The Library of Congress has a Primary Interest In Preserving Public Television

The Library of Congress has a legal agreement with the Public Broadcasting Service that stipulates that PBS shall act as an agent for all public television producers by allowing the LOC to have a copy of any program it wants, one year after the broadcast rights have expired. However, neither the LOC nor PBS has had enough funding to keep the program donations flowing as regularly as imagined when the agreement was signed in the early 90's. Consequently, the costly transfer of analog tapes has been slow. PBS simply does not have the resources to create new plans for transferring digital materials as well.

In its strategic planning for NDIIPP, the Library of Congress recognized a special interest in preserving digital television productions, and it has supported considerable planning to address the particular problems that are now clearly emerging as predicted.

Public television station WGBH, with its well-established Archives, has been an active participant and prominent leader in this planning. A recent newcomer to the field of video preservation, Thirteen has turned to WGBH for guidance and direction to create its own archives, and is now in a position to work alongside WGBH in this effort.