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PBS for download? You bet your iPod

Expect public television to join a fee-based download service near you, says the network's president.

By CHASE SQUIRES
Published January 15, 2006

PASADENA, Calif. - Desperate Housewives, meet Big Bird.

Anyone wondering how long "this iPod thing" will last should take note. PBS, the system that delivers Sesame Street and Masterpiece Theatre, is about to venture into the pop culture digital download domain of Housewives, Lost and a growing list of mainstream entertainment available anywhere, any time - for a fee.

Making her final appearance in front of the nation's television critics as president and CEO of PBS, Pat Mitchell said public television can't rely on pledge drives to produce programs in the future. New cash streams need to be tapped, and that includes the Internet.

Within six months, expect PBS to go cutting edge with a service such as Apple's iTunes with everything from archived series to children's shows to complex British drama, she said.

"We have been caught up in this incredible period of change," she said.

Referring to downloads and on-demand viewing as "the new masters of distribution," Mitchell said PBS must ensure that it is among buyers' choices when they go shopping for a show to watch.

Streaming programs could in the near future pump millions into PBS, which by the service's charter must be plowed back into programming, she said. With a realistic expectation of $25-million to $30-million a year, Mitchell said PBS could guarantee the survival of acclaimed but costly Masterpiece Theatre, or produce eight new children's shows a year where the service can currently only afford one or two every other year.

Mitchell said she believes in the iTunes model, which allows viewers to download entire programs for a fee and watch them in portable devices anywhere, because she uses it. On her device is the popular Housewives and Lost ("I had never seen either before this") and her own system's six-hour documentary Country Boys, which she watched on her airplane trip to Los Angeles.

To those who scoff or say the screens on the little devices are too small to enjoy a show, Mitchell suggests they try it. She said she has no problem focusing on the high-definition images and is absorbed by the programs.

Mitchell said local stations will still be a big part of delivering programs, because the public service's charter requires programs be made available free and because the stations have ownership in PBS, rather than just serving as customers. Downloading won't replace TV, but as the popularity of the PBS.org Web site has shown, a new generation accesses information and entertainment in new ways, Mitchell said.

It may not hurt that the new generation is also being conditioned to pay as they go, thanks to music downloads.

Of its annual $531-million budget, the two biggest funding sources are both under question, Mitchell said. Corporations, which deliver $191-million, are moving money to Internet advertising. PBS has been knocking on doors, everywhere from the old-school corporations to Oprah Winfrey's Harpo Productions, but donations are drying up.

And the other source, $163-million from independent stations who get their money from on-air pledge drives, has to change, Mitchell said. Another $70-million comes from taxpayers.

On-demand, pay-per-view programming is a new frontier, she said.

"I don't think anyone had any idea it was going to go this fast," she said.

Mitchell took the helm at PBS in March 2000. She leaves in March to become president of the Museum of Television and Radio. Among her first goals there: digitizing the museum's collection of classic television and news footage to be available for download, for a fee.

[Last modified January 15, 2006, 01:46:05]