91Èȱ¬

For many years, the 91Èȱ¬ has had a very important and productive partnership with public television stations in the United States. As you in the last couple of days, that relationship is going to change over the next several months; what will NOT change is the simple fact that millions of Americans will still be able to see the work of 91Èȱ¬ journalists around the world on their local public TV stations.

We will simply have a different, very strong partner station, in Los Angeles, the second-largest public television station in the US KCET will replace , one of several public stations in the New York area, which has been our partner for the last decade.

, the Public Broadcasting System in America, is not a network in the traditional sense of or or . There is no central network office directing or ordering local stations to run certain programmes at certain times. Each station is free to make its own daily schedule, from a large 'menu' of material. Larger PBS-affiliated stations often act in a 'lead' or 'sponsoring' role for programmes; either programmes they produce themselves, or programmes that they acquire via purchase and/or partnership.

That latter arrangement (a distribution partnership with WLIW) is the way in which 91Èȱ¬ News programs have appeared on PBS stations across America since 1998. Beginning this Fall, KCET will be our new partner, and we're confident they'll be a very good one, working hard to see to it that strong daily 91Èȱ¬ News bulletins air on strong public stations, in prime time slots. WLIW has decided to attempt to produce its own daily bulletin of international news, though that station doesn't currently have any newsgathering capacity of its own, and has not yet announced who its international partner might be.

Of course, the 91Èȱ¬ DOES have an incredibly able and robust international newsgathering operation, AND we already HAVE a US-based nightly news program focusing on international events: , the program that I produce. We've been on the air for seven months now...airing in the US on the 91Èȱ¬ America and 91Èȱ¬ World News channels...and we're proud of what we've been able to accomplish, including in our very early days. I'm convinced that the combination of this flagship US program, AND 91Èȱ¬ News bulletins airing on PBS through a new partnership with a very strong station, will help the 91Èȱ¬ to continue to grow - both in influence and audience - in America.