Why bother with an APS logo,
after all these years without one?
"If we stay invisible," Porter explains,
"underwriters will say, Who are you?"Public TV's No. 2 program source
gears up to growAPS courts partners for funding, eyes the weekend, even has a logo
Originally published in Current, Oct. 28, 1996
By Steve Behrens
American Program Service, which has walked several discreet steps behind PBS for years, is picking up its pace. Early next year, the Boston-based syndicator will begin testing blocks of weekend programming for the dayparts when PBS has no "hard-feed" schedule.
At the same time, it's aiming to double the value of its paid programming by bringing in production partners, as in PBS's deal with Reader's Digest Association. The first of several new allies will be Los Angeles producer Spencer Entertainment, which will invest $1 million a year in performance programs to air on public TV and sell in other media, APS President John Porter told Current. And APS is negotiating with two other firms for production deals worth $5 million or more apiece. Several underwriter-funded programs are in development, meanwhile, including programs on computers and investing.
For the first time, the Boston-based syndicator will begin putting a logo on its programs--reportedly an animated gold symbol with the straightforward legend, "APS: Programs for Public Television." The logo, by the Boston design firm LoConte Goldman, will be unveiled at the APS Fall Marketplace in Chicago, Nov. 20-23 [1996].
Why bother with a logo, after all these years? "If we stay invisible," Porter explains, "underwriters will say, 'Who are you?'"
And to give all this an extra push, APS has hired Joseph Zesbaugh as executive v.p. and chief operating officer. Zesbaugh, who has already begun work part-time and will start full-time in March, is in the midst of closing down Pacific Mountain Network, several years after Porter phased out most staff activities of another regional body, the Eastern Educational TV Network (EEN), parent and predecessor of APS.
The new executive v.p. will supervise all programming activities and help shape APS's reorganization early next year.
Zesbaugh says he wants to offer "killer customer service" to producers and stations. None of public TV's program distributors, PMN and PBS included, is quite fast enough at responding to inquiries and making decisions, he says.
APS is gearing up its efforts after PBS decided to reenter the syndication market and hired away Alan Foster, an APS vice president, last spring. Foster is now running PBS Select and other services that distribute programs to subgroups of the public TV system.
Despite all these changes, however, APS is avoiding open confrontation with PBS. Its customer stations are also PBS members and would frown on competition that could drive up program prices. "There's nothing in this that smacks of competitiveness or an in-your-face kind of thing," Porter insists.
But public TV can benefit from having a second major program distributor, he says. "I think the system is better served at its present level [by having] another access point to the stations for producers and underwriters."
This does not mean that APS will take every advantage it could have over PBS. APS isn't accepting programs that contain 30-second underwriting credits "at this stage," Porter says. He doesn't want to do anything that will undercut the producers of national programming on PBS, who are standardized on 15-second credits. But many APS members do favor 30-second spots, he notes.
Doubling in dollar volume?
For now, APS is extending its offerings without trying to squeeze more money out of the stations. "We knew station money was very limited," says Porter. "There was not much flexibility there."
He aims to add new programming worth at least $10 million--a substantial gain for a syndicator that now sells some $11 million in programming a year (not counting programs distributed without charge).
The first of the deals, with Spencer Entertainment, reunites APS with Lionel Shaen, executive v.p. of the company and producer of such past APS specials as "Moody Blues at Red Rock" and "Perry Como's Irish Christmas."
Two other deals in the works would create nonfiction programs that are "appropriate for both public broadcasting and video distribution," according to Porter.
APS also can invest $500,000 remaining from a CPB payment dating back several years. CPB has given preliminary approval for "repurposing" the money, permitting its use in jump-starting new productions. The amount is half of a $1 million advance that CPB provided for investment in the APS Program Enterprise Fund, an earlier funding mechanism.
The syndicator is working with independent producers to create two new continuing series that would be offered free to stations: InvestAmerica, a series of 21 or more programs hosted by John Fossel, retiring chairman of the Oppenheimer Fund, and broadcast journalist Janet Langhart, will be screened at the APS Fall Marketplace in Chicago next month. Produced by longtime pubcaster Christopher Koch, the series will be aimed at the generation of workers now planning for retirement. Fossel, a part-owner in the project, also will be involved in developing a paid-subscription newsletter to accompany the series. The Digital Duo, a weekly review of new computer software and hardware, will be hosted by two major computer columnists, Walter Mossberg of the Wall Street Journal and Stephen Manes of the New York Times. Like movie critics Siskel and Ebert, the columnists will give "thumbs up" or "thumbs down" verdicts. A prospectus says the producers will avoid amateurish "nerds with nasal monotones" as well as "a gee-whiz, overly upbeat approach." The program, developed with APS Vice President Niki Scher Vettel, will be produced by ZMedia Inc./Wave Inc., a media firm in Framingham, Mass.
In the realm of pledge specials, Porter says, APS is rethinking its Premium Service, a $1 million program investment fund that acquires specials for participating stations. He wants to build "an intelligence network" to bring program buyers from the major stations into purchase decisions; APS could consult them quickly without bogging down purchase decisions.
APS began to reconsider the structure of the Premium Service after the resignation of Pat Faust, the APS v.p. who ran it for seven of its eight years. Faust, who leaves APS Nov. 1, has done "a hell of a good job" with one of public TV's toughest tasks, Porter says.
The weekend initiative could give APS the advantage of a schedule that it assembles and promotes--the source of much of PBS's authority from Sunday through early Friday evening. APS developed the plan after consulting a station survey by New York-based consultant Martha Burke-Hennessey, a former international coproduction executive for MCA and Viacom.
Starting early next year, 10 stations will test the proposed APS program service that begins Friday nights with international sports, following PBS's traditional feeds of "the W's," Washington Week in Review and Wall Street Week. The feed will pick up again Saturday afternoon with InvestAmerica, how-to's, films and comedy, and Sunday morning, with children's programs.
ITVS also eyes the weekends
APS is not the only program provider currently eyeing the creation of a weekend program block. Independent producers Globalvision (Rights and Wrongs) and the California Working Group (We Do the Work) are talking with stations to test their interest in a Saturday-night entertainment/information block with a good dose of humor and a young appeal, says Globalvision President Rory O'Connor. Segments from various producers would be commissioned by an executive producer and tied together on-air by a veejay/host. The two independent production houses are exploring the prospects for Independents' Day (working title) under a grant from the Independent Television Service (ITVS).
Programmers from major stations are interested in the idea and will meet during the APS Fall Marketplace to discuss it further, says O'Connor.
Entertainment programming for the weekend--it's an idea whose time has come, says O'Connor. NPR is also developing new weekend programs for public radio. "It's in the zeitgeist," he says.
Later news: APS launches Saturday-night concert series, Sessions at West 54th in July 1997.
Web page created July 5, 1997
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