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Trump to PBS and NPR: I’m cutting you off…

TheBigA said:
There's a possibility that Mississippi, Louisiana, and Oklahoma may follow Arkansas in this decision.

Anywhere you have state governments involved, there's a possibility they will drop PBS once their contract ends.
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Then you're going to have a fairly large swath of the country that won't have PBS.

They're going to have to end up making one (or more) of the larger PBS stations into a kind of "PBS Superstation", made available to non-OTA television providers. WGBH, WNET, or WETA, maybe? I'm assuming that would fulfill the requirement that there be some kind of intermediary.
 
IM42A said:
Then you're going to have a fairly large swath of the country that won't have PBS.
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That was the president's intent, correct? And the congress agreed, right?

So that leaves it up to PBS to provide users an alternative. Right?

IM42A said:
They're going to have to end up making one (or more) of the larger PBS stations into a kind of "PBS Superstation",'
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Why? So the president can target licensees? That's what he would do.

My view is PBS just bypasses broadcast TV completely.

Broadcast TV is controlled by the government. If they want to control what you watch, they can. So why would PBS want that?
 
TheBigA said:
That was the president's intent, correct? And the congress agreed, right?

So that leaves it up to PBS to provide users an alternative. Right?



Why? So the president can target licensees? That's what he would do.

My view is PBS just bypasses broadcast TV completely.

Broadcast TV is controlled by the government. If they want to control what you watch, they can. So why would PBS want that?
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When discussing this, it should be kept in mind what audiences the 1967 Public Broadcasting Act was intended to serve. Specifically, public radio and public television were supposed to serve minority audiences that commercial broadcasters were either underserving or not serving at all. "Sesame Street,", for example, was designed to appeal to African-american and Latino children. In the current discussion, these groups are less likely than their white counterparts to have the financial resources necessary to purchase a PBS pass or even to utilize the Internet. It would seem therefore likely that PBS would have to find some to get over-the-air signals into these former Confederate states, the state public service offerings would also have to target population minorities, groups representing these minorities could sue PBS or the states involved for failure to follow the Public Broadcasting Act, and/or all of the above.
 
ted chittenden said:
groups representing these minorities could sue PBS or the states involved for failure to follow the Public Broadcasting Act, and/or all of the above.
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As I said, the law is still on the books. It hasn't been repealed. Yes, the purpose was to give everyone access to quality TV, not just those who can afford to pay for it. But there is a group who feel that's not the role of government. They're in charge now. So they're shutting down parts of the government that helped poor people. Too bad for them.
 
Y2kTheNewOldies said:
current.org

Arkansas PBS to drop PBS, rebrand as Arkansas TV

The Arkansas Educational Television Commission voted 6-2 Thursday to drop PBS programming next summer.
current.org current.org

Here is an update on where Arkansas Viewers can go to for PBS programming when Arkansas TV cuts itself from PBS affiliation.
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Chances are the cable and/or satellite operators will bring in the out of state PBS members stations to fill the void or go to places like YouTube TV to get their fix of “Masterpiece” and “Nova.” Especially in Little Rock, where they’ll lose most of their PBS shows once KETS goes independent.
 
only1moore said:
Chances are the cable and/or satellite operators will bring in the out of state PBS members stations to fill the void or go to places like YouTube TV to get their fix of “Masterpiece” and “Nova.” Especially in Little Rock, where they’ll lose most of their PBS shows once KETS goes independent.
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I checked a bit ago, and the PBS stations neighboring Arkansas don't have much spillover into the state. Mississippi PBS in particular has a very tight footprint onto Mississippi and only Mississippi. The vast bulk of the land area of Arkansas relies upon the state PBS network as its sole source.
 
only1moore said:
Chances are the cable and/or satellite operators will bring in the out of state PBS members stations to fill the void or go to places like YouTube TV to get their fix of “Masterpiece” and “Nova.” Especially in Little Rock, where they’ll lose most of their PBS shows once KETS goes independent.
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Can YouTube TV just bring in any PBS station it wants to subscribers in a state with no PBS stations of its own? This situation has never happened before, so there's no precedent. I thought YTTV plays by the same rules as cable when it comes to importing out-of-state signals. Can YTTV -- or cable, for that matter -- go rogue just because a state no longer has a PBS affiliate?
 
