April 4, 2018 – Public Media Company and WGBH Business Services today announced their partnership in a new procurement service designed to coalesce the purchasing power of public TV and radio stations to reduce costs and streamline efforts.
Supported by a $250,000 grant from the Corporation for Public Broadcasting (CPB), the venture is the first of its kind for public media and will be available to stations nationwide.
“CPB commissioned an unprecedented and comprehensive system technology assessment in 2017 as part of our partnership with stations. This shared purchasing initiative is one of the avenues we have identified to assist stations in addressing urgent priorities,” said Ted Krichels, Senior Vice President of System Development and Media Strategy at CPB. “Leveraging the system’s collective purchasing power, through a joint venture between WGBH Business Services and PMC, will provide a way and means for reducing stations’ costs for equipment, software and services.”
The new procurement service will draw on WGBH Business Services and Public Media Company’s collective expertise in technology and vendor relationships to negotiate favorable pricing and terms for public radio and television stations on equipment and services, maximizing the savings and buying opportunities. The service will provide ongoing support to stations, and also will be a source for the latest in technology advances, updates on products and equipment, and related information.
“Public radio and television stations are faced with a dynamic and fast changing technology environment that requires the best thinking and most effective use of limited resources,” said Marc Hand, founder and CEO of Public Media Company. “We’re thrilled to be public media’s partner in navigating the changes ahead and helping stations procure the equipment and services they need at the lowest price possible based upon the best thinking and technical resources available.”
“We’re excited to leverage the collective buying power of public media to reduce costs and simplify the procurement and contracting process for our colleagues across the public media system,” said Ben Godley, President of WGBH Business Services. “This strategic initiative will allow stations to use their resources most effectively to serve their local communities, and help strengthen public broadcasting for a thriving future.”
The service will be designed to work cooperatively with stations of all sizes and license types, and the greater the number of stations that participate, the greater the benefits will be for all involved. An advisory committee will be established to guide the service, made up of representatives from public TV and radio stations as well as national public media organizations.
Interested stations can contact the service with their purchasing needs here www.pmprocurement.org
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About Public Media Company
Public Media Company is a nonprofit strategic consulting firm that drives innovative and sustainable local growth in communities across the U.S. Over the past 17 years, Public Media Company has worked with more than 300 public media organizations in 49 states, facilitating more than $338 million in public media station acquisitions, impacting 80 million people, or 1-in-5 Americans. Public Media Company worked with several public television stations on the spectrum auction and launches and manages the innovative content-sharing and discovery platforms Channel X and VuHaus. The Public Media Venture Group is Public Media Company’s latest entrepreneurial effort that seeks to strengthen local public media stations and the communities they serve.
About WGBH Business Services
WGBH Business Services is an initiative driven and supported by Boston public media leader WGBH to advance a thriving public media system with services that provide stations with the resources to better serve their local communities. Offerings include the Contributor Development Partnership (CDP), which helps stations increase their donor files and net revenues through best-practices in fundraising, scaled vendor management, innovative fundraising and operational services, and technology leadership; Public Media Management (PMM), a cloud-based centralized media management and content distribution service created in partnership with Sony; and the newly formed public media procurement service which leverages the purchasing power of public media stations to streamline their efforts and reduce their costs.
About the Corporation for Public Broadcasting
The Corporation for Public Broadcasting (CPB), a private, nonprofit corporation created by Congress in 1967, is the steward of the federal government’s investment in public broadcasting. It helps support the operations of nearly 1,500 locally owned and operated public television and radio stations nationwide. CPB is also the largest single source of funding for research, technology, and program development for public radio, television, and related online services. For more information, visit www.cpb.org and follow us on Twitter @CPBmedia, Facebook, and LinkedIn, and subscribe for email updates.
Press Contacts:
Jeanne Hopkins, WGBH
jeanne_hopkins@wgbh.org
617-300-4363
Letitia King, CPB
202-879-9658
press@cpb.org
