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Public Broadcasting Service: Difference between revisions
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The '''Public Broadcasting Service''' (PBS) is an [[American]] network of broadcasters. Many of its affiliates chose to screen episodes of the 1963 version of ''[[Doctor Who]]''. ''Doctor Who'' has never, however, been carried by the PBS network itself. | The '''Public Broadcasting Service''' (PBS) is an [[American]] network of broadcasters. Many of its affiliates chose to screen episodes of the 1963 version of ''[[Doctor Who]]''. ''Doctor Who'' has never, however, been carried by the PBS network itself. | ||
The heyday of PBS association with ''Doctor Who'' — that is the time when the number of stations carrying ''Doctor Who'' was not in decline — was roughly from the late 1970s to the mid 1980s. A substantial number of stations continued carrying the programme well into the 1990s, and a two or three still do so as of 2010. [[Tom Baker]] is likely the only version of [[the Doctor]] who has been screened on every PBS station that carried ''[[Doctor Who]]''. | The heyday of PBS association with ''Doctor Who'' — that is the time when the number of stations carrying ''Doctor Who'' was not in decline — was roughly from the late 1970s to the mid 1980s. A substantial number of stations continued carrying the programme well into the 1990s, and a two or three still do so as of 2010. [[Tom Baker]] is likely the only version of [[the Doctor]] who has been screened on every PBS station that carried ''[[Doctor Who]]''. | ||
== How ''Doctor Who'' came and left PBS == | == How ''Doctor Who'' came and left PBS == | ||
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== The PBS audience == | == The PBS audience == | ||
Whereas an NBC or CBS affiliate is owned for profit, such is not really the purpose of a PBS station. Therefore few have the ability to stand completely on their own, receiving only the donations of their viewers and federal grants. Most require a physical presence at or near universities, if only to get a financial discount on their physical plant. Many PBS stations so located also have a reduced overall labour cost than their completely independent counterparts, because they can easily get interns to work in the studios. Many PBS stations also choose to be located close to universities because much of their local documentary programming is easier to create if they are close to local scholars who provide the on-air talent. | Whereas an NBC or CBS affiliate is owned for profit, such is not really the purpose of a PBS station. Therefore few have the ability to stand completely on their own, receiving only the donations of their viewers and federal grants. Most require a physical presence at or near universities, if only to get a financial discount on their physical plant. Many PBS stations so located also have a reduced overall labour cost than their completely independent counterparts, because they can easily get interns to work in the studios. Many PBS stations also choose to be located close to universities because much of their local documentary programming is easier to create if they are close to local scholars who provide the on-air talent. | ||
The practical result of PBS affiliates being wed to universities is that the audience for ''Doctor Who'' in its American heyday was significantly student-based. PBS stations usually offered the strongest signals to campus televisions when most people still received television signals aerially. The effect of ''Doctor Who'' upon student populations in America was thus pronounced just because of the particular channel that carried the programme. | The practical result of PBS affiliates being wed to universities is that the audience for ''Doctor Who'' in its American heyday was significantly student-based. PBS stations usually offered the strongest signals to campus televisions when most people still received television signals aerially. The effect of ''Doctor Who'' upon student populations in America was thus pronounced just because of the particular channel that carried the programme. | ||
