
                         Roanoke Times
                 Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.

DATE: THURSDAY, November 18, 1993                   TAG: 9311180128
SECTION: NATIONAL/INTERNATIONAL                    PAGE: A-18   EDITION: METRO 
SOURCE: 
DATELINE: WASHINGTON                                LENGTH: Short

`END OF ERA' DECLARED FOR PUBLIC TV

Viewership is down, funding is off and the prospect of 500 cable channels threatens to destroy public television if it doesn't change dramatically, public TV officials said Wednesday.

"Television today is at the end of an era," said Richard Carlson, president of the Corporation for Public Broadcasting.

Public television can't possibly compete technologically with the media conglomerates investing billions of dollars to create the multichannel, interactive system of the future, said Robert Ottenhoff, acting president of the Public Broadcasting Service.

But the unique programming service public television has provided for 25 years can survive if the network and local stations revamp the system to emphasize programming instead of distribution, the officials said.

The two men spoke at the annual closed-door planning session of PBS and its local stations that extends through Friday at a hotel outside Washington.

"In previous years, the focus has been more on current issues, the size of the budget, technical issues," said Ottenhoff. "This year will be long-range planning." - Associated Press

by CNB