PBS announced today the beta launch of a new PBS.org, featuring local content from member stations, full TV episodes from series and auto-localization features. The launch coincides with the release of PBS for iPad, and the upcoming introduction of the PBS App for the iPhone and iPod touch. These efforts continue the organization’s transformation into a multi-platform media leader.
The first full episode of the multi-part series CIRCUS will premiere on PBS for iPad. The episode is available for streaming beginning today, in advance of the broadcast premiere.
These new digital products build on successful initiatives that have launched over the past 18 months and include the introduction of a local-national video player. The video player features more than 4,700 hours of full episodes, spanning all genres of the organization’s renowned, award-winning programs.
PBS KIDS currently offers six iPad and iPhone apps for children on the App Store, a subscription-based teaching tool for home and classroom, and a suite of interactive whiteboard activities and nearly 1,000 free, educational games.
“During the last two years, we have reinvented our approach to serving the American public by becoming a multi-platform innovator, introducing industry-firsts such as the integration of interactive educational games into linear video and the use of augmented reality to teach science to pre-schoolers,” said Jason Seiken, senior vice president, Interactive, Product Development and Innovation. “Built on public media’s local-national model, this next generation of services delivers content in vital areas, such as news, the arts, and children’s educational media to PBS.org’s 20 million monthly users and across mobile devices.”
