I’m on the board of the Chicago Instructional Technology Foundation, a non-profit corporation that provides instructional programming to schools in Chicago area using frequencies (here’s our Educational Broadband Service License – WLX630) reserved by the FCC for delivery of educational programming via an EBS system. As an EBS company, we’re a part of an exciting new initiative in the future of public television. Here’s the formation statement from the Independent Public Media website:
The EBS companies, five non-profit organizations, have long worked to foster the growth of American public media and encourage the presentation of critical information to the marketplace of ideas. To this end, they have formed Independent Public Media (IPM), a new and bold initiative addressing the concerns of many that independent public TV stations are rapidly becoming an endangered species.
Longmont, Colorado (October 5, 2011)—Independent public television stations are becoming an endangered species due
to steep declines in funding. In response, a consortium of five non-profit organizations known as the EBS Companies, today
announced the formation of Independent Public Media, an initiative dedicated to preserving community-based public TV
stations throughout the United States. In an effort to keep public television alive, Independent Public Media is planning to
acquire and recapitalize television stations at risk of closing or selling their licenses to organizations that may not represent a
community’s interests at large.
Very much looking forward to seeing how this proceeds.