APTS President and CEO John Lawson recently spoke at the 2006 American Public Television (APT) Fall Marketplace, an annual meeting for public television professionals. During his address, Lawson spoke to attendees about national policy, growing federal funding, and the future challenge of raising funding for a new generation of services and content.
Lawson praised APT President Cynthia Fenneman for her leadership in using digital opportunities, like multicasting, to bring a new generation of content to public television audiences with new programming streams, like Create. Lawson sad: "Create is just one example, a great one, of how you are moving to leverage digital television and our carriage agreement with the cable industry to bring new services to the American public."
During his remarks, Lawson said: "I urge you, as the content providers, to imagine a future of new content and services and leveraging that idea for the growth of federal funding for noncommercial media. APT is already leading the way. Now, we must take this leadership to the next level."
Lawson also discussed the need for public television to articulate a vision of what noncommercial media can be in the digital age and put a new idea on the table for Congress that seizes the imagination of Americans—and members of Congress—from different generations and diverse walks of life.
