- ETAC - Engineering and Technology Advisory Committee
- DAC - Development Advisory Committee
- DMAC - Digital Media Advisory Council
- MAC - Marketing Advisory Council
- PAC - Programming Advisory Council
- TAC - Traffic Advisory Committee
Affinity Groups
Public television’s major affinity groups are self-selecting groups of stations organized around common licensee types, budget size or common interests. Almost all public media stations participate in at least one affinity group. PBS conducts formal conversations and briefings with its members re: PBS’s budget, new initiatives, etc. via the affinity groups.
- Independent Public Television Stations Association
- JLA - Joint Licensee Group
- MMG - Major Market Group
- OSBE - Organization of State Broadcasting Executives
- SSA - Small Station Association
- ULA - University Licensee Association
APT
American Public Television acquires, sells, and distributes programming - including lifestyle or "how-to" programs and British comedies and dramas, and performance programs geared to fundraising - to public television stations nationwide.
APTS
The Association of Public Television Stations is a national public television membership organization that lobbies and undertakes planning/research projects in the interests of the stations and noncommercial TV in general. APTS' mission is to support the continued growth and development of a strong and financially sound noncommercial television service for the American public.
CPB
The Corporation for Public Broadcasting is the nonprofit corporation authorized by the federal government in 1967 to develop noncommercial television and radio. CPB funds public television and radio stations directly with Community Service Grants (see “CSG”), supports productivity and revenue-development initiatives through its Future Fund, and also funds program production and training through its Radio and Television Program Funds.
FCC
The Federal Communications Commission (FCC) was established by the Communications Act of 1934 as an independent United States government agency directly responsible to Congress. The Act, which has been amended over the years, charges the Commission with establishing policies to govern interstate and international communications by television, radio, wire, satellite and cable. The National Association of Educational Broadcasters persuaded the FCC to reserve five radio channels for educational broadcasting in 1938, paving the way in 1952 to reserve 242 TV channels for non-commercial broadcasters. In February 1996, the Telecommunications Act of 1996 was signed into law, representing the first major overhaul of our nation’s telecommunications policies in over 60 years.
Licensee Types
Public television stations can be categorized by the nature of their organization (referred to as “Licensee Type” because the organization holds the FCC license for the station). Typically, stations fall into one of four categories:
- Community Licensees - non-profit organizations that exist solely to run public television and radio stations in their local community
- State Licensees - state agencies or state-chartered organizations that run public television for an entire state
- University Licensees - colleges and universities that have public television and/or radio stations as part of their operations
- Local Authority Licensees - typically local school districts or governments
National Minority Consortia
CPB’s Minority Consortia consists of the five minority production groups:
- Center for Asian American Media (CAAM)
- National Black Programming Consortium (NBPC)
- Latino Public Broadcasting (LPB)
- Pacific Islanders in Communications (PIC)
- Vision Maker Media
NETA
The National Educational Telecommunications Association was organized in July 1997, by merging association activities of the Southern Educational Communications Association (SECA) and the Pacific Mountain Network (PMN). NETA provides representation, program acquisition and distribution, and professional development services to its member stations and educational institutions across the country. The predecessor organization, SECA, was once the largest of the four major regional public TV associations.
Passport
PBS Passport is a member benefit from participating PBS stations that gives eligible donors and supporters extended access to an on-demand library of quality public television programming online.
PBS
The Public Broadcasting Service (PBS) was formed in 1969 to distribute public TV programming nationally. PBS, which has approximately 350 Member Stations, operates the public TV satellite interconnection system and manages the stations' national programming service.
PDP
The Program Differentiation Plan is a PBS programming plan that enables and governs the use of a reduced amount of NPS programming (25% or less) for reduced dues by certain qualified stations. PDP stations are primarily in overlapping markets (markets where there is more than one PBS stations).
PMDMC
Public Media Development and Marketing Conference is public media's largest conference devoted to issues surrounding revenue generation, marketing, and management.
