Molly Phillips - GM - IPTV  Program for Jan. 17, 2017

Iowa Public Television (IPT) has been providing services to Iowa homes for 48 years.  Broadcasting can be viewed on 3 challenges (11 – the main channel, 11.2 – kids channel, and 11.8 – Mediacom).  IPT broadcasts approximately 650 hours of locally-produced programs annually, and has an extensive viewership of about 2 million viewers per month.  Children are a major viewer of IPT programming with about 346,000 children ages 2-11 watching at least one program each month.  In the state of Iowa, there are 9 transmitters and 8 translators to support IPT programming.  In the home office located in Johnston, 12 full-time employees and close to 100 total employees work to provide programming for viewers.  IPT is the most-watched public television in the nation.  Approximately 1.4 million people visited the website in 2016, and 55,000 people support IPT through membership.  In 2009, IPT completed work to fully digitalize their programming, and a goal is to provide opportunities for viewers to be a part of live broadcasting and shows where it would be possible for them to attend in person.  One example will take place in a few days where Iowa native Dr. Peggy Whitsen  will stream live from the space station to a group of 240 students.  Alecia Keys performing live at the Apollo is another example of broadcasting events to those who wouldn’t attend in person.  Interactive television is also a service offered through IPT.  The “reading road trip” initiative visited 75 libraries in 2016 and 738,000 Iowans  were told stories through this type of television.

In closing, IPT offers a wide variety of great programming at both the local and national level.  They make exploration possible.