Quick Takes
WGBH, WNET Writers Guild members agree to new contract
|
The deal provides a 3 percent increase in minimum salaries effective July 1, 2016.
Development
WNET tests strategy to keep regular viewers watching, and donating, during pledge
|
The New York station has abandoned traditional on-air campaigns for regularly scheduled pledging four times weekly.
Downton Abbey
On-demand programs prove alluring to PBS station members
|
Since PBS’s Passport service launched last month, more than 30,000 members have signed up to watch Downton Abbey and other marquee offerings.
Programs/Content
‘American Masters’ pursues Latino audiences with events, social media efforts
|
The push centered on a documentary about influential photographer Pedro E. Guerrero.
Programs/Content
U.S. public media steps up at International Documentary Film Festival Amsterdam
|
The festival has become increasingly important for U.S.–based public media.
Programs/Content
WNET moves ‘MetroFocus’ newsmagazine from weekly to daily
|
The public affairs show started four years ago as a web-only production.
Programs/Content
‘Open Mind’ host courts ‘new generation of thinkers’
|
Richard Heffner launched the show in 1966 on public TV in New York City. This month, it premiered on the World multicast channel.
Documentaries on PBS
Makers, subjects of PBS’s indie docs bring diversity to public TV, study finds
|
The study’s authors argued that films such as God Loves Uganda are central to public TV’s mission.
Programs/Content
With focus on black culture, public TV’s ‘Soul!’ pushed the envelope
|
“There was always a sense that Soul! was ‘out there’ for public television, that it was doing things and saying things that made some people uncomfortable.”
Programs/Content
Public TV stations are discovering revenue potential in stock footage
|
Sales of stock footage have been ballooning, driven by growing viewership of online video.
"The Pub" Podcast
The Pub #16: Tess Vigeland on quitting Marketplace; Transgender people and personal pronouns; Donor influence on programming
|
For Tess Vigeland, a leap out of the host’s seat inspired a book.
Programs/Content
WNET keeps indie docs on Monday nights, while PBS plans to boost promotion
|
PBS will also reach out directly to public TV stations that don’t air independent film showcases at feed time.
Development
WNET’s $20 million bequest will help combat anti-Semitism
|
Dr. Poyta believed that the public media station would be “an effective tool to advocate for tolerance.”
Quick Takes
Weekly roundup: Norman Lear vs. PBS, funding strategies and more
|
Plus a video to give you vertigo.
"The Pub" Podcast
The Pub #13: WNET stands by documentary rescheduling; why public media unions are spreading
|
WNET and PBS officials recently concluded a “listening tour” to hear the concerns of documentarians. Did it change their outlook?
Quick Takes
Letter: Article overlooked contributions of a “visionary” TV producer
|
A colleague remembers David Loxton, founding director of the TV Lab at New York’s WNET.
Awards
Downton Abbey creator will receive special Emmy, and more awards in public media
|
The Founders Award recognizes the creator of an outstanding and popular program.
Programs/Content
New films remember video avant garde of the 1970s
|
Innovative filmmakers in New York City adopted portable gear and shook up the airwaves.
Television programs
Listening tour about documentaries on PBS brings debate to WNET’s hometown
|
Any benefits from the town-hall-style “listening tour” that stopped here Monday courtesy of PBS and several other public media organizations were strictly therapeutic.
Television programs
WNET’s move to bolster viewing starts row over public TV’s mission
|
A dustup between independent filmmakers and the New York City station has co-opted a national “listening tour.”