Twin City Public Television

Twin Cities Public Television (TPT) is a nonprofit organization based in Saint Paul, Minnesota, United States, that operates the Twin Cities' two PBS member stations, KTCA-TV (digital channel 34, PSIP channel 2.1) and KTCI-TV (digital channel 16). It produces programs for regional and national television broadcast, operates numerous Web sites, and produces rich media content for Web distribution.

The organization's mission is to "harness the power of television and other media for the public good."

History

Twin Cities Public Television was incorporated in 1955 as Twin City Area Educational Television .

KTCA (channel 2) began broadcasting on September 16 , 1957 as the first noncommercial station in the state. A second station, KTCI (channel 17), was launched on May 4 , 1965 . Channel 17 was originally assigned to the Tedesco Brothers in the early 1950s to be a commercial station, WCOW-TV (see KDWB) affiliated with the DuMont network, but this station never made it on the air. In 1967, KTCA became the first educational station in the United States to broadcast in color. In 1977, it changed its corporate name to the current Twin Cities Public Television.

On September 16, 1999, the stations began their first digital television broadcasts. In 2000, KTCA and KTCI were rebranded tpt2 and tpt17 , paving the way for the larger family of digital broadcast services to come. In August, 2003, TPT became the first broadcaster in Minnesota to launch a channel, tptHD , fully devoted to high-definition programming, and on September 16, 2005 the organization launched a full time digital channel, tptMN , devoted entirely to local and regional programs.

In December 2005, the organization began distributing many of its productions online, making programs available through iTunes, Google Video, and Yahoo! Podcasts among others. Its website, features streaming video as well as video podcasts. In 2007, TPT also plans to begin offering Video-On-Demand (VOD) thorough local cable providers.

KTCA's Nielsen ratings are among the highest of any PBS station in the country.

Productions

Twin Cities Public Television is one of the few public television organizations that regularly produces programs for the national PBS schedule. While not as prolific as some producers, TPT is known for high quality, high impact work with several national Emmy awards to its credit. Major productions include The New Medicine (2006), Suze Orman: The Laws of Money, The Lessons of Life (2004), The Forgetting: A Portrait of Alzheimer's (2004), Benjamin Franklin (2003), American High (2001), American Photography: A Century of Images (1999), Jane Goodall: Reason for Hope (1999), Liberty! The American Revolution (1997), Hoop Dreams (1995), Grant Wood's America (1985). In addition, TPT produced the children's science series Newton's Apple for 15 seasons and followed that success with DragonflyTV , now in its 6th season. Other series included Right On The Money and Alive From Off Center. Make: television is scheduled to begin airing in January 2009 .

Twin Cities Public Television also regularly produces programs exclusively for and about Minnesota and the surrounding region. Its Friday night public-affairs program Almanac , has been aired weekly for more than 20 years. Other significant local productions include numerous concerts with the Saint Paul Chamber Orchestra, Minnesota: A History of the Land (2005), North Star: Minnesota's Black Pioneers (2004), the series Don't Believe The Hype (10 seasons), Seth Eastman: Painting the Dakota (2001), Death of the Dream: Farmhouses in the Heartland (2000), the series Tape's Rolling , Wacipi-Powow (1995), Lost Twin Cities (1995), The Dakota Conflict (1994), Iron Range: A People's History (1994), and How To Talk Minnesotan (1992).

The Minnesota Channel

Main article: Minnesota Channel

The Minnesota Channel (tptMN) is a full-time statewide network originating at Twin Cities Public Television and carried on digital subchannels of nine stations. It features programming related to Minnesota and Wisconsin, including ethnic and public-affairs programming.

In early 2003, TPT began setting aside time on KTCI for the "Minnesota Channel", an evening dedicated to local and regional related programming, which expanded to a full-time digital channel on September 16, 2005. The Minnesota Channel was expanded region-wide in Minnesota and North Dakota in February 2008.

Digital TV

KTCA-DT and KTCI-DT began broadcasting on channels 16 and 34 on September 16, 1999. The digital signals of KTCA and KTCI are both multicasting:

As of February 18 , 2009 TPT rearranged the on-air lineup. They will continue to use both KTCA-DT and KTCI-DT's transmitters but they discontinued their tpt17 service and unify all of their over-the-air channels as virtual subchannels of 2. At 9:00 am Friday, June 12th, TPT ended its analog service on KTCA and KTCI.

Digital channels as of February 18, 2009

Subchannels 2.1 and 2.2 will be broadcast through KTCA-DT's transmitter while 2.3 and 2.4 will be broadcast through KTCI-DT's transmitter. Some of the bandwidth on KTCI-DT is being reserved for future broadcast services or to lease to commercial interests.

This new channel lineup was originally meant to coincide with the DTV transition. When the transition's mandatory cutoff was delayed, TPT announced the new lineup would still go forward and they would continue their analog service until the new cutoff. Until then KTCA-TV simulcasted tpt 2 and KTCI-TV simulcasted tptLife on their analog signals.

Transmission Technical Data

KTCA and KTCI are broadcast from the KMSP Tower in Shoreview, Minnesota. There are four broadcast translators for KTCA:

• K65FW 65 (Frost)
• K45EH 45 (Jackson)
• K46AA 46 (St. James)
• K44AE 44 (Willmar)

References

1. ^ Twin Cities Public Television | Digital Channels Update

• Geneva Collins ( 2005-03-14 ). "TPT gives area nonprofits a voice on Minnesota Channel". Current . http://www.current.org/local/local0505mnchannel.shtml . Retrieved 2006-02-20 .  

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