For Immediate Release
Contact: Kristin Tutino, (585) 258-0253

PUBLIC TELEVISION’S EDUCATIONAL VIDEO ON-DEMAND
A HIT WITH TEACHERS IN YEAR ONE

July 30, 2003 (ROCHESTER, NY) — The launch of New York State Public Television’s educational Video On-Demand service has proved to be one of the most successful rollouts in the country, with a record breaking half-million downloads since last September.

“Educational video on-demand is a proven hit with teachers and media specialists in year one,” said Norm Silverstein, chair of the Association of Public Broadcasting Stations (APBS) and president of WXXI Rochester. “Our goal in the new school year is to make this free service available to even more teachers and parents, to strengthen the link between home and school.”
New York State’s nine Public Television Stations, in collaboration with the State Education Department and United Learning, launched the free, Internet-based video on-demand service, in September, 2002. It is available to educators serving the state’s more than 3.3 million K-12 students. The service features more than 2,000 ITV programs and 20,000 video clips for instant video streaming or download. Video On-Demand empowers educators, students and parents to search video resources to meet immediate educational needs rather than waiting for a program to be broadcast.

“The streaming programs provide crucial access to the content enrichment that is increasingly sacrificed in low-achieving schools," said Nicholas Graham, a middle school teacher in New York City.” Jim Ellis, District Technology Coordinator at Avon Central Schools in Avon, New York adds "Video On-Demand is a fantastic resource. All the programs assist in teaching to state learning standards. All the videos are up-to-date and very pertinent to the subject areas we teach. I really like how the programs apply subject materials to real world situations." Scotia, New York high school teacher Mary Farina agrees, “It’s a wonderful addition to any teacher's tool box.”

Each station provides the video on-demand service via links from its Web site. Professional development workshops offered by the stations help teachers incorporate the digital content into lesson plans.

“New York State Public Television Stations have demonstrated great leadership in the past year by effectively implementing the unitedstreaming video on-demand application with educators in over 88% of their school districts," said Joel Altschul, CEO United Learning. "Teamwork and communication between the nine PBS stations, combined with the fact that the state had over 500,000 views in the first year, have truly made them a model for successful statewide implementation of unitedstreaming."
New York State’s nine public television stations include Mountain Lake PBS Plattsburgh; Thirteen/WNET New York City; WCNY Syracuse; WLIW Long Island; WMHT Albany; WNED Buffalo; WPBS Watertown; WSKG Binghamton; and WXXI Rochester.

Editor’s Note: For a free username and password to gain access to the site and information about the service, teachers and parents may contact their local public television station’s Educational Services Department. (See below list).

NYS Public Television Video On-Demand Station Contacts

WCNY, SYRACUSE
Pete Headd, Director of Educational Services, (315) 453-2424 Ext. 235

WXXI, ROCHESTER
Marion French, Assistant V.P. for Education & Interactive Services; (585) 258-0280, Request an account at http://wxxi.org/education/k12/ondemand.html

WLIW, LONG ISLAND
Jon Rubin, Education & Special Projects Manager, 212-560-8841

WMHT, SCHENECTADY
Liz Hood, Vice President, 518-357-1744

WNED, BUFFALO
Pamela Johnson, VP for Education & Outreach: 716-845-7006
Mary Jo Gill, Manager of Educational Content, (716) 845-7000 Ext. 344

WNET, NEW YORK CITY
Toni Scheflin, Manager, Instructional Television Programming, (212) 560-2032

WPBS,WATERTOWN
Crystal Butler, Educational Services Manager , ext. 314

Mountain Lake PBS, Plattsburgh
James Howard, Jr., Educational Services Director, (518) 563-9770 Ext.130
or 1- 800-836-5700 ext 130

WSKG, BINGHAMTON
Carolyn Weston, Educational Services Coordinator, (607) 729-0100 EXT. 307

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WXXI is an essential, lifelong educational resource for the Greater Rochester area. WXXI provides programming that stimulates and expands thought, inspires the spirit, opens cultural horizons and promotes understanding of the issues of our diverse community, nation and world. Log on to www.wxxi.org for more information about our services and programs.

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