American Public Television (APT) is an American

nonprofit organization A nonprofit organization (NPO), also known as a nonbusiness entity, nonprofit institution, not-for-profit organization, or simply a nonprofit, is a non-governmental (private) legal entity organized and operated for a collective, public, or so ...

and syndicator of programming for

public television Public broadcasting (or public service broadcasting) is radio, television, and other electronic media outlets whose primary mission is public service with a commitment to avoiding political and commercial influence. Public broadcasters receive f ...

stations in the United States. It distributes public television programs nationwide for

PBS The Public Broadcasting Service (PBS) is an American public broadcaster and non-commercial, free-to-air television network based in Arlington, Virginia. PBS is a publicly funded nonprofit organization and the most prominent provider of educat ...

member stations and independent educational stations, as well as the Create and

World The world is the totality of entities, the whole of reality, or everything that Existence, exists. The nature of the world has been conceptualized differently in different fields. Some conceptions see the world as unique, while others talk ...

television networks.

History

Eastern Educational Network

APT was founded in 1960 when it was incorporated as the Eastern Educational Network (EEN). At first, EEN was a regional cooperative that began to exchange programs between a few of its member stations. EEN was one of the first distributors of shows such as ''

The French Chef ''The French Chef'' is an American television cooking show created and hosted by Julia Child, produced and broadcast by WGBH, the public television station in Boston, Massachusetts, from February 11, 1963 to January 14, 1973. It was one of ...

'' (with

Julia Child Julia Carolyn Child (Birth name#Maiden and married names, née McWilliams; August 15, 1912 – August 13, 2004) was an American chef, author, and television personality. She is recognized for having brought French cuisine to the American pu ...

) in 1962, ''

Mister Rogers' Neighborhood ''Mister Rogers' Neighborhood'' (sometimes shortened to ''Mister Rogers'') is an American half-hour educational children's television series that ran from 1968 to 2001. It was created and hosted by Fred Rogers. Its original incarnation, the se ...

'', and ''

Washington Week in Review ''Washington Week'', originally titled as ''Washington Week in Review'' and billed as ''Washington Week with the Atlantic'' since 2023, is an American public affairs television program, which has aired on PBS and its predecessor, National Educa ...

'' on a national basis. Another first from EEN was the distribution of ''Newsfront'', America's first live and non-commercial daily news program, starting in 1970. EEN introduced ''

Wall Street Week ''Bloomberg Wall Street Week'' (''WSW''), is an investment news and information TV program airing Friday nights on the Bloomberg Television. History The original weekly show hosted by Louis Rukeyser aired each Friday evening on PBS in the ...

'' in November 1970 before PBS began distributing it nationwide in January 1972. EEN also began importing UK's

BBC The British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC) is a British public service broadcaster headquartered at Broadcasting House in London, England. Originally established in 1922 as the British Broadcasting Company, it evolved into its current sta ...

and Canadian

CBC CBC may refer to: Media * Cadena Baja California or Grupo Cadena, a radio and television broadcaster in Mexico * Canadian Broadcasting Corporation, Canada's radio and television public broadcaster ** CBC Television ** CBC Radio One ** CBC Music ** ...

productions to America in 1974, with ''

Monty Python's Flying Circus ''Monty Python's Flying Circus'' (also known as simply ''Monty Python'') is a British surreal humour, surreal sketch comedy series created by and starring Graham Chapman, John Cleese, Eric Idle, Terry Jones, Michael Palin, and Terry Gilliam, w ...

'' as one of them. In 1978, the EEN started the Free Library. In 1980, Eastern Educational Network started the Syndication Service and was renamed Interregional Program Service (IPS). IPS started the Premium Service in 1989. The first program out of this arm was the series ''U.S. Chronicle'', a collaboration of public television stations in cooperation with The Maryland Center for Public Broadcasting, hosted by

Jim Lehrer James Charles Lehrer ( ; May 19, 1934 – January 23, 2020) was an American journalist, novelist, screenwriter, and playwright. He was the executive editor and a news anchor for the ''PBS News Hour'' on PBS and was known for his role as a debate ...

