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upstart writes:

Submitted via IRC for Fnord666:

Soon you’ll be able to watch PBS on YouTube

PBS and YouTube have announced that PBS and PBS Kids will join YouTube TV’s channel roster. The two partners made the announcement this week at the summer Television Critics Association’s (TCA) press tour. Three hundred and thirty member stations will be available to users, based on their markets.

PBS already offers a robust on-demand streaming service of its own at video.pbs.org, with content tailored to individual markets. And PBS launched a channel on Amazon Prime Video with special on-demand content earlier this year. But this will be the first time viewers will be able to stream live programming from PBS through a digital service, excepting some anomalies over the years like the now-defunct Aero service and the like.

[...] Given the PBS goal of reaching "as many Americans as possible," it makes sense to bring the stations to a platform like this. That said, though, YouTube TV pricing starts at $49.99, and a key part of the PBS pitch has always been to make quality content freely available to users regardless of their location or socioeconomic status.

We're in a strange limbo period where live PBS is still free on broadcast TV, but broadcast TV is declining. So that means PBS is coming to Web streaming, but not for free. That might change in the future, but this is an awkward position for PBS to be in right now.

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