CTListener said:
Can YouTube TV just bring in any PBS station it wants to subscribers in a state with no PBS stations of its own? This situation has never happened before, so there's no precedent. I thought YTTV plays by the same rules as cable when it comes to importing out-of-state signals. Can YTTV -- or cable, for that matter -- go rogue just because a state no longer has a PBS affiliate?
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It would probably be driven more by market than by state. In the case of Arkansas, parts of the state are in the Springfield, Memphis, Monroe/El Dorado, and Shreveport/Texarkana markets. Each of those markets already have PBS affiliates from their respective states.

For the vast bulk of the state that is in the Little Rock, Jonesboro, and Fort Smith markets, though, there is AFAIK no out-of-state PBS station, indeed, the Little Rock and Jonesboro markets are entirely within Arkansas, and quite distant from any OOM out-of-state PBS station at that.
 
CTListener said:
Can YouTube TV just bring in any PBS station it wants to subscribers in a state with no PBS stations of its own? This situation has never happened before, so there's no precedent. I thought YTTV plays by the same rules as cable when it comes to importing out-of-state signals. Can YTTV -- or cable, for that matter -- go rogue just because a state no longer has a PBS affiliate?
Click to expand...
I don’t know about that one but in some TV Markets where the region does not have a PBS affiliate they get one from next door like Monterey-Salinas TV Market does not have their own PBS station but they have KQED San Francisco PBS affiliate included in their cable systems. Likewise Palm Springs and Santa Barbara does not have their own PBS affiliate but gets KOCE Los Angeles as the PBS affiliate in that market.

Not sure who will take over Arkansas specifically but KQED, WGBH, WETA, KERA and KUHT would have to get donations from outside their home TV Markets all because states like Arkansas decided it was a good idea to cut ties from PBS.
 
Y2kTheNewOldies said:
I don’t know about that one but in some TV Markets where the region does not have a PBS affiliate they get one from next door like Monterey-Salinas TV Market does not have their own PBS station but they have KQED San Francisco PBS affiliate included in their cable systems. Likewise Palm Springs and Santa Barbara does not have their own PBS affiliate but gets KOCE Los Angeles as the PBS affiliate in that market.
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For quite a long time, KQED was carried on a network of translators throughout central California from the San Joaquin Valley all the way over to San Luis Obispo, as these areas did not have their own PBS stations. The Central California TV Guide had a long list of them. To this day, Bakersfield doesn't have its own PBS station, relying instead upon a translator of KVPT Fresno.

The SJV has arguably the best conditions for OTA reception in the US, it is like a big long saucer, flat as a pancake, and the Fresno stations, as well as others, saturate the entire valley with an "easy indoor" signal per Rabbitears.info. Having their catbird seat up on Meadow Lakes helps.
 
IM42A said:
For quite a long time, KQED was carried on a network of translators throughout central California from the San Joaquin Valley all the way over to San Luis Obispo, as these areas did not have their own PBS stations. The Central California TV Guide had a long list of them. To this day, Bakersfield doesn't have its own PBS station, relying instead upon a translator of KVPT Fresno.

The SJV has arguably the best conditions for OTA reception in the US, it is like a big long saucer, flat as a pancake, and the Fresno stations, as well as others, saturate the entire valley with an "easy indoor" signal per Rabbitears.info. Having their catbird seat up on Meadow Lakes helps.
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True too it worked for California to do that at the time of sign on. Today how does one reach the state and also how does Arkansas get reliable news content specific to the state is yet to be seen here.
 
ted chittenden said:
When discussing this, it should be kept in mind what audiences the 1967 Public Broadcasting Act was intended to serve. Specifically, public radio and public television were supposed to serve minority audiences that commercial broadcasters were either underserving or not serving at all. "Sesame Street,", for example, was designed to appeal to African-american and Latino children. In the current discussion, these groups are less likely than their white counterparts to have the financial resources necessary to purchase a PBS pass or even to utilize the Internet. It would seem therefore likely that PBS would have to find some to get over-the-air signals into these former Confederate states, the state public service offerings would also have to target population minorities, groups representing these minorities could sue PBS or the states involved for failure to follow the Public Broadcasting Act, and/or all of the above.
Click to expand...
True too and also whenever the 1967 Public Broadcasting Act is mentioned about CPB funding local public radio and TV stations we talk about protecting journalism and 1st amendment as factors for funding public media. This was mentioned during a state legislature hearing in New Jersey over the threat that NJ PBS would shutdown because of the states location as being in the New York City and Philadelphia TV markets where WHYY and WNET covers the state. But in Arkansas its not the case this is how we ended up with the likely hood of larger PBS affiliates like KQED (sometimes included as West Coast contributor for PBS Newshour and PBS Frontline), WETA(Home of PBS Newshour), WGBH (Cited as producing primetime shows for PBS), having to get a superstation status to cover parts of the country without a local affiliate.

