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The Public Broadcasting Service ('''PBS''') is a Non-profit Public Broadcasting Television service with 349 member TV Station s in the United States . PBS headquarters are in Alexandria , Virginia . PBS was founded in 1969 , at which time it took over many of the functions of its predecessor, National Educational Television (NET). PBS commenced broadcasting in October 1970 . Introduction PBS is not a broadcast network in the sense in which that term is usually used in the United States . Unlike the commercial television broadcast model of American networks such as NBC , CBS , ABC and Fox , in which affiliates give up portions of their local advertising airtime in exchange for network programming, PBS member stations pay substantial fees for the shows acquired and distributed by the national organization. This relationship means that PBS member stations have greater latitude in local scheduling than their commercial counterparts. Scheduling of PBS-distributed series may vary wildly from market to market. This can be a source of tension as stations seek to preserve their localism and PBS strives to market a consistent national lineup. However, PBS has a policy of "common carriage" requiring most stations to clear the national prime time programs on a common schedule, so that they can be more effectively marketed on a national basis. Unlike its radio counterpart, National Public Radio , PBS has no central program production arm or news department. All of the programming carried by PBS, whether news, documentary, or entertainment, is created by (or in most cases produced under contract with) individual member stations. WGBH is one of the largest producers of educational programming; news programs are produced by WETA-TV and WPBT, and the '' Charlie Rose '' interview show and '' Nature '' come from WNET. Once a program is distributed to PBS, the network (and not the member station that supplied it) retains all rights for rebroadcasts; the suppliers do maintain the right to sell the program in non-broadcast media such as DVD s, books, and Licensed Merchandise . Sources of funding The largest source of Revenue for U.S. public television stations comes from donations by individual viewers. In addition to these member fees, PBS receives federal government money through the Corporation For Public Broadcasting (CPB). PBS-distributed programs may be funded in part by corporate Sponsor s and non-profit groups such as the Annenberg Foundation . Other shows are presented exclusively with funding from PBS stations and their members (without corporate funding) — as a result, the quality of such shows varies, and thereby either motivates the viewer to continue contributing to PBS or the station to find local corporate sponsors to insure its continued airing. Depending upon their location and licensee, local stations may also be funded in part by state governments, colleges, and universities. They can sell small portions of their airtime in the form of Underwriting , which differs from traditional advertising in terms of restrictions on language and product usage. Organizational structure PBS stations are commonly operated by Non-profit organizations or Universities in their community of license. In some states, PBS stations throughout the entire state may be organized into a single regional "subnetwork". Unlike the CBC - SRC state broadcaster in Canada , PBS does not directly own any of the stations that broadcast its programming. This is partly due to the origins of the PBS stations themselves, and partly due to historical license issues. In the modern broadcast marketplace, this organizational structure is considered outmoded by some media critics. A common restructuring proposal is to reorganize the network so that each state would have one PBS affiliate which broadcast state-wide. However, this proposal is controversial, as it would reduce local community input into PBS programming. Programming PBS's evening schedule emphasizes Fine Arts ('' Great Performances ''), Drama ('' Mystery! '' and '' Masterpiece Theatre ''), Science ('' Nova '' and '' Scientific American Frontiers ''), Public Affairs ('' Frontline '', '' The Newshour With Jim Lehrer '') and Independent Film s ('' P.O.V. '' and ''Independent Lens''). PBS has distributed a number of highly regarded Children 's shows such as '' Sesame Street '', '' The Electric Company '', '' Villa Alegre '', '' Zoom! '', '' 3-2-1 Contact '', '' The Letter People '', '' Barney & Friends '', '' Shining Time Station '', '' Thomas & Friends '', '' Ghostwriter '', '' Reading Rainbow '', '' Breakfast With Andy '' and '' Mister Rogers' Neighborhood ''. Popular Animated series have included '' Clifford The Big Red Dog '', '' Arthur '', '' Liberty's Kids '' and '' The Magic School Bus ''. The service has also imported British kids' series including '' Teletubbies '' and '' Boohbah ''. Some of these programs have since migrated to commercial television, including ''Ghostwriter'' and ''The Magic School Bus''. However, PBS is not the only distributor of public television programming to the member stations. Other distributors have emerged from the roots of the old companies that had loosely held regional public television stations in the 1960s . Boston -based American Public Television (former names include Eastern Educational Network and American Program Service) is second only to PBS for distributing programs to U.S. non-commercial stations. Another distributor is NETA (formerly SECA), whose properties have included '' The Shapies '' and '' Jerry Yarnell School Of Fine Art ''. In addition, the member stations themselves also produce a variety of local shows, some of which subsequently receive national distribution through PBS or the other Distributors . PBS stations are known for rebroadcasting British television dramas and comedies (acquired from the BBC and other sources) — these shows are generally seen on Saturday evenings, generally regarded as the least-watched evening of the week due to viewers doing outside activities such as going to a movie, a concert, or other functions; so much of the exposure (or lack thereof) of American audiences to British television (particularly Comedies ) comes through PBS it has been joked that PBS means "Primarily British Series." However, a significant amount of sharing takes place. The BBC and other media outlets in the region such as Channel 4 often cooperate with PBS stations, producing material that is shown on both sides of the Atlantic . Also, though less frequently, Canadian and Australian, among other international, programming appears on PBS stations (such as '' The Red Green Show '', currently distributed by syndicator Executive Program Services); the public-broadcasting syndicators are more likely to offer this programming to the U.S. public stations. Stations that produce a significant amount of PBS network programming include:
Other shows (which are broadcast by PBS) Among the currently airing series
Originally aired
Criticism PBS has been the subject of some Controversy .
Although, the Children's Television Workshop are the only ones who benefit from merchandising and not PBS as a whole. While it could be argued that PBS should be entitled to this, CTW owns Sesame Street outright, and they could move it where ever they wish. They are not alone required to support PBS. Political and ideological bias
New networks PBS has also spun off a number of Direct Broadcast Satellite . With the transition to terrestrial Digital Television broadcasts, many are also often now available as "multiplexed" channels on some local stations' standard-definition digital signals, while DT2 is found on the HD signals. Further reading
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