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Mitchell's PBS plan shows Achilles heel of public TV

Why, you ask, is PBS asking seven of its stations to use perfectly good prime-time schedule space to air an "Antiques Roadshow" repeat? In a word: ratings.

The move, announced by new PBS chief Pat Mitchell, is part of an experimental schedule designed to make public broadcasting more competitive. A trade magazine this week noted that PBS has been stuck on a 2.0 Nielsen rating in prime time for years. And no broadcaster has an older audience than PBS (median viewer age: 56.4).

"Roadshow," now in its fifth season, bucks both those trends. It appeals to a younger audience, and is the most popular show on PBS. Still, airing it twice a week is not a move without consequences. Much like commercial stations, public broadcasters are offered far more programming than they have airtime to fill. The difference is that while commercial stations may turn down a "Baywatch" knockoff or yet another cheesy talk show, public stations are often forced to turn down such worthy suppliers as ITVS, which produces hours of fresh, alternative (and often controversial) programming each year. You'll be lucky to see any ITVS fare on your local public-TV station, unless it happens to be co-produced with a heavier hitter like "Frontline."

If you're an independent producer looking to place your alternative fare on public-TV stations, Friday and Saturday nights represent your best shot. The other nights of the week, PBS affiliates agree to carry the prime-time shows supplied to them by PBS. But even on Fridays and Saturdays, the shelf space on many stations is already full. In Kansas City and other cities, for example, station managers have discovered they get great numbers on weekends by running a repeat of ... yep, "Antiques Roadshow." (Now you know where PBS got the idea.)

The sad fact is that public stations live and die by Nielsens just like their commercial brethren do. Higher numbers mean more viewers, which in turn lead to companies willing to pay higher rates to reach them with their donor messages. More viewers also translate into richer pledge drives.

Which means that the campaign to improve PBS ratings is not a total solution for public broadcasting. Somehow, somebody must come up with major money for public TV that isn't tied to performance. That way, worthy programs aimed at extremely small niches can air at times when interested audiences are likely to see them. Especially prime time.

The experimental PBS schedule will begin in the fall at KPBS, San Diego; WMFE, Orlando; WVIZ, Cleveland; WHYY, Philadelphia; WQED, Pittsburgh; KUED, Salt Lake City; and Georgia Public Television. If it's a success, the new lineup will be implemented nationally in 2001.

  • New "Roadshow" host begins this summer
  • EARLIER: "Antiques" fires appraisers over swindle
  • PBS schedule shuffle moves "Masterpiece" to Mondays

    • Pick to click

    There are awards shows and then there are TV variety shows not so well-disguised as awards shows. "The TNN Music Awards" (8 p.m., TNN) clearly falls into the latter category.

    With a new sponsor (Country Weekly magazine) but the same old host (comedian Jeff Foxworthy), this awards show will present about as many musical numbers as trophies.

    Among those set to perform: Vince Gill, Kenny Rogers, Faith Hill, Lonestar, Clint Black, Jo Dee Messina, the Wilkinsons and Mark Wills. The show airs live. Also tonight, "VH1 Legends" (10 p.m., VH1) profiles Neil Young, a recording artist who has all the hardware he needs. That's followed at 11 by "Silver & Gold," a new concert film based on Young's recent CD of the same name.

    On this date...

    in 1992, David, Susan, and Thumper spill the beans on couples they know on the debut of "Grapevine" on CBS. Although in some ways a forerunner of HBO's "Sex and the City," it's just as forgettable now as it will be when it is remade and returns to the CBS schedule in the spring of 2000. -- Tom Heald

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