I would hate to see the resource wasted, but honestly, PBS has OFTEN made very poor decisions on show access and product pricing.
At one point, I could record NYW four times each weekend over two or three cable channels. PBS must have been making a lot off that, but stopped it for some reason.
And while charging for project plans is not a bad idea in itself, having the price go up the longer the show has been off air is idiotic. PBS is still really the only major source of woodworking TV out there, but NYW is gone, that router show with the father and son is done now, PBS just replaced Tommy Mac on Roughcut, and honestly, Scott Phillips is largely a Woodcraft spokesman now.
Their biggest issue however is still distribution. Without being a paid PBS member, access to their content is far too restricted. I have been off cable for some years now and there are a number of PBS shows that my wife and I would watch, but using PBS for free though Amazon or Netflix internal apps is just not worth it, we can wait until it is eventually made free somewhere.
For my show
Woodcademy, I wanted as universal distribution as possible, and as many viewers as possible. In today’s economy, that means free to the viewer. That is why my viewers can download the project plans free any time they like. I plan ultimately to use sponsors as my main source of income along with other sources.
