Sounds like PBS Might Be In Trouble

[MattParker]

PBS is losing another "member." The New York Times reports that Orlando, Florida's PBS "member station" is being sold and the new owner does not plan to stay with PBS. As in LA, Orlando's WMFE-TV says steep PBS fees for programming are unaffordable - and they don't think they can get pledges to keep the station going without PBS (a lesson KCET in Los Angeles is learning). So, they are selling - to an undisclosed buyer. Orlando will still be able to get PBS on rim-shots in Daytona and Cocoa Beach.

My guess: The buyer is a religious broadcaster. They don't need PBS to raise money. They don't even need much of an audience to raise money.

 

[arnoldevns]

Just a hunch, but PBS needs to rethink their fees or risk losing a lot more big affiliates.

 

[tripinva]

I'm hoping the buyer isn't Daystar, but it's probably Daystar. That would suck. (Though what if the buyer is someone like WHLV? Then they could move the religious programming to WMFE and spin off the commercial license.)

For clarity, WCEU and WBCC both transmit from the same tower farm at Bithlo as almost all of the rest of Orlando's TV stations, so I'm not sure calling them "rimshots" is a terribly fair assessment of their position in terms of signal at least.

- Trip

 

[dhett]

(Though what if the buyer is someone like WHLV? Then they could move the religious programming to WMFE and spin off the commercial license.)

Not likely. TBN owns WHLV and they generally prefer commercial licenses, rather than non-commercial. Given the size of the market, the importance of central Florida to the Christian community, the fact that TBN is there, and the fact that everyone is being tight-lipped about the buyer, makes Daystar pretty much a lock. If they are the buyer, Daystar might sell their current LPTV station and DTV CP, WDTO-LP, or keep it as an shopping channel, as they have done in Phoenix.

 

[DToTheJ]

If a religious broadcaster is going to buy WMFE, the first thing they should do is change the call letters - particularly, the middle ones.

 

[kilamanjero]

Your thread title is a misnomer. PBS isn't in trouble, there has been only 2 stations and for separate reasons why they dropped their affiliations. Now if there was suddenly 10 or more station all at once dropping PBS I would find this more believeable...

 

[LKellerIII]

As a TV viewer, my opinion is that PBS has become irrelevant. Yes - The News Hour is a quality news program, and a couple of their heritage programs (Front Line and Nova, for example) can be compelling. But much of their status in the 70s through the 90s came from being the provider of quality dramas - though most of those were produced by the BBC and "Channel 4" - England). I recall Brideshead Revisited, I Claudius, and many others. But premium and basic cable have long-ago taken over the mantle of fine dramatic programming.

It seems like most of the time I tune in PBS, they're running nostalgia music programming (Sinatra, the Rat Pack, Motown, 50s rock) that are designed to appeal to viewers older than me. I'm 59. While some of this programming is fun to watch, it doesn't seem like a good strategy for the future of PBS.

 

[MattParker]

Your thread title is a misnomer. PBS isn't in trouble, there has been only 2 stations and for separate reasons why they dropped their affiliations. Now if there was suddenly 10 or more station all at once dropping PBS I would find this more believeable...

It doesn't sound like Orlando and LA had separate reasons. Both cited high programing fees. LA has experienced a big drop in ratings and pledges (according to the LA Times). Orlando anticipated that would happen to them. And a lot of other stations are unhappy with the fees, and have been for some time. At least some of them have to be thinking about how they can combat PBS' charges. Now PBS, unlike NPR, doesn't produce anything. They just distribute programs - most of which are produced by "member stations." Based on the credits, those shows are paid for by various foundations and big bucks donors. Plus, of course, CPB and viewers like somebody other than I. So what does PBS bring to the party? It seems like the major stations could set up their own distribution system (sort of like some of the larger public radio stations did with PRI). This isn't 1970 and today almost everybody has satellite links.

 

[azumanga]

For clarity, WCEU and WBCC both transmit from the same tower farm at Bithlo as almost all of the rest of Orlando's TV stations, so I'm not sure calling them "rimshots" is a terribly fair assessment of their position in terms of signal at least.

In the days before digital, they were rimshotters, with the transmitter of WCEU (now WDSC) closer to Daytona, and WBCC somewhere in the Melbourne area. When the digital transition happened, they felt it was more prudent to transmit market wide from Bithlo, where most other stations broadcast from.

If a religious broadcaster is going to buy WMFE, the first thing they should do is change the call letters - particularly, the middle ones.

