Wednesday, May 28, 2003
‘GBH goes commercial: Isn’t PBS (or ‘GBH) already running syndicated programs, such as ‘This Old House,’ on for-profit channels? So what’s the big deal here? ... Though I support its non-profit/non-ratings-driven mission, Hub Blog believes PBS blew it when it failed to seize commercial cable opportunities in the past. The Discovery, TLC, History Channel etc. are stealing PBS’s concepts left and right. PBS can and should be more market savvy in spinning off its products -- and plowing money back into its non-profit core mission. Sort of the way MIT deftly balances its two commerical and non-profit interests. ... The non-profit BBC is now jumping into cable network programming. Again: What’s the big deal here?
