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PBS

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A promotional advertisement for ''Barney & Friends'' premiering on PBS

The Public Broadcasting Service (also known as "PBS") is an American public broadcaster and television program distributor[1] based in Arlington, Virginia. PBS is a publicly funded nonprofit organization and the most prominent provider of educational programming to public television stations in the United States, distributing a variety of series, including Barney & Friends.

PBS is funded by a combination of member station dues, the Corporation for Public Broadcasting, pledge drives, and donations from both private foundations and individual citizens. All proposed funding for programming is subject to a set of standards to ensure the program is free of influence from the funding source.

Barney & Friends[]

History[]

After his daughter fell in love with one of the Barney & The Backyard Gang tapes, Larry Rifkin, who was the executive vice president of programming for PBS member station Connecticut Public Television at the time, spoke with the creators of the show in talks of putting the program on PBS. In June of 1991, it was announced that Barney would have a new show debuting on PBS with a scheduled release for April 1992 with thirty episodes.[2] On May 29, 1992, PBS informed Larry Rifkin that Barney & Friends would not be renewed for a second season. This decision was announced publicly a few days later on June 2, 1992. In response, members of local PBS stations across the US and Canada, and parents called to object. Later that same month, at the annual station meeting, station managers pressed PBS' then-Chief Programming Executive Jennifer Lawson on Barney's cancellation. After hearing their responses, Lawson told them that PBS would renegotiate with CPTV. In August 1992, the initial decision was officially reversed, with PBS renewing Barney for another season.

Continuing to be aired on PBS, the network didn’t go after money in its deals for the first two seasons of Barney & Friends. PBS initially received a percentage of royalties relating to the TV episodes including video releases, international broadcast, and audio releases. For the third season, PBS renegotiated royalties with Lyons covering a wider range of products, including all videocassettes, according to Larry Rifkin, plus the new guarantee that public television would recoup its spending.[3] PBS had unlimited broadcast rights to all of the first three seasons (68 episodes) of Barney & Friends through April 30, 1998.[4] Barney & Friends was contracted for two seasons[5] with twenty episodes each after season four up until 1999 for PBS.[5]

Prior to season seven of Barney & Friends, the show took a break due to the series having completed its contract with PBS in 1999.[6] During the hiatus, it was announced that Lyrick Studios, the owners of the series, and PBS had reached a deal for Lyrick to produce forty new episodes to premiere in 2002 and 2003. The new contract was set to last until 2007. Due to Lyrick Studios being bought out by HIT Entertainment, the deal transferred over.

Barney & Friends was broadcasted on PBS until August 31, 2016 as broadcast rights for the series expired with the network.

Broadcast[]

For the continued broadcast history on PBS, see PBS Kids.

Appearances[]

  • September 10, 1993: Barney visits Capitol Hill in Washington, DC as part of the PBS Back to School Week Celebration. He did two shows for the children of members of Congress.[7]

Member stations[]

Connecticut Public Television and WNET New York are two PBS station members that had involvement with Barney & Friends.

References[]

  1. ↑ At your service
  2. ↑ | CPTV hopes purple dinosaur flies
  3. ↑ What did Barney earn, and why didn’t PBS get more?
  4. ↑ PBS Special Report: Program profiles: Barney came to life through hard work and grassroots support
  5. ↑ 5.0 5.1 'THE PURPLE ONE' STILL POWERFUL DESPITE CRITICISM
  6. ↑ 'THE PURPLE ONE' STILL POWERFUL DESPITE CRITICISM
  7. ↑ PBS MISSING OUT ON 'BARNEY' BUCKS
v - e
PBS logo.svg
Networks
PBS • PBS Kids
Stations
Connecticut Public Television • WNET New York
See also
Sprout
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