• Public Radio Exchange announced Thursday that it will transition its work on apps for stations to Jacapps, until now a competing developer of station apps. “We see huge growth and opportunity in our content and distribution services — including our Radiotopia podcast network and the booming SubAuto service that This American Life, The WFMT Radio Network, and others are joining — and have decided to focus our energies on this core identify of PRX,” wrote PRX Executive Director Jake Shapiro. “This doesn’t mean we will stop building apps, but we will select projects that directly align with our content and distribution strategy.” Jacapps has so far developed about 40 apps for stations.
Ian McKellen, left, plays Freddie and Derek Jacobi is Stuart in Vicious, premiering in the U.S. Sunday on PBS. (Photo: ITV)
• The FCC released data Thursday regarding 100 simulations it ran to determine possible signal interference following spectrum repacking. Broadcasters, eager for the details, had asked the commission to make the data public after the FCC initially published results June 2.
• Arizona PBS will become part of Arizona State University’s Walter Cronkite School of Journalism and Mass Communication July 1. The station had previously been part of ASU’s Office of Public Affairs.
• Sesame Workshop’s latest project, a collaboration on a digital platform for early-learning family engagement, was announced by Hillary Clinton June 24 at a Clinton Global Initiative meeting in Denver. Sesame is partnering on the platform for low-income communities with the Ounce of Prevention fund, which assists children in poverty, and the National Head Start Association.
• Gary Janetti, creator of the sitcom Vicious, talked to Fast Company about how a guy from Queens ended up writing a sitcom co-starring legendary British actors Ian McKellen and Derek Jacobi as an elderly gay couple. The show’s stateside premiere is Sunday on PBS.
• Actor and Family Guy creator Seth MacFarlane has pledged to match up to $1 million of Reading Rainbow‘s Kickstarter campaign, reports The Associated Press. The campaign, now aiming for $5 million, concludes July 2.