LOCAL PUBLIC TELEVISION IN 2012
Maynard Orme, OPB
CONTEXT
Public Service
As a prelude to this statement, there are two things that stand out in my mind as givens to
this enterprise. First is that we continue to focus on the public service aspect of our
mission. Whether it is instruction, children’s programming, the how-to cluster,
information, drama, public affairs, science, history, nature, or any other genre, our
mission must always be focused on what we do for the public good.
Mission
Second, is to make sure we separate ourselves from the goal of profit first, mission
second. While the concept of “No Margin, No Mission” resonates, it has to be the
mission bringing in the margin, not margin for margin’s sake. One can see what has
happened to commercial radio and film houses. They have passed the tipping point of
advertising and people are deciding to stay away. We are getting closer to that. While it
is tempting to describe an almost commercial scenario for our future, I am going to
assume for the purpose of this statement, that this doesn’t happen. If it does, there is no
point in this exercise, as we have lost our reason for existence.
Federal and State Funding
Another issue is federal and state funding. I am going to assume that federal funding
continues without a lot of growth. If it were to go away, it would drastically change our
financial future and a cascade of catastrophic events would, of course, occur. State
funding continues to be an issue, as in many cases, state networks have lost millions of
dollars. This, I believe, can be managed, if federal funds stay somewhat intact.
Refine Existing Technologies
Given these observations, I think in six years, we may not see deep change at the station
level, but a continuation and a refinement of new technologies that have been or are being
integrated and in most cases, are already in place. The technology convulsions of change
over the past decade now need to be assimilated into the local station strategies. In many
stations, this is already happening
New technology often takes the part of the old technology that isn’t as well suited to new
applications, and redefines its use. But the legacy technologies remain. Stations must
pay attention to continuing to maximize membership and other legacy activities as they
plan and implement new technologies, akin to changing the bicycle seat while in the
middle of the race.
The long history of new technology gravitates, ultimately, from a mass to a singular
experience. The handwriting of books meant that documents had to be shared. As print
became prolific, everyone had their own copy and community sharing wasn’t necessarily
the norm. This is clearly happening in our digital technology world. The ultimate push is
to have everyone do their own thing. It is what the proliferation of channels and internet
storage is all about. Everyone will eventually have access to their own library, whether
real, on shelves, or stored in a computer. In this world, station or system ownership of
content rights is paramount. As the younger generation matures, they seem less interested
in owning copies, but in having them for use, stored somewhere, and available when they
want them. This means that public TV has to develop a pay for use strategy as the
technology allows. That can have impacts in every room of the house, and in the external
world, as people move from one setting to another and partake of content while on the
move.
It is yet another reason why public TV stations shouldn’t give back the six megahertz
band width. It should be used to provide a plethora of individual and community
services, inside and outside the home. There will be a time, I believe, when stations will
regret the give back without a fight to retain it.
(Perspective #1) THE LIVING ROOM…AND…
Though a defocus on the living room television experience may not happen in six years, I
don’t necessarily see the living room as the place where most viewing, ultimately, will
take place. Just look at what has happened in the world of sound. It has moved from a
fixed location to everywhere the person moves. Television is now in almost every room
of the house, and will be in all modes of transportation because, with the development
and proliferation of video IPOD technology, and the increasing speed of transmission and
storage capacity, people will view wherever and whenever they want. We have said this
was coming for several years, and now, it is here. The living room will still be used, but
will become less important, unless the viewer wants a full screen HDTV experience.
This will certainly occur but may not be the primary place of viewing. This rapid growth
of storage space and speed of transmission, changes the parameters to encompass a
myriad of viewing places and platforms. In time, people will put their own visual media
reception strategy together as they pass through their day. And it will change how
stations deliver content. Already, the younger generation uses their computer interface to
watch television, and has been doing so, more and more, for the past decade.
CONTENT
That stations will want to develop some content control over products they buy or
produce, whether national or local programs, cannot be restated enough. The current
focus on multi platform rights issues by PBS is the key and will not be financially easy.
New ways of looking at content development partnerships will have to emerge. And
content priorities will need to be decided. I believe the slow growth, even minimization
of national production funding, if not fixed, will slowly strangle station revenue. It is the
prime time schedule and its related media experiences, after all, that brings in member
dollars. This legacy need will continue. Web presence will continue to grow rapidly. It
is beginning to rival radio audience size and perhaps one day will surpass TV audience
size.
The three driving forces of public service television are education, quality of product, and
local focus. The local station that figures out the balance of these three variables has a
good chance to prosper.
I think the station that focuses primarily on television will not thrive. And I think this
“Imagining” exercise must ultimately not limit itself to that parameter. Digital service of
all kinds, whether sound, web driven or TV, will add to the possibility and growth of the
station mix.
Stations will have to respond to the constantly changing community dynamic and focus
on the ever changing issues of how to survive and thrive in this new world. People are
going to need help figuring that out and the local station must develop priority topic
related programming, for older adults, for youngsters, whatever, that will respond to the
highest level of community need. A successful local station will have a range of specific
channel niches and offerings. They should focus on what drives the community. And
each community public TV station will solve this problem somewhat differently.
While there will be national content channels (such as children’s, public affairs, what
have you), The smart stations will find a way to provide local and regional service
channels in partnership with other public TV stations and other nonprofits. And, as I said
before, it can’t just be television.
There is a big opportunity in the development of educational video games that are non-
violent. Efforts have been made in the past, but this area is proving hugely lucrative for
the violence game creators. I believe this is a market that PBS, CPB and others should
invest in. It is our niche. There have been many false starts, but we must resolve this one
soon. The DFI efforts to do instructional games in biology could be a bellwether. (We
have worked on this aspect at OPB and, no question, it is a difficult one to figure out, but,
creatively, I believe it is a must.) Video games bring in three times more gross revenue
than movie theaters
DISTRIBUTION
Ultimately, the television broadcast schedule is less important than content access by the
user. This is not new news. We are beginning to see video on demand assume a priority
in people’s lives. Many local cable companies are offering a plethora of VOD services.
