Alabamians to be surveyed on PBS interest amid possible split

MONTGOMERY, Ala. (WSFA) - At their April meeting, the Alabama Educational Television Commission narrowly voted to commission a statewide survey to see if the programming currently offered by PBS aligns with what Alabamians want.

According to Alabama Public Television (APT) Board of Directors President Ferris Stephens, it’s expected that survey data will come from 600 Alabamians who will be asked 35 to 40 questions each.

Stephens says he’s gotten two quotes from research firms for just north of $40,000 to conduct such a survey.

The vote comes after Gov. Kay Ivey sent the commission a letter urging them to study public opinion over a sustained period of time and to prepare a disaffiliation plan should the commission decide to consider cutting ties.

Some commission members in favor of the survey say the results wouldn’t just be used to consider disaffiliation, but to collaborate with PBS about what they’re doing right and wrong for Alabamians.

Commissioner Pete Conroy, who is opposed to the idea of a survey, believes the survey sends the wrong message to the public because the governor said it would only be necessary if disaffiliation was on the table.

“I think it’s important we soak all of that (the emails the commission has received in in support of PBS) in before we disregard the governor’s letter and proceed with a survey when she said we should only do so if we’re going to disaffiliate,” Conroy said.

PBS programming will remain on Alabama public television stations at least until the current contract is up at the end of June, a decision that was made in November.

The commission also heard from a recently created advisory committee tasked with examining the future relationship of PBS and Alabama Public Television.

Committee representatives Pam Huff and Eric Land said their decision was unanimous: APT and PBS should keep their current relationship.

“Should APT disassociate with PBS, the likelihood would be that those cable and MPVD’s would continue to carry PBS, and they’d do it on the channel now assigned to APT, and APT would have to fight with each cable operator in the state - and there are scores - so they could be carried somewhere,” Land said. “Is separating from PBS a just cause, or a just ‘cause? Our committee unanimously favors continuing APT’s relationship with PBS for the indeterminate future,” he added. " Our committee’s conclusion: PBS now, PBS tomorrow, PBS for the future sake of Alabama Public Television."

“I disagree with what he said, he said yesterday, today... yes, but not forever,” said APT Board member William Green, Jr. “We already agreed the reason this even came up is because of the direction that PBS is going and the question is does APT want to go that direction with them five years from now?” he questioned. “It is not my proposal that we ever cut ties with PBS.

“Right now we’re getting 90 percent of our programming from them, but I would like to see in five years that we reduce our dependency to around 40 percent. We need to have a roadmap for it and how we are going to do that, and hopefully at the next meeting I’ll present a phased approach to that.”

It’s unclear who will conduct the survey, but the two quotes mentioned in the meeting were from McLaughlin & Associates and Cygnal.

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