American Public Television

American Public Television (APT) is an American

Another first from EEN was the distribution of Newsfront, America's first live and non-commercial daily news program, starting in 1970.[2] EEN introduced Wall Street Week in November 1970 before PBS began distributing it nationwide in January 1972.^{[citation needed]} EEN also began importing UK's BBC and Canadian CBC productions to America in 1974, with Monty Python's Flying Circus as one of them. In 1978, the EEN started the Free Library.^[2]

In 1980, Eastern Educational Network started the Syndication Service and was renamed Interregional Program Service (IPS). IPS started the Premium Service in 1989. The first program out of this arm was the series U.S. Chronicle, a collaboration of public television stations in cooperation with The Maryland Center for Public Broadcasting, hosted by Jim Lehrer.^[3] The company gained national attention when EEN's IPS subsidiary begin distributing The Nightly Business Report when it went nationwide in 1981.^[4] The organization became American Program Service (APS) in 1992.^[2]

American Program Service was renamed American Public Television (APT) on January 1, 2000. Also, with many fax requests from international outlets, an international division called APT Worldwide was started.^[2]

With the

• APT Exchange (originally the Free Library) was a service in which the company acts a clearing house for pre-funded programs that are offered free of charge to stations started in 1978. Rick Steves' Europe (starting in 2000), Nightly Business Report, and America's Test Kitchen are offered through this service.^[2]
• APT Worldwide is the corporation's international sales division even representing some A&E and Discovery programs. Amongst its network clients are Discovery, National Geographic, Japan's NHK, UK's ITV and Italy's RAI-SAT^[2]
• Premium Service provides programming for stations via outsourcing or acquisition prime time pledge drive programs particularly performance or self-help shows, which would either trigger a pledge call or a DVD purchased for the viewer's use or as a gift. One of its earliest successful show was the first Three Tenors.
• Syndication is a service in which completed programs are acquired. Muhammad Ali: Through the Eyes of the World, purchased in 2002, was a top hit through this service along with the BBC's Battlefield Britain series.^[2]

APT also distributes two digital broadcast television networks with WGBH, WNET, and NETA:^[2]

• America's Test Kitchen from Cook's Illustrated
  .
• World Channel, is a 24-hour digital channel showing public television with non-fiction, science, nature, news, public affairs and documentaries.^[2]

APT distributes more than 300 new program titles per year,

APT has also distributed special pledge shows to public television, including programs such as Frank Sinatra: Voice of Our Time, Anne of Green Gables, Carreras Domingo Pavarotti, Celine Dion: A New Day, Mike Douglas – Moments & Memories, Leonard Cohen: Tower of Song, and Tony Bennett Duets: The Making of an American Classic.

In 2000, APT was the first company to bring a high-definition series to public television with the premiere of

On January 1, 2018, the PBS Kids 24/7 channel started airing Peep and the Big Wide World and Pocoyo until December 26, 2021.

• Official website
• John S. Porter papers, at the University of Maryland libraries. Porter was a former president and trustee.