Indiana station gets legislative support

Lakeshore Public Television in Merrillville, Ind., struggling under state budget cuts, is getting a boost from Indiana Senate Democrats. They've put the station on their priority list of "Top Ten Things That Need to Change in the Budget," according to The Post-Tribune of Northwest Indiana. The station was "blindsided," as the paper said, by the $110,000 funding cut. It reduced its staff by 10 percent, leaving four vacant positions unfilled and laying off six people. "It's one thing to say from the outset 'this is what you're going to be getting,'" said Thomas Carroll, station CEO. "But the state told us we could expect that money, and we budgeted accordingly. Then they withheld it."

PBS launches new portal for video on demand

PBS unveiled its new online video portal offering full-length episodes of nearly all of its primetime programs. The catalog of shows available for on demand streaming is limited with this beta launch, but PBS aims to add thousands of hours of programs by summer, the Los Angeles Times reports. PBS Video will begin offering programs from local public TV stations in May. Here's a link to our earlier coverage of PBS Video, which began pilot testing last fall. PBS's news release on the site launch is here.