PBS Launches Video Portal

ARLINGTON: PBS has launched a video portal to house thousands of hours of its content, including full-length episodes from flagship strands like American Experience, Frontline and NOVA.

The PBS Video Portal, housed on the PBS site, is currently in beta. It houses episodes from American Experience, American Masters, Antiques Roadshow, Frontline, Frontline/World, Great Performances, Julia Child Cooking with Master Chefs, Masterpiece, Nature, The Newshour with Jim Lehrer, NOVA, NOVA scienceNOW and more. The portal will eventually also feature web-original content.

Kicking off its Earth Day launch, the portal is showcasing a range of environmentally focused programs, including full episodes from Frontline, NOVA, Jean Michel Cousteau Ocean Adventures, Planet Forward, Green Builders, Design E2 and Nature: Under Antarctic Ice. Also for the launch, the premiere episode of Time Team America will debut on PBS.org prior to its TV broadcast this July. The show is co-produced by Oregon Public Broadcasting (OPB) and Videotext Communications and explores archaeological dig sites with a team of experts. 

Users can search for shows by theme, episode, host and date and watch full-length programs on demand. In addition, local PBS stations now have easy access to signature programming for their websites, as well as the ability to share their own locally produced content with the national audiences on PBS.org and with other PBS stations. 

"This launch illustrates our commitment to deliver PBS’ signature programming to the widest possible market," said Jason Seiken, PBS’s senior VP of interactive. "Our goal is to ensure that audiences have online access to the remarkable depth and breadth of PBS programming—in a format that puts the user in control."