PubTV programmers launch new blog

Live from Las Vegas! PubTV programmers Keith York and Garry Denny are blogging about their adventures at the International Consumer Electronics Show. The blog, a new service of Public Television Programmers' Association, aims to help station programmers learn what's happening at major conferences dealing with media technologies and programming.

Keillor's rules for reading the paper

A traditional newspaper is far more stylish than a laptop, Garrison Keillor writes in this Salon piece. "A man at a laptop is a man at a desk, a stiff, a drone," he says. "A newspaper reader, by comparison, is a swordsman, a wrangler, a private eye." Here he outlines rules for reading papers with the proper amount of savoir faire.

BP backs KCET's twin series with $15 million

KCET has received its biggest-ever underwriting grant: $15 million to go national with its twin Peabody-winning parenting/caregiving programs A Place of Our Own and Los Niños en Su Casa. The donors: BP America and the BP Foundation. BP previously donated $10 million to launch the series in California. CPB will give $3.8 million for the national launch and the First 5 California Commission will contribute $6 million. Earlier Current feature on the programs.

NAB to launch DTV publicity campaign

APTS will be part of a coalition of broadcasting, retail and social interest groups, led by the National Association of Broadcasters, that is mounting a two-year campaign to educate consumers about the 2009 analog TV shut-off, The Hill reports.

Open Media Network promotes PC-to-TV downloads

Open Media Network, the online non-commercial content portal featuring lots of pubcaster programs, is optimizing its video for larger screens, it announced at this week's Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas. OMN content is viewable at qualities suitable for TV screens via broadband-equipped sets such as HP's MediaSmart LCD TV, or TiVo DVRs.

Tomlinson won't seek BBG renomination

Kenneth Tomlinson, ousted former chair of the CPB Board, asked President Bush not to renominate him to the Broadcasting Board of Governors, the federal agency that oversees Voice of America and other international media efforts, the Washington Post reports. Last fall a State Department probe found Tomlinson worked on his horse-racing business from his government office and improperly hired a friend, among other missteps. Despite the allegations, President Bush renominated him to the board in November but few expected the new Democratic majority in Congress to confirm him. Tomlinson, who will serve on the BBG until a replacement is named, is going to write a book about his experiences.