic MDTV services for around $130,000 to $160,000 a year.

The recent nuptials of Larry Sidman, former president of the Association of Public Television Stations, and his bride Jana Singer were featured in Friday’s (Dec. 3) New York Times. She is a law professor at University of Maryland. Their first date, after meeting at a dinner party in March 2009: “I asked her to go for a walk around the Tidal Basin to see the cherry blossoms,” Sidman said. Less than a year later, he proposed while the two were vacationing in California.

Add Vanderbilt University’s WRVU to the list of student-operated radio stations that may be offered for sale to the highest bidder. Vanderbilt Student Communications, license holder of the 10,000-watt underground music station broadcasting on 91.1 FM, is exploring whether to sell WRVU and use the proceeds to establish an endowment supporting “innovative student media experiences . . . in perpetuity.” Unlike the pending license transfer of Houston’s KTRU, the Rice University station that’s to be converted into classical music pubradio outlet by aspiring owner KUHF, the proposal for WRVU is a trial balloon, according to the New York Times.

“Halt to federal funding could doom KVCR-TV” reads a headline in today’s (Dec. 6) Sun newspaper in San Bernadino, Calif. With Republicans ramping up the fight to annihilate CPB funding, the local station is concerned: More than 13 percent of its $6 million operating budget comes from the corporation. “We’d end up having to cut the budget significantly,” Larry Ciecalone, president of KVCR, told the paper. “I’m not really sure we could sustain an instant cut. If we were to wean us from that over a period of four to five years, it’s doable. It’s just not doable immediately.” But that immediate cut is what some Republican lawmakers, including California Rep.

John Ross is the new president of television and radio operations at KMBH in Harlingen, Texas, which has been mired in controversy for several years (Current, March 16, 2009). Ross has been general manager since April 12 when its former president, Monsignor Pedro Briseño, was reassigned to full-time parish work by the station’s owner, the Catholic Diocese of Brownsville. Ross has been with the station 16 years.

Public Radio Exchange, a leading developer of iPhone applications for public radio stations and programs, is promoting an online petition that asks Apple to change its policy barring charitable giving on the iPhone. “Apple is a leader when it comes to producing life-changing innovations, but at the moment, the company is also making it harder to do good in the world,” the petition, addressed to Apple CEO Steve Jobs, states. As of this morning, the petition has garnered more than 1,150 signatures. PRX Project Director Rekha Murthy compiled a round-up of blog links on Apple’s ban on nonprofit gifting.

The U.S. Department of Agriculture on Friday (Dec. 3) announced $6.2 million in grants to public television licensees in 13 states to complete digital TV conversion projects. The money comes through the Public Television Digital Transition Grant Program, administered by USDA’s Rural Utilities Service. The program provides equipment funding to public stations that serve substantially rural populations. Work includes a $677,920 project by the Kentucky Authority for Educational Television (KATV) to place digital translators in eight isolated rural communities. A grant to the West Virginia Education Broadcasting Authority for $366,000 will be used for a digital translator to serve a rural part of state that had previously received analog service.

Looks like the “Big Bird defense” (Current, Nov. 29) might not be as effective in preserving public broadcasting funding as it was in the mid-’90s, when the yellow-feathered, towering character showed up on Capitol Hill to save the day. Back then, “it was Big Bird that killed us,” former House Appropriations Committee Chairman Bob Livingston (R-La.) acknowledged to Fox News just last month. In an interview published today (Dec. 4) with Americans for Limited Government, Rep. Jim DeMint (R-S.C.), a leader in the effort to defund CPB, said that shows such as Sesame Street “are thriving, multimillion-dollar enterprises.”

ValleyPBS in Fresno, Calif., has eliminated three positions due to budget constraints, reports the local Business Journal. Paula Castadio, ValleyPBS c.e.o., said two receptionist positions were eliminated, in addition to the director of marketing. He said a drop in funding “across all fronts” led to the layoffs. “Our philosophy is to live within our means in the current environment,” Castadio said. “We believe that’s what our donors expect us to do.”

New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie has decided that the New Jersey Network may remain on the air after Jan. 1, when state funding for the network ends, in order to provide more time to work out NJN’s future, he told the Star-Ledger. Christie proposed ending state support earlier this year (Current, July 6) and the legislature has been researching the situation since then. The state wants to retain ownership of the licenses and would like to use a consortium of broadcasters to provide content. Possible partners include WNET/Thirteen in New York City and WHYY in Philadelphia.

The White House’s National Commission on Fiscal Responsibility and Reform fell short of the 14 members necessary to approve its plan for $4 trillion in cuts and tax increases over the next decade — which included killing off all funding for CPB. That means the plan will not move forward to the Senate for consideration. However, a majority of the panel, 11 members, did approve the proposal. President Barack Obama said the commission report “includes a number of specific proposals that I — along with my economic team — will study closely in the coming weeks as we develop our budget and our priorities for the coming year.”

The Adobe Foundation’s Adobe Youth Voices and the documentary series P.O.V. today (Dec. 3) launched Project VoiceScape, to fund middle- and high-school students to create nonfiction films using digital media tools. The projects will then stream on P.O.V.’s website. The PBS Teachers website will be the hub where educators can get advice from youth media experts on inspiring students to produce innovative content. That site also will also provide access to Adobe Youth Voices Essentials, a set of free curricula and resources.

An investigation over Burma’s supposed work on a nuclear weapon by Need to Know and ProPublica has led to a “quiet explosion and some pretty toxic fallout” among those involved, writes PBS Ombudsman Michael Getler in today’s (Dec. 2) column. The controversy was ignited by accusations between those supporting the “credibility and importance” of the allegations and the producers of the segment who are “raising the flag of caution.” “What’s interesting here, aside from where the truth lies,” he noted, “is that the dispute pits against each other people who formerly worked together, and involves well-respected journalistic enterprises and other organizations here and abroad that one would generally assume are on the side of the angels.”

The Federal Communication Commission’s plan to create space for more wireless devices on the spectrum includes tactics to improve the quality of TV signals in the VHF band weakened in the digital transition. One way to do that would be to increase the effective radiated power (ERP) of VHF stations in the FCC’s heavily populated Zone 1 (the Northeast and Upper Midwest). But that could complicate life for stations including WNET/Thirteen in New York City, according to TVNewsCheck. Broadcast consulting engineer Charles Cooper said the power boost would create problems with interference, particularly in the Northeast. Cooper said the high-V stations in New York City (WABC, WNET and WPIX) are now operating with ERPs of 12 kW or less.

The final co-chairs’ report of the National Commission on Fiscal Responsibility and Reform awaits a full-panel vote Friday (Dec. 3). Although CPB was recommended for elimination in the co-chairs’ draft of “$200 billion in illustrative savings,” the corporation was not specifically mentioned in the final report released Dec. 1. But that doesn’t necessarily mean that public broadcasting is safe. The final report refers to using that “$200 billion in illustrative 2015 savings” as a starting point for cuts. Meanwhile, two more commissioners have signaled they will vote for the plan; that means nine members have announced their support and one said he is likely to back the proposal.