WASHINGTON - February 22, 2016 - The Association of Public Television Stations (APTS) announced that it has a new name -- America's Public Television Stations -- effective immediately. The organization's membership voted on the name change today during the annual membership meeting at The APTS Public Media Summit.
"America's public television stations do America's work in education, public safety and civic leadership every day," said APTS president and CEO Patrick Butler. "This new name will make it clear that these public service missions lie at the heart of all that we do - and that we do it for everyone, everywhere in our country. This work goes far beyond the high-quality national programming for which public television is well known, and encompasses:
- A PBS LearningMedia program through which 1.8 million teachers educate 40 million K-12 students every day with more than 100,000 standards-based, curriculum-aligned, interactive digital learning objects adapted from the best of public television programming and superb additional resources from the Library of Congress, the National Archives and more;
- Virtual high schools bringing world-class instruction in STEM and other subjects to the most remote areas of America;
- The largest nonprofit GED program in America, helping hundreds of thousands of second-chance learners prepare for a better life that comes with education;
- A growing initiative in workforce development, marshalling our content-producing skills, our local reach everywhere, and our flexibility in meeting the needs of workers and employers in specific markets;
- The backbone of the presidential emergency alert system through which the President of the United States can communicate with the country in times of national crisis;
- Public safety communications capabilities, including datacasting, that can reliably link local and state law enforcement and emergency management agencies with one another and with the public when disaster strikes;
- "C-SPAN"-style coverage of state governments;
- The most frequent and comprehensive local public affairs programming and political debates in America;
- Documentaries that curate and celebrate local history and culture throughout the country.
"This is what we do and who we are," Butler concluded, "and it's time our name reflected our mission."
APTS board chair Eric Hyyppa, director and general manager of Montana PBS, added, "The APTS board of directors approved this name change as part of a new APTS strategic plan in November 2014, and we are grateful to the full APTS membership for endorsing it at our Summit. We believe the new name reinforces our mission of public service to America, better characterizes the true nature of this educational membership organization, and makes it clear that we are ready to do our part, with the help of federal and state governments, strategic and community partners, and individual donors and viewers to deal with some of the most important challenges facing our country."
About APTS
America's Public Television Stations (APTS) is a nonprofit membership organization established in 1979. The mission of APTS is to conduct - in concert with member stations - strategic planning, research, communications, advocacy and other activities that foster a strong and financially sound public television system providing essential public services to all Americans. Its affiliate APTS Action, Inc. promotes the legislative and regulatory interests of noncommercial television stations at the national level through direct advocacy and through grasstops and grassroots campaigns designed to garner bipartisan political support. For more information, visit www.apts.org.
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