A past WGBH employee has pleaded guilty to embezzling almost $500,000 from the station, the Boston Herald reports. Philip McCabe of Reading, Pa., who worked as accounting manager from 1987 to 2007, used the money for “vacations, golf, dining, liquor and clothes,” according to the paper. He was sentenced to two years in prison. He’ll serve six months with the remainder suspended. McCabe also has to pay the station’s $25,000 deductible on its insurance policy covering much of the loss. “We’re satisfied with the outcome and appreciate all the work of the attorney general’s office in handling the case and bringing it to resolution,” WGBH spokesperson Jeanne Hopkins told the Boston Business Journal.

Will public broadcasters someday be made to give up their portion of the spectrum? That concern surfaced during a wide-ranging discussion on the future of broadband at today’s CPB Board meeting, going on all day at headquarters in Washington. FCC Commissioner Michael Copps told the board that the agency’s proposed broadband plan, which he considers “perhaps the biggest initiative ever at the FCC,” will be delivered to the president on March 17. Interested parties — including pubcasters — are currently “in question-asking mode” before drafting recommendations. One idea being floated is compensation for pubcasters that voluntarily turn over some of their spectrum to support the nation’s growing appetite for broadband.

On Wednesday, Idaho Public Television chief Peter Morrill makes his case for continued state aid in a state legislative finance committee hearing at 10:30 a.m. Mountain time. Like many other legislative meetings, it will be streamed live on IPT’s Idaho Legislature Live. Friends of Idaho Public Television, a nonprofit support group for the state-owned network, has created a webpage, “Save Idaho Public Television,” to get viewers involved in its fight against a four-year total phaseout of state funding. The station’s $7 million budget counts on nearly $2 million from the state. If Gov. C.L. Otter’s proposed budget passes, that would disappear in equal portions over the next four years.Of

On his personal blog, Public Purpose Media, Rob Bole, CPB veep for digital media strategies, delves into how pubcasting can and should adopt innovations he saw at the recent International Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas. “Public media needs an innovation agenda,” he writes. “It needs to be clear, rational and focused on providing short- and medium-term value to the system and the consumer. The good news is that this is not hard. The bad news is that we have to change our ways, especially how we collaborate to get it done.” Specific ideas: PubTV should enhance the “value and utility” of programming by developing widgets, especially with set-top box manufacturers like Boxee.

“Help for Haiti Now,” the worldwide telethon for earthquake relief that ran on many stations including PBS last Friday night, has raised $58 million so far, reports the Eurweb news site. That’s a record for donations to a disaster relief telethon, it noted. The figure will go higher: Yet to be tallied are donations by corporations or via iTunes. Users can contribute by purchasing performance recordings of the telethon for 99 cents, or the entire album for $7.99.

PBS Ombudsman Michael Getler wrote recently in his online column about what he views as a problem: that public television viewers are confused about where programs on public television come from and assume that everything on public TV originates at PBS. What the PBS ombudsman wrote On Dec. 29, 2009, Ombudsman Michael Getler wrote that “viewers are very often, and understandably, confused” when he explains that shows like Ideas in Action are on public TV but did not go through PBS. He said “PBS and its affiliates ought to figure out some way to flag viewers on the screen about programs that are not developed, approved and distributed by PBS.

With the announcement last week of four more broadband grants under the Recovery Act, the National Telecommunications and Information Administration has awarded $200 million or about 4 percent of its $4.8 billion broadband purse. Meanwhile, NTIA and the Ag Department’s Rural Utilities Service, which runs a separate grant program, set the deadline for their second rounds: Both will accept apps Feb. 16 to March 15. Grantees will be announced by Sept. 30. Details are online. NTIA’s latest grants will help expand fast Internet networks in two states: In Michigan, nonprofit Merit Network Inc. got $33.3 million to extend its fiber-optic backbone by 955 miles in 32 counties.

Oregon Public Broadcasting has purchased KWYA-FM from Way-FM Media Group, a contemporary Christian network, for $85,000, according to the online Radio Business Report. KWYA is in Astoria, Ore., in the far northwest corner of the state.

CPB is taking entries for the 2010 My Source Education Innovation Awards. Pubradio stations are now also eligible. CPB is looking for station work that uses new approaches to deliver educational tools and resources, President Patricia Harrison said in a letter to stations. Award winners receive a $3,000 grant to support the work, plus a $500 stipend to travel to the ceremonies on March 20 in Washington, D.C. Honors will be presented during the 2010 Council of Chief State School Officers/Public Media Executive Summit. Application deadline is Feb. 12. Click here for more information.

A behind-the-scenes profile of Secretary of State Hillary Clinton kicks off Tavis Smiley Reports, a series of four hourlong primetime specials on PBS. It premieres at 8 p.m. Jan. 27, just before President Obama’s State of the Union address. Smiley and his production crew were granted wide access to Clinton, accompanying her on diplomatic missions abroad, in meetings on Capitol Hill, and within the State Department. Watch a clip here.

As the late-night war of Conan vs. Leno rages on, comedian Jimmy Kimmel took time on his show last night to ponder how the fracas might look in a Ken Burns documentary. A lot like the PBS documentarian’s Civil War, it turns out.

The Bay Area News Project backed by San Francisco philanthropist Warren Hellman has forged a new alliance with the New York Times, the project announced today. The nonprofit news entity is to be helmed by C.E.O. Lisa Frasier, a McKinsey & Co. consultant who has been involved in planning the project since April 2009, and Executive Editor Jonathan Weber, founder and c.e.o. of New West, the Montana-based new media enterprise. The c.e.o. appointment, confirmed last weekend, was reported to have been a point of departure for San Francisco’s KQED, which was dropped as a founding partner in the news project after several months of involvement.

The FCC has issued a preliminary list of questions (PDF) and created a website for public comments on policy recommendations regarding media at the community level. In announcing the Future of Media initiative, Commission Chairman Julius Genachowski said this is a “critical juncture in the evolution of American media. Rapid technological change in the media marketplace has created opportunities for tremendous innovation. It has also caused financial turmoil for traditional media.” The FCC noted that the effort “will not include any effort to control the editorial content of any type of media.”

NPR’s Weekend Edition anchor Scott Simon has emerged from cervical spinal surgery to resume Tweeting about the experience. “Long surgery, went well, thanks for all lovely encouragement,” he wrote late yesterday from his hospital bed in the Cleveland Clinic. He detailed the need for the operation last week on the NPR site. The surgery is used to correct neck problems.

CPB, the American Red Cross and the Ad Council are working together to provide stations public service announcements on the earthquake in Haiti from First Lady Michelle Obama and former presidents Bill Clinton and George W. Bush. CPB is also working with the National Center for Media Engagement to allow stations to “share effective practices with their peers and access resources to help them support Haitian relief initiatives in their own communities,” according to a CPB statement. CPB also provides links to various aid groups under the announcement on its website.