. The company gained national attention when EEN's IPS subsidiary begin distributing '' The Nightly Business Report'' when it went nationwide in 1981. The organization became American Program Service (APS) in 1992.

American Public Television

American Program Service was renamed American Public Television (APT) on January 1, 2000. Also, with many fax requests from international outlets, an international division called APT Worldwide was started. With the digital roll-out, APT became the distributor of a couple of multicast networks. In January 2006, APT started distributing Create. They later began distributing

on July 1, 2009.

Programming services

*APT Exchange (originally the Free Library) was a service in which the company acts a clearing house for pre-funded programs that are offered free of charge to stations started in 1978. '' Rick Steves' Europe'' (starting in 2000), ''

Nightly Business Report ''Nightly Business Report'' was an American business news magazine television program that aired on public television stations from January 22, 1979 to December 27, 2019, for most of that time syndicated by American Public Television. Internat ...

'', and ''

America's Test Kitchen ''America's Test Kitchen'' (originally ''America's Test Kitchen from Cook's Illustrated Magazine'') is a half-hour long American cooking show broadcast by public television stations and Create and distributed by American Public Television. Orig ...

'' are offered through this service. *APT Worldwide is the corporation's international sales division even representing some A&E and Discovery programs. Amongst its network clients are Discovery, National Geographic, Japan's NHK, UK's ITV and Italy's RAI-SAT *Premium Service provides programming for stations via outsourcing or acquisition prime time pledge drive programs particularly performance or self-help shows, which would either trigger a pledge call or a DVD purchased for the viewer's use or as a gift. One of its earliest successful show was the first ''Three Tenors''. *Syndication is a service in which completed programs are acquired. ''Muhammad Ali: Through the Eyes of the World'', purchased in 2002, was a top hit through this service along with the BBC's ''Battlefield Britain'' series.

Networks

APT also distributes two digital broadcast television networks with WGBH,

WNET WNET (channel 13), branded on-air as Thirteen (stylized as THIRTEEN), is a primary PBS member television station licensed to Newark, New Jersey, United States, serving the New York City area. Owned by The WNET Group (formerly known as the Educ ...

, and NETA: * Create, which offers lifestyle programming, including the genres of food, travel, home & garden, arts & crafts, fitness, and living primarily from the APT library. Introduced in January 2006, Create is licensed to local public television stations, including

stations, and Create is also carried on cable through local agreements with local public television stations. Shows regularly carried on Create include ''Lidia's Kitchen'', ''P. Allen Smith's Garden Home'', '' Bob Ross: The Joy of Painting'', ''Chris Kimball's Milk Street Television'', '' Simply Ming'', and '' America's Test Kitchen from Cook's Illustrated''. * World Channel, is a 24-hour digital channel showing public television with non-fiction, science, nature, news, public affairs and documentaries.

Programming

APT distributes more than 300 new program titles per year, including documentaries, talk shows, music performance content, dramatic and comedic series, how-to programs, children's series, and classic films. Shows currently or previously distributed by APT include, but are unlimited to, '' The Open Mind'', '' Rick Steves' Europe'', ''Live from the Artists Den'', '' Jacques Pepin: Heart & Soul,'' ''

'' and its spinoff series ''

Cook's Country ''Cook's Country'' is an American half-hour television cooking show on public television stations and Create and distributed by American Public Television. The show is based on ''Cook's Country'' magazine (published by the same company as ''Co ...

'', '' Yan Can Cook'', '' Barbecue University with Steven Raichlen'', ''

The Big Comfy Couch ''The Big Comfy Couch'' (), is a Canadian children's prop comedy television series which is about a clown named Loonette and her doll Molly who solve everyday problems on their eponymous couch. It was produced by Cheryl Wagner and Robert Mills, ...

