Press Tour Journal: Will he still be our TV neighbor?

UNIVERSAL CITY, Calif. --  Mister Rogers (FCI)PBS's license to air reruns of "Mister Rogers' Neighborhood" expires in August, but PBS president Paula Kerger said PBS intends to keep the program around.

"My assumption is we're going to keep ‘Mister Rogers' available," Kerger said.

But in what form? Last year, PBS cut its feed of the program from daily to one episode per week with the option for stations to stockpile episodes and continue to air them daily. PBS has talked about streaming episodes online but that has yet to happen. Fewer than a dozen episodes are available on DVD.

Further consultation with PBS's programming department indicated that PBS and Family Communications Inc., the Oakland company Rogers' founded, are "working jointly to determine the next steps beyond August 2009," according to a statement issued by PBS. "At this point nothing has been determined."

So it sounds like negotiations are in the offing but there's little enthusiasm in that statement. I suppose it's possible that "Mister Rogers' Neighborhood" could cease to air later this year if a new deal is not reached. For the sake of today's young parents, I hope it doesn't come to that.

Posted Jan 09 2009, 10:24 AM by Rob Owen
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Comments

Mister Rogers’ Future on PBS | Save Mister Rogers’ Neighborhood wrote Mister Rogers’ Future on PBS | Save Mister Rogers’ Neighborhood
on Sat, Jan 10 2009 1:34 AM

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Pittbull wrote re: Press Tour Journal: Will he still be our TV neighbor?
on Sat, Jan 10 2009 1:38 PM

This would indeed be sad. Mister Rogers' Neighborhood is an institution, both in Pittsburgh and the world

With both Fred Roger's and Josie Carey's passing, I feel that Mister Rogers' Neighborhood is being forgotten. It needs to be defended and honored.

How about a new kid-friendly cable network featuring Mister Rogers' Neighborhood and the Koala Brothers?