APTS Launches Leadership Council To Advance Public Service Media
APTS recently launched the Leadership Council, a sophisticated grass-tops network that builds productive legislative relationships to advance legislative goals of the public broadcasting community (APTS, PBS and NPR), with APTS acting as the facilitator.|

Currently there are 19 members of the Leadership Council. These members are appointed by local public television and radio stations and serve the length of one congressional session. Leadership Council members are expected to advocate throughout the entire legislative process, especially at the federal level.

In addition, Leadership Council members will coordinate activities across public broadcasting’s other advocacy efforts, and will be called upon to assist with recruitment for other legislative events and programs, news media relations, and permissible election-related activities.

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ThinkTV And CET To Merge
The Boards of Trustees of ThinkTV (Greater Dayton Public Television) and CET (Greater Cincinnati Public Television) announced that the organizations will merge to form a new regional public television and media corporation.  David Fogarty, the current president of ThinkTV, will be named President of the combined organization.
  
Under thenew, merged non-profit corporation, ThinkTV and CET will retain their identities and continue their locally based services to the Greater Dayton and Greater Cincinnati communities with staff and facilities in current locations.  The merger is expected to be officially completed in the 1st quarter of 2009.
   
“We believe strongly that in today’s non-profit and media environment, a shared regional vision for CET and ThinkTV offers the best opportunity to grow local programming and educational services,” said CET Board Chair Bryan Dunn.
   
ThinkTV Board Chair John Danis noted:  “ThinkTV and CET bring together complementary strengths.  The marriage of ThinkTV and CET will allow us to continue to innovate and exceed the expectations of our audience.”                   
   
Susan Howarth, who has served as CET President and CEO since 2001, will be moving forward in pursuit of other leadership opportunities in public media.  Jack Dominic, CET’s Chief Operating Officer, will serve as head of CET’s operations, pending the final merger.

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Public And Commercial Broadcasters Dispute White Spaces Proceedings

APTS, the National Association of Broadcasters (NAB), the Association for Maximum Service Television (MSTV), and four major commercial broadcast networks and other broadcasting trade associations filed an emergency request to delay the Federal Communications Commission’s November 4 vote on whether to authorize unlicensed white spaces devices.

The groups, along with APTS, are asking the FCC for a 70-day public comment cycle on the findings of the Commission’s Office of Engineering and Technology report.
The report said that spectrum sensing technology, when used with geolocation capabilities, can ensure that unlicensed devices use the spectrum without causing interference to broadcasters.

In recent filings the groups said they were concerned by the draft order’s 40 milliwatt limit to unlicensed devices that use vacant channels adjacent to occupied channels.
The 40 milliwatt limit “would create widespread interference to television operations,” the filing complained, adding that digital TV sets throughout 77 percent of a station’s service area could experience interference.  The filing also urged the Commission to consider what it said was a “workable solution” that the broadcast industry has proposed.  The broadcasters said the Commission, at its November 4 meeting, should authorize rural deployment of fixed white spaces devices while seeking comments on the Office of Engineering and Technology report on personal/portable use.

Click here to see the complete Emergency Request filing and the Supplement to Emergency Request filing.

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“This Old House” Hosts Continue to Educate Viewers on DTV Transition

PBS recently created a consumer education program about the transition to digital television, which features a special episode of “This Old House” with hosts Kevin O’Connor and Norm Abram. The PBS DTV program is available on DVD and online at www.pbs.org/digitaltv

Most of the scenes feature O’Connor and Abram walking through a Boston neighborhood to see what antenna setups homeowners have and what they need to do, if anything, to be ready for the switch to digital.

Their visits at various homes cover all of consumers’ options to successfully make the switch to digital television. For example, in one segment O’Connor examines the outside of a house and realizes that it doesn’t have an antenna but has cable. O’Connor then talks to the owner of the home and tells her since she is hooked up to digital cable she would continue to receive television reception after the transition.

In another segment, O’Connor talks with a senior homeowner that has an old analog set, which isn’t hooked up to cable or satellite. O’Connor explains the options and the homeowner opts to have a digital-to-analog converter box installed. O’Connor then proceeds to demonstrate to the homeowner exactly how to install the box, including setting channels.

A basic overview segment features O’Connor, Abram and Maria Hinojosa of “NOW” on PBS. The program is also available in Spanish.