PBS Introduces New Television Channel in Britain

[alp227]

Source: NYT

As Britain takes its news media to task, an American import, the Public Broadcasting Service, hopes to make a name for itself by offering a sober antidote to the tales of tabloid newspaper excesses that have been leading the news bulletins of late.

This month, as a public inquiry delved into the intrusive Fleet Street reporting techniques that have shocked many Britons, PBS introduced a new channel in Britain, its first international television venture.

Does Britain, home to the BBC, one of the most respected broadcasters in the world, really need to import serious television from the United States? When many Britons think of American television, they imagine silly sitcoms or the “fair and balanced” output of Fox News — owned by the same company, News Corp., whose newspapers are first in the firing line in the investigation into the hacking of celebrities’ mobile phones.

“It’s very different from people’s perception of what an American TV channel is like,” said Richard Kingsbury, general manager of the new channel, called PBS UK.

Read more: http://www.nytimes.com/2011/11/28/business/media/pbs-introduces-new-television-channel-in-britain.html

[freshwest]

1. What's interesting is that a lot of PBS's fare over the years is from Britain. Full circle, huh.

[the_chinuk]

2. Just what I was thinking. How amusingly symmetrical. Savoring the irony. n/t

[freshwest]

3. Yup... And you've been mocking OR GOPhers since... That guy who thought he was God's gift to women..

:rofl:

They are ripe for the taking, aren't they?

If you don't pick on them, they'll rot...

[alp227]

4. Masterpiece Theatre and some science programs, yes.

But some individual PBS stations (like KTEH in my area) choose to play current British primetime dramas and old '80s and '90s sitcoms. Some documentaries in the Nova and Frontline series are co-productions with the UK broadcasters like BBC and I think Channel 4. And PBS NewsHour gets some of its foreign news from ITN, which provides news for Channel 4 and ITV in Britain.

[CBHagman]

5. You're not kidding!

I've long heard the U.S. and U.K. systems are mirror images of each other -- i.e., that in the U.S. commercial broadcasting developed first, then public broadcasting was created to fill a need, whereas in the U.K. it was the other way round.

But I hear plenty of complaints from contacts in the U.K. about reality TV, etc., so they seem to be in a situation not unlike our own.

[dipsydoodle]

6. PBS was launched in the UK 2nd November.

That's an article : not LBN. http://helpforum.sky.com/t5/Sky-Programming-Channels/New-Channel-PBS-UK/td-p/213863

[bigworld]

7. Looks like a teriffic channel

Check out the schedule and such here... http://pbs.co.uk/schedule