Programs/Content
Press tour brings questions about federal funding, panel on ‘Vietnam’ soundtrack
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PBS President Paula Kerger assures critics that stations are communicating with members of Congress about the importance of CPB funding.
Programs/Content
PBS press tour brings preview of Burns docs, review of fireworks gaffe
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Kerger said PBS’s handling of its broadcast of the annual Fourth of July fireworks on Washington’s National Mall was contrary to policy.
People
Eaton on post-‘Downton’ life: ‘It’s very hard for me to resist challenges’
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Eaton has been at the helm of the PBS strand for 31 years of its 45-season history.
Programs/Content
Clash over Poirot rights caps growing tensions between PBS, Acorn
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Acorn TV, the upstart streaming service specializing in British television, is still a tiny operation, with about 115,000 paid subscribers. Nonetheless, its fast growth is causing outsized concern at PBS and Masterpiece, public television’s longstanding home for British drama. Brewing tensions came to a head over rights to the final three episodes in David Suchet’s marathon 70-program portrayal of Agatha Christie’s Belgian detective Hercule Poirot. As a result of the rift, Acorn TV premiered the episodes to its streaming subscribers in August and syndicated them directly to local public TV stations, with Masterpiece nowhere in the picture. The broadcast window for the finale’s broadcast opens Nov.
Downton Abbey
Popularity of ‘Downton’ creates embarrassment of riches in ‘Masterpiece’ slot
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BEVERLY HILLS, Calif. — The success of Downton Abbey, whose fifth season has been set for Jan. 4, has created a novel problem for PBS: too many programs to fit into the Sunday-night slot occupied by Masterpiece. It’s possible that PBS might schedule some of the excess series at another hour or on another day. But there are no plans to do so for now, according to Masterpiece EP Rebecca Eaton.
Beth Hoppe
PBS acquires new British drama to anchor Sunday nights
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Aiming to build on its successful strategy to boost viewing on Sunday nights, PBS acquired a new hit drama from the BBC, Last Tango in Halifax.
People
WNET’s new CTO revamped tech at MetLife Stadium; Kimmel to succeed WNIN’s Dial; Hinman leaving pubcasting, and more . . .
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David Hinman, executive director and general manager of KBTC-TV in Tacoma, Wash., is leaving to manage cable television and video services for Pierce County, Wash., which “allows me to participate more with the creative side of television, which I thoroughly enjoy and have missed.”
Awards
Rebecca Eaton and Newton Minow honored for distinguished service to public television
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As the executive producer who acquired and managed co-productions of British dramas for Masterpiece and its predecessor titles for more than 26 years, Eaton has brought high-profile miniseries such as Prime Suspect, Bleak House and recent hits Sherlock and Downton Abbey to PBS.