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The U.S. public wants more news coverage of climate change, surveys find

As hurricanes, floods, wildfires, and heat waves have intensified over the past decade, public concern about climate change has grown dramatically. Today, 65% of the U.S. public is worried about the issue, up from 52% a decade ago, according to nationally representative surveys conducted by scientists at Yale University and George Mason University.

Programs/Content

Stations’ joint effort brings streaming BBC shows to websites

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A joint effort among PBS and five member stations has created a more efficient way for stations to offer online streams of British imports such as Doctor Who and Death in Paradise while honoring BBC restrictions that limit web streaming. The BBC’s agreement for streaming programs besides Masterpiece limits access to viewers within a station’s market. But COVE, PBS’s online video platform, does not allow for filtering by location, which hampered stations’ ability to offer BBC content. Those restrictions made for an “unmanageable” situation, said John Decker, director of programming at KPBS in San Diego. But stations are now using a new web page created by PBS that allows for location-based filtering, and five stations have agreed to handle uploading of BBC content to ensure quality and prevent duplicative uploading.

Quick Takes

Monday roundup: Downton gaffe draws laughs; TechCrunch profiles Matter

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• A publicity photo from the fifth season of Downton Abbey made the rounds on the Internet for all the wrong reasons. The shot of stars Hugh Bonneville and Laura Carmichael featured an anachronistic plastic water bottle perched on a mantle. Producer ITV has since removed the shot from its press site, according to the BBC, and it’s also vanished from PBS’s pressroom. “You had one job, guys. One job,” Buzzfeed wrote.

System/Policy

Alaska’s KUAC, APRN reach agreement to help station with budget shortfall

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Joint licensee KUAC in Fairbanks, Alaska, and Alaska Public Radio Network have agreed on a three-month extension that will allow the station to continue airing APRN content while it addresses a $170,000 funding shortfall. The University of Alaska Fairbanks, which owns KUAC, announced July 1 that it would cut the station’s funding by that amount to offset its own $12 million budget shortfall. The reduction amounts to about 6 percent of KUAC’s total budget. APRN helps stations in Alaska share content and offers the programs Talk of Alaska and Alaska News Nightly, both of which air on KUAC. The agreement between KUAC and APRN allows the station to continue running APRN content without paying dues until November 30.

Community Service Grants

KEET steps up membership efforts to hold on to federal funding

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KEET-TV, one of the smallest PBS member stations, has grown its membership by 40 percent and raised more than $600,000 over the past six months in an effort to keep its federal Community Service Grant. Local businesses in Eureka, Calif., have posted banners pushing “The Power of One,” the motto of KEET’s campaign. Website pop-ups show viewers holding signs with titles of their favorite public TV shows. A local utility provider is pitching in, donating a portion of each paid petroleum bill to the station. At issue is KEET’s inability to meet the $800,000 minimum in nonfederal financial support that CPB requires of CSG grantees, which the station has never done in its 45-year history.