'', '' Net Cafe'', '' Pati's Mexican Table'', '' Samantha Brown's Places to Love'', ''

Doc Martin ''Doc Martin'' is a British medical comedy-drama television series starring Martin Clunes as Doctor Martin Ellingham. It was created by Dominic Minghella developing the character of Dr Martin Bamford from the Nigel Cole comedy film '' Saving ...

'', '' Rudy Maxa's World'', '' Sara's Weeknight Meals'', and '' Scully: The World Show''. APT distributes weeknight international news series '' Asia Insight'' and ''

NHK Newsline NHK Newsline (stylized as NHK NEWSLiNE, formerly and also simply known as Newsline) ( ''NHK Nyūsurain'') is a foreign news program aired on NHK's international broadcasting service NHK World TV. Produced by Japan International Broadcasting Inc., ...

'' from Japan's

NHK , also known by its Romanization of Japanese, romanized initialism NHK, is a Japanese public broadcasting, public broadcaster. It is a statutory corporation funded by viewers' payments of a television licence, television license fee. NHK ope ...

, as well as the business news program ''

''. APT has also distributed special pledge shows to public television, including programs such as ''Frank Sinatra: Voice of Our Time'', ''

Anne of Green Gables ''Anne of Green Gables'' is a 1908 novel by Canadian author Lucy Maud Montgomery (published as L. M. Montgomery). Written for all ages, it has been considered a classic children's novel since the mid-20th century. Set in the late 19th century, t ...

'', ''Carreras Domingo Pavarotti'', ''

Celine Dion Céline Marie Claudette Dion (born 30 March 1968) is a Canadian singer. Referred to as the "Honorific nicknames in popular music, Queen of Power Ballads", Dion's powerful, technically skilled vocals and commercially successful works have had ...

: A New Day'', ''

Mike Douglas Michael Delaney Dowd Jr. (August 11, 1920Cook County Birth Certificates, file number 6053268, borAugust 11, 1920/ref>Social Security Death Index, Michael D. Dowd Jr., Birth: 11 Aug 1920, death: 11 Aug 2006 residing in North Palm Beach, FL, acce ...

– Moments & Memories'', ''Leonard Cohen: Tower of Song'', and ''

Tony Bennett Anthony Dominick Benedetto (August 3, 1926 – July 21, 2023), known professionally as Tony Bennett, was an American jazz and traditional pop singer. He received many accolades, including 20 Grammy Awards, a Grammy Lifetime Achievement Award, ...

Duets: The Making of an American Classic''. In 2000, APT was the first company to bring a high-definition series to public television with the premiere of '' Smart Travels with Rudy Maxa''. On January 1, 2018, the

PBS Kids PBS Kids (stylized as PBS KIDS) is the branding used for nationally distributed children's programming carried by the U.S. public television network PBS. The brand encompasses a daytime block of children's programming carried daily by most PBS ...

24/7 channel started airing ''

Peep and the Big Wide World ''Peep and the Big Wide World'' is an Animated series, animated children's television series, preschool television series created by Danish-Canadian animator Kaj Pindal. It revolves around the lives of Peep, Chirp, and Quack, as viewers discover ...

'' and ''

Pocoyo ''Pocoyo'' ( in Spanish and stylised as ''POCOYO'') is an animated interactive preschool comedy television series created by David Cantolla, Luis Gallego, and Guillermo García Carsí, that premiered on 7 January 2005 on La 2. The series was ...

'' until December 26, 2021.

References

External links

*
John S. Porter papers
at the

University of Maryland libraries The University of Maryland Libraries is the largest university library system in the Washington D.C.–Baltimore area. The system includes eight libraries: six are located on the University of Maryland, College Park, College Park campus, while ...

. Porter was a former president and trustee. {{PBS Public television in the United States Mass media companies established in 1961 Organizations established in 1961 Television organizations in the United States Television syndication distributors 1961 establishments in the United States