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Dec 9, 2011

NJTV selects four colleges as satellite bureaus

NJTV will use four "content bureaus" located at universities across New Jersey, the pubcasting network announced today (Dec. 9). Brookdale Community College, Rowan University, Richard Stockton College of New Jersey and William Paterson University be equipped with robotic cameras, provide student footage and interviews, and serve as a remote location for NJTV reporters, reports NJBIZ.

Spectrum compensation included in GOP House legislation

A provision to give the Federal Communications Commission authority to compensate broadcasters for giving up spectrum was included in a House Republican end-of-the-year legislation package released today (Dec. 8), reports Broadcasting & Cable. It provides up to $3 billion for relocation expenses to broadcasters for being moved to another channel or sharing channels after spectrum repacking, and gives the FCC until 2021 to reclaim and auction the spectrum, a necessary move as the increase in wireless devices demand more bandwidth. 

LPB selects 16 programs for Public Media Content Fund grants

Latino Public Broadcasting today (Dec. 9) announced 16 newly funded programs as part of its 2011 Public Media Content Fund for Latino-themed broadcast, new media and community engagement projects. Films include Children of Giant by producer/director Hector Galan, which exposes the events and emotions that transformed small town Marfa, Texas, site of George Steven’s epic film Giant, during and beyond Anglo-Latino segregation; Farewell, Ferris Wheel from producer/director Jamie Sisley, a look at the American carnivals that are endangered by immigration restrictions on workers; and Tales From a Ghetto Klown, producer/director Benjamin DeJesus, which profiles actor and playwright John Leguizamo and his unorthodox rise to fame. Here is a list of all the winners.

KUAC-TV in Fairbanks to leave AlaskaOne partnership after 16 years

A proposed merger of Alaska pubcasting stations not only fell apart over the summer, but also has now created a larger rift: KUAC-TV in Fairbanks, which participated in the AlaskaOne consortium with Juneau and Bethel stations since 1995, will withdraw from that as of July 1, 2012, according to a press release from KUAC licensee University of Alaska Fairbanks. "Interior Alaska’s public television station is returning to its roots," the statement said.

The Alaska Public Broadcasting Service, corporate entity for AlaskaOne, last month approved a motion to merge its centralized feed with Anchorage-based KAKM, run by Alaska Public Telecommunications Inc. Keith Martin, KUAC g.m., cast the dissenting vote. “Our priority has always been to meet the needs of our constituents through our broadcasting mission. Becoming independent from AlaskaOne allows for a new future for KUAC TV,” Martin said in the statement. “We need to get back to that local connection.”

"Since AlaskaOne was established in 1995, financial and manpower responsibilities have slowly shifted to KUAC," the statement said.

Recent merger discussions prompted development of a new centralcasting entity based in Anchorage, which KUAC will not participate in "due to its potential to cause financial harm to KUAC," the statement said.