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PBS launches online video portal

by Steven Kim, posted Apr 23rd 2009 at 10:09AM

PBS Video beta website logoBetween numerous reruns and our DVR, we can't recall the last time we missed a PBS program we wanted. All the same, we won't complain about having another way to soak up content that our pledge dollars help produce, and now PBS has opened up the beta version of its online Video Portal site with full-length versions of some of its programs. There's even some exclusive content -- the first episode of Time Team America is available on the site right now, well in advance of the July broadcast schedule. Sure, we're disappointed that not all the HD pixels made it to the website, but soaking up an episode of NOVA has got to be a better use of your cubicle time than working on your facebook page; not to mention this is another source for boxee to scrape up.

MobiTV demonstrates mixTV mobile DTV service

by Donald Melanson, posted Apr 20th 2009 at 6:43PM

This one is still only in the very earliest stages, but it looks like MobiTV has taken advantage of the big National Association of Broadcasters Show in Vegas this week to show off a new mobile DTV service that it's developed in partnership with Sinclair and PBS, which it hopes will eventually find its way to a few interested cellular carriers. The service itself is a combination of free over-the-air DTV broadcasts (from PBS and the CW, at the moment) and subscription-based on-demand content, which would apparently be made available for a seven-day window and be delivered via mobile WiMAX. Unfortunately, there's no indication whatsoever of a potential roll-out, but it looks like MobiTV will be working hard during the next few days to woo some additional partners, so there's at least a slight chance that we could be hearing a few more details before the show wraps up later this week.

[Via Phone Scoop]

Comcast adds select PBS HD series to its On Demand library

by Steven Kim, posted Apr 4th 2009 at 11:32PM

Comcast and PBS HD logosComcast customers who miss a PBS program despite the best efforts of their DVR and the PBS website just might be able to catch that episode (in HD, no less) with On Demand service. Comcast has added "Antiques Roadshow," "Nova," "Masterpiece," "History Detectives" and "Frontline" to its VOD library, and new episodes will be made available for one week starting the day after they are broadcast. While this is probably not enough to allow even the most heavy PBS viewer to ditch the DVR altogether, it's a nice extra all the same. Now, if PBS could do something about its rampant use of "widescreen optimized for 4x3" formatting that doesn't look good on either 4x3 or 16x9 displays, that'd be even better.

Kilauea: Mountain of Fire gives an HD look at the volcano tonight on PBS

by Richard Lawler, posted Mar 29th 2009 at 4:46PM

PAUL ATKINS/ WNET.ORG
Sure, if you want a great look at nature in HD, Discovery HD Theater has a marathon of Planet Earth going on right now (no seriously, if you haven't seen it, forget the NCAA tournament, Tiger on the links and LeBron's 60 Minutes half court shot, click over right now and watch) but brand new this evening Nature on PBS has an all new look at active volcanoes with Kilauea: Mountain of Fire. The first of this site filmed specifically for high definition broadcasts, Hawaii Magazine certainly seemed impressed by peeks into the vent from the air, underwater lava flows and hikes into the world's largest and deepest lava tube (whatever that may be) promise to give an all new appreciation of natures power for anyone not already peeping Ian McShane on Kings.

boxee releases new "bleeding edge" alpha, inks deal with Pandora

by Darren Murph, posted Mar 24th 2009 at 7:00PM


Now that ZeeVee's back in business with its much improved Zinc broadband video portal, boxee actually has some serious competition to keep an eye on. That said, the company is hosting a meetup in NYC tonight in order to launch a new "bleeding edge" alpha that will integrate Pandora radio / RadioTime and showcase a more robust API. Furthermore, you'll find a fresh XUL-based framework for the boxee browser to enable the app to more easily interact with any web-based video, and as if that wasn't enough, there will also be a PBS application baked in. We have to say, we're pretty impressed with the regularity of updates coming to boxee -- now, if only those big networks would allow hit shows to be broadcast online live alongside their TV airings, we'd be in television heaven. The full announcement is after the break.

