The same is true for many British, children’s, and innovative educational shows today. I wouldn’t be doing yoga on a nearly-daily basis if I couldn’t record it off of one of the several PBS stations I can get with my satellite provider. Channels like FitTV are not only small enough to be limited to the more expensive cable packages, and focused largely on sports/fitness celebrity shows rather than how-to, but also interrupt my workout with commercials which cut down the amount of time I can actually work out.

I also wouldn’t have access to the gay cable channel which is only available through a few providers and the more expensive packages, so I would miss out on a lot of great historical and cutting-edge programming from that community that only PBS channels seem to offer.

You can’t ask if PBS is still necessary unless you figure out who you’re asking. To me, it’s certainly necessary. More importantly, it’s a joy.

I watch hours of PBS every week. PBS is fantastic. I could do without the programming changes on pledge weeks (seriously, just show the normal programs with pledge breaks), but otherwise PBS is the one place on TV that’s not appealing to the lowest common denominator. Similar statement goes for NPR and radio.

I don’t have cable/satellite and my internet connection at home isn’t sufficient for more than one person to watch video at once. PBS keeps me sane. (No, I don’t feel I should have to spend $50/month just to watch TV)

Individual PBS-affiliated stations are not a homogenous bunch. Some depend upwards of 80% on funds from the CPB — the independent corporation funded by Congress that funds the individual stations. Some get a small percentage of their funds from the CPB (such as the largest stations — WGBH, WNET, KQED, etc.). But most stations (by count) get a large percentage from the CPB (my station gets about 30% from government sources).

Further, though I sometimes like your posts, Steve (Boriss), you apparently don’t understand the firewall that’s setup between stations and the government. PBS is funded mostly by stations. Stations are funded (in varying parts) by the CPB. The CPB is funded by Congress on a 2-year forward-funding basis. That’s a three-layer + 2 years barrier between Congress and the programming.

Yes, CPB had some trouble a couple years ago because of a Bush-appointed Chairman of the CPB board. But he was ousted and the problem was resolved with little material damage to the brand or service.

Whether PBS is necessary is another question. But saying the government should end funding because it’ll be okay is a red herring. De-funding the CPB would end public broadcasting (radio and TV) in lots of markets around the country. The biggest cities would be fine, though, and the central networks (PBS and NPR) would survive in some form, though a seriously damaged one.

Sesame Street and Mr. Rogers, move over, I want to see Wired, Frontline, NOVA, History Dectectives and Nature.

The thought put into PBS shows is leagues ahead of the HD docs on channels like “HistoryChannel HD.”

The whole “PBS is unnecessary because everybody has Discovery, Nick Jr., Animal Planet, Food Network, et. al.” is the same line the neocons been dishing up to justify cutting funding for PBS. And yet, in the same breath, neocons also pushed the Children’s Act of 1990, which pushed the E/I mandate of three hours on broadcast television and killed the institution of Saturday mornings (BTW, the whole notion that cable killed Saturday mornings is untrue because cable didn’t really start programming original shows on Saturdays until the beginning of THIS decade; history shows most cable shows tended to premiere on Friday nights, Saturday nights, and Sunday mornings).

The idea of forcing broadcast networks to air educational programming when PBS does so on a daily basis is kind of laughable as well.

Yes, shows like Sesame Street, Reading Rainbow, Nature, NOVA, Bill Moyers, Frontline, and others could easily find homes elsewhere on the cable dials, but for those without cable, they wouldn’t have access to them, and that’s pretty much what it boils down to.

Plus, here’s a thought.

If there’s no place for PBS, is there a place for the other broadcast channels? If so, couldn’t the argument that all PBS shows would be better on cable be used for anything found on broadcast networks? Many broadcast shows are already on cable outlets, and some like Law and Order: Criminal Intent made a permanent move to cable.

Heck, it could even expand to cable programs. Couldn’t cable programming move from cable to broadband-only outlets?

It’s a vicious circle.