Some people will access them from cable, others will use TIVO type devices and still
others will down load TV programs off the computer in real time. Yes, some will still
turn the TV on to see what they want to watch. Local stations will have to prioritize how
they distribute these services, and where they can develop revenue, either through a pay
for view or membership strategy. While it is not clear what will happen in revenue
generation with off air data delivery for business or personal use, it is still an area that
should continue to be explored.
(Perspective #2) COMMUNITY FOUNDATION BOARD ROOM
People and foundations give to institutions that meet community needs, and generally,
not to stations which have needs only. In that regard, the case of how the station meets
the most important community needs, and are seen as the historical conveners of these
high priority issues, should be the focus of the questions to be asked by foundation staff.
(In Oregon, lack of political leadership, quality of education, environmental quality,
workforce issues, health costs, drugs, child abuse and the economy, for example, are
topics discussed continually.)
The station should partner with other regional stations, as well as local institutions, to
produce an engaging content mix and outreach strategy to go after foundation funds.
Partnerships are the order of the day. Foundations don’t want slap dash community
treatments. They want something that will have lasting value inside the community. A
good case statement, quality production, a plethora of distribution modalities on high
priority topics, and local institutional follow through, plus ways to measure long term
success, should be enough to convince revenue sources to support priority project needs.
So, the question to be asked is about the station track record in the past and the quality of
the current project. Without a track record, getting new money will be difficult. But
partnerships strengthen the funding request. (The Life by Design Northwest project,
involving nine Portland community agencies and businesses, is designed to integrate the
baby boomer in civic engagement activities, and is just such a case in point.)
(Perspective # 3) FROM INSIDE THE STATION
Internal station support needs to grow in the areas of content development, major donors,
volunteer services and community partnership development and training. Emphasis of
priorities will depend on community focus, but I believe all these need to be richly
developed.
Content
In content development, the station needs people versed in the various aspects of content
production, from knowledge of TV, radio, web development, and written materials. This
cross fertilization of staff is a key in developing a beginning to end community project
strategy and follow through. Those who have the ability and ease to cross over from
discipline to discipline, will be the stars, because they will know how to develop in depth
projects that touch a variety of distribution platforms in effective ways.
An important content strategy for some stations is in the area of education and
instruction. For many stations, this is a primary priority. For others, it is not a priority.
Again, the local differences will be evident. (At OPB, we have a strong education
production unit that has raised millions of content dollars.) But, offering education
services is a legacy that should be evaluated. I think this is a difficult station future to
predict. The DFI could be instructive for local stations as task forces vetting these
priorities, make their recommendations.
Major Donors
While the initial station membership is important, major donors are one of the key
revenue stepping stones for our future success. At OPB, for example, one percent of our
major donors count for 10 percent of our membership revenue. I expect that number will
double in the next ten years. Stations need to build a bigger station infrastructure for
major donors, endowments, and need to focus on running capital campaigns on an almost
continuous basis. This requires making the case for public television, and this case
translates directly to the local foundation funding community.
In major donor development, training people with expertise in the intricacy and delicacy
of planned and endowment giving will be more valuable than ever. And they need to
know how to sell and close. Nothing is more valuable than that. New talent needs to be
cultivated, even if they come from competitive institutions. We have such a grand case
to sell.
Volunteers
Given that funding will be more of an issue, and services will become more niched,
stations will have to look at their workforce in a different way. The power of the
volunteer is becoming more important. As the 80 million strong Baby Boomer
Generation begins to flex its muscles in retirement, they will want to offer their services
to stations as volunteers, and we need to offer these volunteers jobs that are more
complex than answering phones. High quality volunteers with experience and wisdom,
will want to develop and manage projects, and that integration will be a challenge for
many stations. But it is an avenue for station growth. Indeed in the future, one job
description could have a range of compensation applied, from a full time paid position, to
a person working at a minimum wage, for medical insurance, for half pay, half volunteer,
or total volunteer. Human resources departments will have to look at the volunteer as an
employee, at some level. I think stations will need to merge their volunteer services
infrastructure with HR departments and look at each person as an employee, whether paid
or not. These people will be in all parts of the station, lending support and allowing the
station to do more than they could ever do with just paid staff. Therefore, a growth
opportunity for the station is the development of high quality volunteer integrators on
staff.
Outreach
Outreach programs require talented people who know how to build effective community
wide partnerships and integrate them successfully within the station infrastructure. This
can be related directly to the volunteer efforts as well.
Training
Training of all kinds, from leadership, minority training and internship programs to
digital training, et al, are part of a station’s success as it helps develop talent from the
roots up, and continues to train staff. Successful stations will have cultivated many of
these programs, and will have people on staff that have been grown and trained
internally.
Communications and Branding
No station can be successful without an engaging and effective external and internal
communications plan. Brand management, station look, and the discipline of that
activity, in a competitive media environment, become more important if a station is to
continue to succeed.
Station Values
Every station should have worked through its own internal mission/vision/values
clarification so that every employee knows what is important to the organization, knows
that they will be treated fairly and well, knows that they have some continuing voice in
the station process of growth.
In short, the station that is on the forefront of defining and implementing priority
community needs, is constantly responding to those changing community dynamics
through programs and outreach, is offering an integrated content development and
distribution strategy, is letting the community know about their importance, and has an
effective fundraising group, focusing on developing the major donors base, should
survive and prosper. When walking through a station, the space given to these priorities
should be visible and the human energy and vitality in making these efforts happen,
should be evident.
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