Gallery: boxee releases new "bleeding edge" alpha, inks deal with Pandora

Continue reading boxee releases new "bleeding edge" alpha, inks deal with Pandora

DirecTV brings PBS to 10 additional markets

by Richard Lawler, posted Dec 10th 2008 at 4:17PM

Nearly a year after an agreement was reached between DirecTV and the Association of Public Television Stations (APTS), it appears they didn't want to keep anyone waiting long after the first wave of deployments, with ten new markets chosen for PBS service via satellite. We know you've been missing your NOVA and Ken Burns docs so check after the break for areas and stations. Not listed? More rollouts are due before the end of this year and into the next.

Continue reading DirecTV brings PBS to 10 additional markets

DirecTV brings PBS HD to 14 local markets

by Darren Murph, posted Dec 3rd 2008 at 1:20PM

DirecTV's taking a break from its usual HD rollout escapades to focus specifically on PBS. Millions of subscribers will now be able to enjoy Public Broadcasting Service content in glistening high-definition, with 14 markets going live today and more planned before the year's end. As of now, customers in Cedar Rapids-Waterloo-Iowa City-Dubuque, Iowa; Chicago; Davenport, Iowa-Rock Island-Moline, Ill.; Detroit, Houston, Los Angeles, Miami-Fort Lauderdale, Minneapolis-St. Paul, New York, Norfolk-Newport News, Va.; Phoenix; Portland, Ore.; Rochester, N.Y.; and Waco-Temple-Bryan, Texas have access, and the rest of ya will just have to wait.

Election '08 coming home in HD like never before

by Richard Lawler, posted Nov 4th 2008 at 9:37PM


Sure, not every station's pulled out the Star Wars / Iron Man-style holograms for the 2008 election, but they're all trying to put shiny new HD studios to full use and get as many eyeballs as possible until things are decided. NBC & ABC immediately jumped out front at 7 p.m. with data pouring in on the widescreen edges of their HD feeds, with CNN waiting until states were decided to begin updating their lists. ABC's chosen to lean on its touchscreen display and forgo side graphics altogether, while despite Fox's claim as "America's Election HQ", with totally bare shoulders and boring sets, we're pointing our flatscreens elsewhere. PBS, despite airing the clearest, most high quality video available of three old guys at a table, has no slick touchscreens or HD graphics packages to speak of. Think about that as you check out the rest of the screens after the break, and during the next donation drive. Big Bird deserves better.

Continue reading Election '08 coming home in HD like never before

KCTS 9 (PBS) moves for all-digital conversion, leaves quality HD shows behind

by Darren Murph, posted Sep 16th 2008 at 3:53PM


The times, they are a-changin', and with February 2009 getting closer by the minute, we should probably expect even more situations like this. Put simply, western Washington's local PBS channel had a long-standing history of pleasing HD junkies with a whole swath of unique HD programming on Comcast slot 108 (OTA channel 9.5). Due to the transition to all-digital (or so it says), the HD channel has been shifted to Comcast slot 109 and OTA slot 9.1; that there isn't the problem, though. The issue is that with the move, many of its best high-def programs have been nixed, and the leftovers are being presented "in low-quality DTV," as stated by our tipster. The reaction has been overwhelmingly negative, with pages upon pages of angry comments piling up in a matter of hours. Thankfully, management has posted a note that it is taking notice, but only time will tell if the channel will ever return in its full glory.

[Thanks, Aaron]

MovieBeam sold, plans three market return tour this year

by Richard Lawler, posted Jul 12th 2008 at 10:08PM


Looks like Movie Gallery finally got something for the assortment of PBS bandwidth and spare parts remaining from the now-defunct MovieBeam service. The new owner is Indian conglomerate The Valuable Group, headed by Sanjay Gaikwad who apparently thinks serving up a remarkably limited assortment of heavily compressed HD and SD movies on demand is an idea that deserves to fail all over the world, instead of just in the U.S. Since $100 million burned up by Disney and others wasn't enough to make things work, he plans to invest a similar amount over the next two years to relaunch the service in North America, the U.K. and "other overseas markets". Variety notes The Valuable Group already delivers movies digitally to India and South Asian theaters via satellite so maybe they know something we don't about this business model, and with plans to roll out service in three markets with "new, cutting edge features" by year end we'll get to find out soon.

