Public Broadcasting Service: Difference between revisions

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]]''.

Unlike most broadcast networks in the US that are funded either through commercial sales or cable fees, PBS is funded by government support, corporate grants, and donations from viewers. As such, it is able to broadcast without commercial interruption — other than its own [[continuity announcement]]s and appeals for donations. However, the piecemeal nature of PBS' funding means that the network's hold over its individual affiliates is comparatively weak. Schedules vary widely from station to station, depending upon the resources of a particular station, and the desires of its local viewership. PBS station viewers can successfully lobby for their local station to carry a particular show, if they are able to bring together enough other viewers willing to pay for its purchase.

It is because of this dynamic that the 1963 version of ''Doctor Who'' found its way onto individual PBS stations in the 1970s, why it was able to remain there in most states through the early 1980s, and also why many PBS stations began to shed themselves of ''Doctor Who'' in the late 1980s and 1990s. The need for individuals willing to specifically earmark donations for ''Doctor Who'' also explains why the [[BBC Wales]] series has not been widely shown on PBS stations. PBS have been denied first-run rights by [[BBC Worldwide]], in deference to true network debuts on [[Syfy|Sci Fi]] and [[BBC America]]. By the time that Worldwide have made the show available to PBS stations, most American fans have already had a chance to see the episodes on network television or to buy the DVDs. Thus, a PBS broadcast is superfluous to most modern American viewers, and cannot generate the same level of financial support that it did in previous decades. A common rationale among modern fans is that a $100 donation to a local PBS station in the ''hope'' that they carry ''Doctor Who'' could simply go towards the DVD purchase of ''Doctor Who'' for the ''certainty'' of being able to view the episodes.

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.