I am happy to share a few of my views about that national treasure, public television, that each of you is entrusted to safeguard. When station operators come to town, they usually want answers to their questions rather than a lecture, so I will try to keep my remarks brief to allow you a chance to ask those questions. I am continually dismayed that in the debate about television and its value, or potential, we still hear that T.V. is a wasteland of mediocre programs, that T.V. has no educational value, that it has no intellectual value, and that it is not stimulating. Now, you will not hear me express undying devotion to a certain large purple dinosaur that has a way of putting my three year old in a trance-like state, but I praise the wonderful job that public television does of presenting high quality news, public affairs, children's and other programming.
Public television adds a unique value to the video marketplace.
The service that public broadcasting offers to the American people is invaluable and, I submit, never will be found regularly on commercial stations. PTV is today, what people dream of when they long for public interest broadcasting. For that I commend you. To a commercial broadcaster, or any commercial entity, that self-interest is to make money. Ad revenue flows to those that can maximize eyeballs.