PBS taps Comcast's thePlatform for online video

by Steven Kim, posted May 18th 2008 at 5:06PM

PBS logoPBS has chosen media distribution company thePlatform to help boost its online video offerings. It's a fairly pretentious name, but in the two years that thePlatform has been a division of Comcast, it's racked up some big name clients, including BBC, CBS College Sports and Hulu. The PBS deal is intended to bring something we all like -- more content on the web. The arrangement opens up a kind of free-for-all between nationally- and locally- originated content and websites. Of course, content from the PBS mothership can be sent out to local affiliate websites. But local stations will also have access to thePlatform publishing tools to allow them to push their content to other affiliates. This is good news, as some of our favorite PBS stuff is produced by local affiliates.

PBS Kids Sprout nabs HD cartoon Dive Olly Dive

by Richard Lawler, posted May 17th 2008 at 5:36AM


PBS Kids Sprout has announced it's obtained the U.S. broadcast rights for Dive Olly Dive, a CGI-animated kids show produced in high definition. The network's focused on growing its preschool audience via digital cable/satellite, VOD and online offerings over the last few years, although it's not clear where or if we'll ever get to see the underwater escapades pf research subs-in-training Olly and Beth. Hopefully this turns into a situation like the recently launched Disney Channel HD, with a stockpile of ready to go HD content, already delivering a surprising number of HD 'toons each morning -- you're not still letting the kids watch SD, are you? Dive Olly Dive joins the Let's Go Show weekend morning programming block June 7.

Sesame Street, Cops, ESPN and more rolling out HD with Sony

by Richard Lawler, posted Apr 14th 2008 at 7:02AM Breaking News

Sony's NAB 2008 announcements continue to roll out, hope you didn't think Survivor and OLED were the only items getting a touch of its HD DNA, because Fox Widescreen standby Cops is going real HD for its 21st season courtesy of Sony's XDCAM technology. Just like Survivor, the rugged disc-based system makes it easy for producers to make the HD upgrade. While PBS' sets may not be as rough as the mean streets, we can still appreciate the news that Sesame Street has switched to HD with a whole new studio based on Sony's equipment that will also see use in several other projects on the way. Finally, ESPN has stayed ahead of the curve on high definition, and is putting the company's tech to work in its L.A. Live studio. Big Bird, extreme sports and repeat criminal offenders? Our HDTVs say bring it on.

Read - Sesame Street
Read - XDCAM technology, Survivor & Cops
Read - ESPN L.A. Live studio

Metropolitan Opera coming to PBS

by Steven Kim, posted Mar 26th 2008 at 9:49AM

Metropolitan Opera comes to PBSIf you think it's tough sticking to an exclusive diet of HD content, try being a fan of opera (the genre, not the browser, silly). Not many towns can even consider supporting an opera company, and scheduling and pricing cuts out another swath of interested folks in markets that do have an opera company. The Metropolitan Opera company has enjoyed success showing HD productions of its performances in theaters worldwide, and is now branching out to even more markets with PBS. The performances will appear underneath the "Great Performances" banner, so check your local listings if you're interested. We promise we won't tell your sports-fanatic crew you broke out the wine and cheese and peeped some opera!

PBS to bring the outdoors in with "Nature" on Blu-ray

by Steven Kim, posted Mar 13th 2008 at 1:42AM

PBS brings Nature to Blu-ray
Like peanut butter and chocolate, nature shows and HD are two great tastes that taste great together. And judging by the frequent appearance of "Planet Earth" on the VideoScan charts, the couple makes good business sense, too. As much as we love "Planet Earth," though, adding more titles to the genre is a good thing. Take heart, PBS is doing its part by bringing "Nature" to Blu-ray. With 26 seasons under its belt, it's safe to assume there's plenty of good footage; hopefully they've gathered up the best HD bits for the releases. Come May 20th, indie distributor Questar will be bringing out four titles: "Desert Lions" (originally aired 2008 in HD), "In the Valley of the Wolves" (originally aired 2007, shot in HD), "Under Antarctic Ice" and "Shark Mountain" (both originally aired 2003, fingers crossed on picture quality). Yeah, we can't guarantee those last two won't be a little "soft" looking, but we can guarantee that for your $25 retail, you can watch without any pledge drive interruptions!




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