State funding for public television.

              INTERIM STUDY REPORT
A & B Education
Rep. Lee Denney, Chairman
Oklahoma House of Representatives
Interim Study 11-012, Rep. Leslie Osborn
November 1, 2011
State Funding for Public Television
Dawn Marks
Education Research Analyst, Oklahoma House of Representatives
Dawn.Marks@okhouse.gov
• Provided information to the Subcommittee on public television funding, including a
prepared memorandum to the interim study author on general public television funding
information, historical funding data from the Oklahoma Educational Television Authority
(OETA), and comparative data from the Corporation for Public Broadcasting showing
types and percentages of funding by state
Dawn Marks Handouts
John McCarroll
Executive Director, Oklahoma Education Television Authority (OETA)
jmccarroll@oeta.tv
• Provided background on OETA
• Commented on how efficiently OETA performs its functions by comparing OETA to
Texas Public Television, where there were 73 employees at the Austin office; also
pointed out that OETA has consolidated all of its services
• 1.8 million Oklahomans watch OETA at least once per week for a minimum of 30
minutes, according to Nielsen ratings data
• Programming decided by the Program Director and the Board, only a very small portion
of programming is devoted to controversial topics, such as religion, politics, and
evolution
• Oklahoma is one of the lowest states in the nation in terms of cable and satellite usage-which
explains why so many citizens need OETA
John McCarroll Handout
Jonathan Small
Fiscal Policy Director, Oklahoma Council of Public Affairs
jonathan@ocpathink.org
• Reviewed states that have opted not to fund public television stations
• Has the opinion that the Subcommittee must consider all the ways the state is spending
on education- that the Legislature’s significant investment in education makes some
wonder why funding still goes to OETA
• Citizens have other opportunities to get television
• On behalf of OCPA, recommends privately funding- and provides examples of other
agencies/government functions that have remained even after state funding discontinued
Jonathan Small Handout