Public Media Company Announces Changes to Strengthen, Secure and Expand Public Media’s Role in Emerging Broadcasting Technologies

Public Media Company today announced organizational changes to strengthen and expand newly emerging technology infrastructures for the benefit of public media audiences nationwide.

Last year, Public Media Company co-founded the Public Media Venture Group (PMVG) along with 31 leading public television stations. Currently housed at Public Media Company, PMVG will become an independent non-profit organization, established to focus on issues related to public television and the potential of ATSC 3.0, the upcoming Single Frequency Networks and Next-Gen infrastructure and broadcast protocol. In addition, a new public benefit corporation is under development that will be affiliated with PMVG.

In support of the new organizations, Marc Hand, cofounder of Public Media Company, has been named CEO of PMVG, while Erik Langner will become President of the new public benefit corporation. Erin Moran, currently CFO/CAO of Public Media Company, will serve as Public Media Company’s interim President. Moran, named CFO of the Year for Small Companies in 2011 by the Denver Business Journal, has been with Public Media Company for more than 17 years and has managed its operations and lending activities. She has worked with many of Public Media Company’s clients to internally strengthen their organizations. While Hand and Langner will leave their current positions with Public Media Company to focus on the new entities, they will contract with Public Media Company to carry out mission-based projects and services.

Public Media Company will continue in its mission of strengthening and expanding public media services in communities nationwide, enabling greater access for in-depth information; regional and local news; and diverse music and cultural programming. “We value the legacy created here at Public Media Company as a result of Marc’s and Erik’s dedication to the public media system,” said Moran. “Our talented staff, with deep backgrounds in public radio and television, journalism, finance, business modeling and collaborations will continue to support the growth and needs of our diverse public media clients.”

“We are very proud of this accomplishment, recognizing that it is exactly the kind of catalytic activity that Public Media Company is known for in our mission to stimulate the impact of public media,” said Teresa Bazemore, chair of the Public Media Company Board of Directors. “We look forward to watching the success of these two new and independent organizations, but also to serving Public Media Company’s whole universe of public media clients in their initiatives to expand local journalism, build new partnerships and secure capital for expansion of their services.”

PMVG is committed to using the next generation of technologies to increase public broadcasters’ operating efficiency, broaden the ability to better serve local markets, and build new technologies that will also expand data distribution and new revenue opportunities. PMVG stations in aggregate reach more than 237 million people.