Actually, with the calls meaning "Mid-Florida Educational", I think the letter "E" should go bye-bye, as many religious shows aren't educational.

 

[dhett]

Actually, with the calls meaning "Mid-Florida Educational", I think the letter "E" should go bye-bye, as many religious shows aren't educational.

On the contrary, preach-and-teach shows are purely educational. Just not the kind of education that appeals to you.

 

[Markxxx]

Is it PBS or just the number of PBS stations? Perhaps more than one PBS station per DMA is too many? ???

 

[landtuna]

Actually, with the calls meaning "Mid-Florida Educational", I think the letter "E" should go bye-bye, as many religious shows aren't educational.

On the contrary, preach-and-teach shows are purely educational. Just not the kind of education that appeals to you.

I have to disagree with that. If the PnT shows are documented history then you have a point. But virtually all are merely unsubstantiated opinion and/or Pray for Pay.

 

[stationless listener]

Well, the situation does merit further watching. I think this is yet another consequence of the steady migration of the audience from broadcast to cable and now to new media like broadband and wireless. All the old assumptions that came out of the golden era of television in the 1950s and 1960s now need changing and has needed changing for some time.

That said, I wonder what is going to eventually happen with NJN here in my neck of the woods.

 

[kilamanjero]

Actually, with the calls meaning "Mid-Florida Educational", I think the letter "E" should go bye-bye, as many religious shows aren't educational.

On the contrary, preach-and-teach shows are purely educational. Just not the kind of education that appeals to you.

Ha, says you.

 

[tripinva]

Not likely. TBN owns WHLV and they generally prefer commercial licenses, rather than non-commercial.

And yet, there are six TBN owned stations on non-commercial licenses, including WJEB just up the road in Jacksonville and WTCE just down the road in Fort Pierce, as well as KETH Houston (larger market than Orlando). It's not beyond reason.

However, I do agree Daystar is more likely. And I say it's sad, since they don't do a whole lot besides the single SD feed with oodles of null packets otherwise. I don't particularly care for TBN, but at least they make use of their bandwidth.

- Trip

 

[dhett]

I have to disagree with that. If the PnT shows are documented history then you have a point. But virtually all are merely unsubstantiated opinion and/or Pray for Pay.

That's a pretty rigid definition for "educational". I doubt that PBS could live up to it, either. As for unsubstantiated opinion, I'm not sure where you got that idea. Most TV preachers are solidly Bible-based. You may not agree with their source, or the conclusion they draw from it, but I can say the same about other NCE programming.

Dr. Gene Scott, OTOH, he was waaay out there. Entertaining as could be (his older stuff, not so much the newer stuff he was doing before he died), but waaay out there.

 

[dhett]

And yet, there are six TBN owned stations on non-commercial licenses... It's not beyond reason.

I agree.

And I say it's sad, since they don't do a whole lot besides the single SD feed with oodles of null packets otherwise. I don't particularly care for TBN, but at least they make use of their bandwidth.

Again, I agree. Why wouldn't Daystar partner with theologically-compatible broadcasters Cornerstone and/or CTN and fill up those boxcars? Unfortunately, I think I know the answer, and it ain't so Christian. It's the same reason TBN tried to prevent Daystar from buying KOCE.

 

[dhett]

Survey says: DAYSTAR

http://licensing.fcc.gov/cgi-bin/ws...ion_id=1422630&File_number=BALEDT-20110401ACW

 

[tripinva]

Gah, beaten by 3 minutes.

*sigh* Too bad.

- Trip

 

[MattParker]

The Orlando Sentinel adds the staff is holding a wake for the station. Also Daystar previously bought a PBS station in Dallas and tried to buy one in Orange County (which is now the main PBS outlet for the LA TV market). I wonder if they plan to gobble up any more PBS "members" who can't pay PBS' programming fees? Might they even make a run at KCET, Los Angeles, which does not seem to be getting along at all well without PBS programming.

In 2003, the FCC investigated Daystar for selling time on its non-commercial stations to for-profit enterprises. The guy who runs Daystar, Marcue Lamb, like other TV preachers, got into hot water after an extra-marital affair became public. His father in law was sued by a network employee for "sexual harassment." Most the network's schedule is the same bunch of pay-to-play preachers and tele-evangelists on the other religious channels and cable networks. If this stuff is educational, it's nothing that people in Orlando or any of their markets can't already watch.