On Mar 14, 12:39 am, televisiongirl <[email protected]> wrote: > For a short time in my career I worked at a PBS station. > > On Sat, Mar 13, 2010 at 12:24 PM, Pollak, Melissa F. <[email protected]>wrote: > > > > > We would like to know something about how a show like this is financed. > > For example, who pays for it? The record label (Decca, in this case)? > > Because it's big promotion for a forthcoming album. Or, does the production > > company (I forgot the name but it does a lot of shows for PBS) finance it > > and then sell the rights to PBS stations? I admit that I am clueless > > about how such shows (this one will be used for fund-raising beginning this > > summer) are financed and who makes how much money for making them. And, > > while we're on the subject, how much, if any, does the > > artist make? > > If it is part of something like "Great Performances" or "Live from Lincoln > Center," the underwriters usually cover most expenses. If you have a record > label or film production company that wants to promote the artist's CD/DVD, > they'll chip in too. There are foundations whose missions are to support > specific artists or musical genres so if a jazz musician is playing one > week, Foundation A may support the broadcast while Foundation B might > provide funds for an opera. > > There are companies who produce specials with the idea that they can go to > PBS and sell it as a fundraiser. Those usually have deals like CDs (if you > donate $100, you also get their CD) and again other foundations or sponsors > who help PBS pay for the special.
And the stations then purchase the programming and the premiums for the pledge drive. Both PBS and the other program suppliers for PTV, including American Public Television, usually each offer a package of specials that they sell to the stations for the three national pledge drive periods in March, August and December. The premiums may be included in the packages, but I'm not sure. The station funding credit for these shows on PBS is the usual "annual financial support from Viewers Like You--thank you." Also, I would assume that those stations that already pay to carry "Great Performances" get the pledge drive episodes of that series as part of what they've already paid for and that they have to buy the premiums from the distributors of the video or CD. Most PBS shows are sold to stations through the Station Program Cooperative (aka "Viewers Like You") and in the case of "Masterpiece," the SPC is the only funder right now. Stations can air shows for free that are 100% funded by corporations or foundations--outside of Bill Moyers or advertiser-friendly how-to or cooking shows, I don't that think there are that many out there. -- TV or Not TV .... The Smartest (TV) People! You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "TV or Not TV" group. To post to this group, send email to [email protected] To unsubscribe from this group, send email to [email protected] For more options, visit this group at http://groups.google.com/group/tvornottv?hl=en
