Programs/Content
Station town halls connect lawmakers and constituents in tense times
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The public broadcasters have found various ways to handle protesters, politicians and outsized community interest.
System/Policy
After release of results, stations announce plans for FCC auction largesse
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The big sums will help to expand services, pay off debts and enable technical upgrades.
System/Policy
Pennsylvania public TV station takes over commercial video firm
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“This is one way for public media to develop alternative revenue streams,” WLVT CEO Tim Fallon said.
State funding
Pennsylvania pubTV could see funding restored six years after being zeroed out
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For the first time since state funding was cut in 2009, Pennsylvania’s eight public television stations could see funding restored as Gov. Tom Wolf included $4 million in his proposed budget.
Firelight Media
PBS discount plan a ‘no-brainer’ for WLVT
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The public TV station serving eastern Pennsylvania’s Lehigh Valley recently decided that the best way to survive as an independent station was to step back from its status as the primary station serving its market. For WLVT in Bethlehem, a small city less than 70 miles north of Philadelphia, becoming a PDP station “was a natural,” said Tim Fallon, acting c.e.o. “It just doesn’t make sense that two stations, just two channels away from each other, have exactly the same programming.”
WLVT, which is locally branded as PBS39, was hard-hit by budget cuts in 2009 when the state sliced its $1 million in annual support to $100,000. Nearly half of its staff was laid off. When longtime C.E.O. Patricia Simon stepped away in March, the board appointed Fallon, a businessman and longtime station board member and volunteer. After taking over at WLVT, Fallon came to an “alignment of vision” with WHYY President Bill Marrazzo on how the stations could complement each other.
Development
With renewal aid, HQ cost is practically a steel
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Thanks to the June arrival of the Sands Casino Resort in the industrial Lehigh Valley in east central Pennsylvania, the region can expect the opening of a shiny new public TV station as well.