Your NETA, CPB, PBS, APTS update

Leaders of CPB, PBS and APTS related both pubcasting challenges and victories Jan. 15 to a crowded ballroom at the NETA conference, ongoing in Tampa. First, the good news: PBS head Paula Kerger said some 44 percent of pubTV website traffic now consists of visitors 35 or younger. After years of talking about how to lure the younger audience, "we've got them. Now we need to figure out how to draw them in, get them even more involved," she said. In Capitol Hill news, APTS will be visiting lawmakers in the next week or two to lobby for pubcasting's economic stimulus requests. DC insiders are also hearing rumors there may be one or two commissioners departing the FCC in the next weeks or months. An upcoming nationwide challenge: Analog trash. What will stations do with all that old equipment after the DTV conversion (whenever that comes)? How will it be removed and recycled? The recycling aspect is key, as Don Lockett of CPB said. "We don't want to see the headline, 'Old CPB Equipment Being Used by the Taliban.'" NETA's annual conference ends tomorrow.