TMCnet News
ThinkTV and CET to MergeDAYTON, Ohio --(Business Wire)-- The Boards of Trustees of ThinkTV (Greater Dayton Public Television) and CET (Greater Cincinnati Public Television) announced today that the organizations will merge to form a new regional public television and media corporation. David Fogarty, the current president of ThinkTV, will be named President of the combined organization. Under the new, merged non-profit corporation, ThinkTV and CET will retain their identities and continue their locally based services to the Greater Dayton and Greater Cincinnati communities with staff and facilities in current locations. The merger is expected to be officially completed in 1st quarter 2009. "We believe strongly that in today's non-profit and media environment, a shared regional vision for CET and ThinkTV offers the best opportunity to grow local programming and educational services," said Bryan Dunn, chair of the CET Board. "Shared leadership is an important step in that regional vision, and we are highly confident in David Fogarty's abilities to lead the new organization." ThinkTV Board chair, John Danis noted, "ThinkTV and CET bring together complimentary strengths. ThinkTV16 and 14 provide the most watched public television service in Ohio. CETconnect.org has developed as an innovative, internet-based community resource expanding opportunities for local content and interactivity. The marriage of ThinkTV and CET will allow us to continue to innovate and exceed the expectations of our audience." Susan Howarth, who has served as CET President and CEO since 2001, is an enthusiastic proponent of the consolidation initiative between CET and ThinkTV. With the merger, she will be moving forward in pursuit of other leadership opportunities in public media. During her tenure at CET, Ms. Howarth is credited with the development of CET's online initiative, CETconnect.org and served on the national PBS Board of Directors. Jack Dominic, CET's Chief Operating Officer, will serve as head of CET's operations, pending the final merger. ThinkTV and CET are the licensees of public television stations WPTD/16, WPTO/14 and WCET/48, which serve the greater Dayton and Cincinnati communities. The stations provide the most widely used non-profit services in Southwestern Ohio offering a range of public broadcasting, internet-based and educational services to viewers and schools. About David Fogarty David Fogarty has been President and General Manager/CEO of ThinkTV since 1993. Prior to being named President of the organization, he was Station Manager and Director of Broadcasting and Telecommunications. Mr. Fogarty has extensive experience in broadcast and public television, having held roles as Manager of Broadcast Projects and Senior Producer at Twin Cities Public Television, St. Paul-Minneapolis, Minnesota; an international communications consultant in South America; duties with the United States Peace Corps in Colombia; and work in corporate communications. He has taught at the University of Minnesota and guest lectured at a number of academic institutions. He began his professional career with ABC News, New York in national documentary production. He is Vice President of Ohio Educational Television Stations, Inc. and is on the Board of Directors of the National Educational Telecommunications Association. He has served on the boards of a number of non-profit, community, cultural, educational and human service organizations. About ThinkTV ThinkTV is a non-profit, public media corporation. Each month, its non-commercial broadcast stations, WPTD (Dayton) and WPTO (Oxford/Cincinnati), are watched by more Ohioans than any other public television organization in Ohio. The stations serve the 3.3 million people of southwestern and west central Ohio and reach more than 20 percent of all of the state's school districts. ThinkTV is an Emmy award-winning producer of local and state-wide programming, developer of innovative technology and standards-based curriculum for classrooms, provider of professional development training for early childhood caregivers, and an active community partner offering multi-media content and distribution services to non-profit and business entities. For more information about ThinkTV, visit www.thinktv.org. About CET CET is Greater Cincinnati's leading provider of education and enrichment in both living rooms and classrooms, reaching more than 2 million residents, 470,000 students and 37,000 teachers. Through PBS and local programming, CETconnect.org, innovative multimedia curriculum projects, parent workshops and professional development for teachers, CET positively impacts our community with rich and diverse resources. CET was the first licensed educational television station in the nation, the first high-definition public station in Ohio, and, through CETconnect.org, the first public television station to offer a community-based public media on-demand service. For more information about CET, visit www.cetconnect.org. Note to Editors: Throughout this release, "TV" in "ThinkTV" is superscript. |
