broadcasting service type non commercial broadcast television public distributor country united states availability national available in parts of southern canada and northern mexico for ota only founded june 23 1970 ; 46 years ago 1970 06 23 by hartford n. gunn jr. slogan be more primary this is pbs secondary headquarters arlington county virginia u.s. owner independent key people paula kerger president and ceo 1 afsaneh beschloss director launch date october 5 1970 ; 46 years ago 1970 10 05 affiliates list of member stations official website www.pbs.org replaced national educational television 1952 1970 the public broadcasting service pbs is an american public broadcaster and television program distributor . headquartered in arlington virginia pbs is an independently operated non profit organization and is the most prominent provider of television programs to public television stations in the united states distributing series such as keeping up appearances bbc world news nova sciencenow nova dragon tales pbs newshour walking with dinosaurs masterpiece nature american masters frontline and antiques roadshow . since the mid 2000s roper polls commissioned by pbs have consistently placed the service as the most trusted national institution in the united states . 2 however pbs is not responsible for all programming carried on public television stations a large proportion of which including most specials aired during pledge drives come from third party sources including member stations such as wgbh weta tv wnet wttw national productions american public television and independent producers . this distinction is a frequent source of viewer confusion . 3 the service has more than 350 member television stations many owned by educational institutions or non profit groups affiliated with a local public school district collegiate educational institution or by state government owned or related entities . 4 it also operates national datacast ndi a subsidiary which offers datacasting services via member stations and provides additional revenue for pbs and its member stations . contents 1 overview 2 programming 2.1 pbs kids 2.2 sports 3 governance 4 member stations 4.1 participating stations 5 pbs networks 5.1 independent networks 6 criticism and controversy 6.1 on air fundraising 6.2 accusations of political ideological bias 6.3 lawsuit with pacific arts 7 warning alert and response network warn 8 see also 9 references 10 further reading 11 external links overview edit founded by hartford n. gunn jr. pbs began operations on october 5 1970 taking over many of the functions of its predecessor national educational television net which later merged with newark new jersey station wndt to form wnet . 5 in 1973 it merged with educational television stations . 6 7 8 unlike the five major commercial broadcast television networks in the united states abc cbs nbc fox and the cw which compensate their affiliate stations to carry their programs pbs is not a network but a program distributor that provides television content and related services to its member stations . each station is charged with the responsibility of programming local content often news interview cultural and public affairs programs for their individual market or state that supplements content provided by pbs and other public television distributors . in a television network structure affiliates give up portions of their local advertising airtime in exchange for carrying network programming and the network pays its affiliates a share of the revenue it earns from advertising although this structure has been reversed in recent years with the network compensated by the stations . by contrast pbs member stations pay fees for the shows acquired and distributed by the national organization . under this relationship pbs member stations have greater latitude in local scheduling than their commercial broadcasting counterparts . scheduling of pbs distributed series may vary greatly depending on the market . this can be a source of tension as stations seek to preserve their localism and pbs strives to market a consistent national lineup . however pbs has a policy of common carriage which requires most stations to clear the national prime time programs on a common programming schedule to market them nationally more effectively . management at former los angeles member kcet cited unresolvable financial and programming disputes among its major reasons for leaving pbs after over 40 years in january 2011 . 9 although pbs has a set schedule of programming particularly in regard to its prime time schedule while many members carry a feed of night time programming from the pbs satellite service member stations reserve the right to schedule pbs distributed programming in other time slots or not clear it at all if they choose to do so ; few of the service s members carry all its programming . most pbs stations timeshift some distributed programs . once pbs accepts a program offered for distribution pbs rather than the originating member station retains exclusive rebroadcasting rights during an agreed period . suppliers retain the right to sell the program in non broadcast media such as dvds books and sometimes pbs licensed merchandise but sometimes grant such ancillary rights as well to pbs . in 1991 the corporation for public broadcasting resumed production for most pbs shows that debuted prior to 1977 with the exceptions of washington week in review and wall street week cpb resumed production of washington week in 1997 . in 1994 the chronicle of philanthropy released the results of the largest study on the popularity and credibility of charitable and non profit organizations . pbs ranked as the 11th most popular charity non profit in america from over 100 charities researched in the study conducted by the industry publication with 38.2 % of americans over the age of 12 choosing love and like a lot for pbs . 10 11 12 13 in december 2009 pbs signed up for the nielsen ratings audience measurement reports and began to be included in its primetime and daily television index reports alongside the major commercial broadcast networks . 