NJ lawmakers hear pleas to save public broadcasting • New Jersey Monitor

The Senate’s legislative oversight committee heard 90 minutes of pleas from people who warned that losing public news and arts programming would lead to a less-informed citizenry and hurt families who can’t afford to pay for cable TV or streaming services. Corruption, political polarization, and misinformation threaten to flourish as the shrinking media industry loses another trusted outlet, they said.

“This is not an option for you to debate. It’s an obligation that you need to fulfill,” said Tom Bracken, president and CEO of the New Jersey Chamber of Commerce and a former NJ PBS board member.

Mike Rispoli is the senior director of journalism and civic information at Free Press Action, a national, nonpartisan nonprofit that advocates for press freedom, civic engagement, and expanded funding for public funding. Funding cuts and the decades-long decline of newspapers have created a media environment “where good information is hard to find and people’s news feeds are increasingly filled with hate, clickbait and misinformation,” he told lawmakers.
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Y2kTheNewOldies said:
But in Arkansas its not the case this is how we ended up with the likely hood of larger PBS affiliates like KQED (sometimes included as West Coast contributor for PBS Newshour and PBS Frontline), WETA(Home of PBS Newshour), WGBH (Cited as producing primetime shows for PBS), having to get a superstation status to cover parts of the country without a local affiliate.
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I'm assuming this "PBS Superstation" business is kind of uncharted territory. Is there, in fact, any provision (FCC or otherwise) for anointing a PBS station as a "superstation", along the lines of WSBK or KTLA (is that still a thing)? And if so, I'm assuming that would fulfill the requirement of having to have an intermediary, rather than delivering a generic PBS feed to non-OTA providers.

I thought providers other than cable already were able to get a generic PBS feed, in those situations where there is no local PBS in a given DMA. Is there some part of this that I'm missing?
 
IM42A said:
I thought providers other than cable already were able to get a generic PBS feed, in those situations where there is no local PBS in a given DMA. Is there some part of this that I'm missing?
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It's up to PBS itself how it deals with this situation. They have some time, because Arkansas is under contract til June. The thing to know is that the PBS board of directors is made up of 14 station managers and 12 non-station people. So the deciding votes are with station managers. If they want to keep PBS as a program distributor and not allow it to do a generic feed, they can. They are an independent company. They aren't part of the government. They don't need FCC approval. So we have to wait for them to decide.
 
TheBigA said:
It's up to PBS itself how it deals with this situation. They have some time, because Arkansas is under contract til June. The thing to know is that the PBS board of directors is made up of 14 station managers and 12 non-station people. So the deciding votes are with station managers. If they want to keep PBS as a program distributor and not allow it to do a generic feed, they can. They are an independent company. They aren't part of the government. They don't need FCC approval. So we have to wait for them to decide.
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I'm thinking that the generic feed is made available only to viewers in markets with no PBS, or to those few who have FTA satellite equipment to be able to pick it up (assuming PBS still has an FTA feed).

I'm looking here at Dish Network locals for Glendive MT (the first example that came to mind of a market with no PBS), and they show a national PBS feed, as well as, oddly, all four major networks from Rapid City with no KXGN. I wonder if KXGN has already folded its tents, and if this is a stop-gap measure until such time as Nielsen eliminates the Glendive market. TVTV.info (which is not always accurate WRT channel lineups) also shows a national PBS feed (with KXGN still there but no NBC).
 
IM42A said:
I'm assuming this "PBS Superstation" business is kind of uncharted territory. Is there, in fact, any provision (FCC or otherwise) for anointing a PBS station as a "superstation", along the lines of WSBK or KTLA (is that still a thing)? And if so, I'm assuming that would fulfill the requirement of having to have an intermediary, rather than delivering a generic PBS feed to non-OTA providers.

I thought providers other than cable already were able to get a generic PBS feed, in those situations where there is no local PBS in a given DMA. Is there some part of this that I'm missing?
Click to expand...
True I thought Superstations died as soon as TV Apps became the norm, WTBS became Gray media's WPCH and when Nexstar flipped WGN America into News Nation. But when a state as large as Arkansas cuts their affiliation with PBS who knows where this is going. its not like NJ PBS losing the PBS affiliation when WNET and WHYY can fill in the state of New Jersey. Also its not like KCSM-TV San Mateo now KPJK Santa Rosa losing their affiliation with PBS because the majority of donations to Public Media in the San Francisco TV Market goes to KQED Public Media. This hits different because of the shutdown of CPB.
 


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