November 2011

America's Public Broadcasting Service is launching a dedicated TV channel in Britain, marking the public television company's first major foray abroad since it was founded more than four decades ago.

The channel, known as PBS UK, is set to air on Britain's two biggest pay-TV platforms, British Sky Broadcasting Group PLC and Virgin Media Inc., which together reach about 14 million U.K. households, or more than half the country's television audience. So far, the British channel's lineup includes PBS's flagship news programs, "PBS News Hour" and "Frontline"; the popular science series "Nova"; the U.S. version of "Antiques Roadshow"; and documentaries from director Ken Burns. Because of the time difference, "PBS News Hour" will air at lunchtime the day after its U.S. broadcast. The U.K. PBS channel plans to air ads, unlike PBS in the U.S., which is delivered to its audience thanks to federal funding, corporate sponsorships and "viewers like you." The channel is one avenue PBS is pursuing as it looks for new sources of revenue in a challenged TV market. PBS UK is owned jointly by investment company Quadra Group and PBS Distribution LLC, the venture tasked with exploiting the rights to the PBS library. Quadra has invested millions of dollars to create the U.K. channel. PBS Distribution, meanwhile, put up the rights to the programs.

British television producer Mark Burnett turned program financing on its head a decade ago when he brought brands like Doritos and Mountain Dew as sponsors into the expensive, prime-time reality series "Survivor," helping to defray costs. "Survivor" is considered a watershed in paid product placements, opening the floodgates to a projected $2.75 billion in spending this year on such shows as "The Tonight Show With Jay Leno," WWE's "Monday Night Raw," "American Idol" and "Celebrity Apprentice." Before "Survivor," brands got promotional placements in exchange for use of a prop, such as a car, or as a bonus for buying commercial time.

Burnett is now trying to bring that formula to the Web through his investment in the Vimby digital production studio. The Van Nuys venture launched in 2005 with a network of filmmakers around the country who create original, short-form videos for Vimby's website that now also may find a home on other sites including YouTube and Myspace. As part of Burnett's investment in 2010, Vimby began rubbing elbows with such major advertisers as Aflac, General Mills, Macy's, McDonald's, Pepsi and Puma — helping these brands create their own content for distribution on YouTube or on a company's Facebook page.

The United States will stop paying $80 million in dues and voluntary contributions to the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization in response to the body’s vote to grant membership to the Palestinian Authority, but the fight over U.S. funding policy may not be over yet.

UNESCO voted 107-14 in favor of granting status to the Palestinians, triggering existing U.S. laws that prohibit American support of U.N. agencies that give the Palestinian Authority membership. Still, State Department spokeswoman Victoria Nuland suggested the Administration could look for a way to rewrite or work around the law. It’s a tough bind for the administration: The White House and State Department support UNESCO’s mission, but there’s little chance that Congress will rewrite a law that is supported by the large bloc of pro-Israel lawmakers. Indeed, there seems to be a split at State between those who are mortified by the prospect of cutting off funding for UNESCO and those who understand the political peril of angering pro-Israel forces.

[Editor’s note: William Benton, father of Benton Foundation Chairman Charles Benton, led U. S. participation in organizing UNESCO, which he later served as representative under the Kennedy and Johnson administrations.]

Your phone company knows where you live, what websites you visit, what apps you download, what videos you like to watch, and even where you are. Now, some have begun selling that valuable information to the highest bidder.

In mid-October, Verizon Wireless changed its privacy policy to allow the company to record customers' location data and Web browsing history, combine it with other personal information like age and gender, aggregate it with millions of other customers' data, and sell it on an anonymized basis. That kind of data could be very useful -- and lucrative -- to third-party companies. For instance, if a small business owner wanted to figure out the best place to open a new pet store, the owner could buy a marketing report from Verizon about a designated area. The report might reveal which city blocks get the most foot or car traffic from people whose Web browsing history reveals that they own pets.