14 in may 2011 pbs announced that it would incorporate breaks containing underwriter spots for corporate and foundation sponsors program promotions and identification spots within four breaks placed within episodes of nature and nova airing episodes broken up into segments of up to 15 minutes rather than airing them as straight 50 to 55 minute episodes . the strategy began that fall with the intent to expand the in program breaks to the remainder of the schedule if successful . 15 in 2011 pbs released apps for ios and android to allow viewing of full length videos on mobile devices . 16 an update in 2015 added chromecast support . 17 pbs initially struggled to compete with online media such as youtube for market share . in a 2012 speech to 850 top executives from pbs stations senior vice president of digital jason seiken warned that pbs was in danger of being disrupted by youtube studios such as maker studios . in the speech later described as a seminal moment for public television 18 he laid out his vision for a new style of pbs digital video production . station leadership rallied around his vision and seiken formed pbs digital studios which began producing educational but edgy videos something seiken called pbs quality with a youtube sensibility . 19 the studio s first hit an auto tuned version of the theme from one of their most famous television programs mister rogers neighborhood was one of youtube s 10 most viral videos of 2012 . 20 by 2013 monthly video views on pbs.org had risen from 2 million to a quarter billion pbs.org traffic had surpassed that of the cbs nbc and abc web sites pbskids.org had become the dominant u.s. children s site for video and pbs had won more 2013 webby awards than any other media company in the world . 21 on may 8 2013 full length episodes of pbs prime time news and children s programs were made available through the roku streaming player ; programming is available on roku as separate streaming channels for pbs and pbs kids content . 22 programming edit main article list of programs broadcast by pbs the evening and primetime schedule on pbs features a diverse array of programming including fine arts great performances ; drama masterpiece downton abbey american family journey of dreams ; science nova nature ; history american experience american masters history detectives antiques roadshow ; music austin city limits soundstage ; public affairs frontline pbs newshour washington week nightly business report ; independent films and documentaries p.o.v. independent lens ; home improvement this old house ; and interviews charlie rose tavis smiley the dick show . in 2012 pbs began organizing much of its prime time programming around a genre based schedule for example drama series encompass the sunday schedule while science related programs are featured on wednesdays . pbs broadcasts children s programming as part of the service s and including content supplied by other distributors not programmed by the service its member stations morning and afternoon schedule . as the children s programs it distributes are intended to educate as well as entertain its target audience pbs and its stations have long been in compliance with educational programming guidelines set by the federal communications commission in response to the enactment of the children s television act of 1990 . many member stations have historically also broadcast distance education and other instructional television programs typically during daytime slots ; though with the advent of digital television which has allowed stations to carry these programs on digital subchannels in lieu of the main pbs feed or exclusively over the internet many member stations networks have replaced distance education content with children s and other programming . unlike its radio counterpart national public radio pbs does not have a central program production arm or news division . all of the programming carried by pbs whether news documentary or entertainment is created by or in most cases produced under contract with other parties such as individual member stations . boston member wgbh tv is one of the largest producers of educational television programming including shows like american experience masterpiece theatre nova antiques roadshow and frontline as well as many other children s and lifestyle programs . news programs are produced by weta tv pbs newshour in washington d.c. wnet in new york and wpbt in miami . newark new jersey new york city member wnet produces or distributes programs such as charlie rose secrets of the dead nature and cyberchase . pbs member stations are known for rebroadcasting british television costume dramas comedies and science fiction programs acquired from the bbc and other sources such as downton abbey ; allo allo ; are you being served ; the benny hill show red dwarf ; the fall and rise of reginald perrin ; father ted ; fawlty towers ; harry enfield and chums ; keeping up appearances ; monty python s flying circus ; mr. bean doctor who and sherlock ; consequently this has led to jocular references that the service s name stands for primarily british series . however a significant amount of sharing takes place . the bbc and british broadcasters such as channel 4 often cooperate with pbs stations producing material that is shown on both sides of the atlantic . less frequently canadian australian and other international programming appears on pbs stations such as the red green show currently distributed by syndicator executive program services ; public broadcasting syndicators are more likely to offer this programming to u.s. based public television stations . pbs is not the only distributor of public television programming to the member stations . other distributors have emerged from the roots of companies that maintained loosely held regional public television stations in the 1960s . boston based american public television which among other names was formerly known as eastern educational network and the american program service is second only to pbs for distributing programs to u.s. non commercial stations . another distributor is neta formerly seca whose properties have included the