| Type | Non-Profit |
|---|---|
| Industry | Public Television |
| Founded | 1961 |
| Headquarters | Boston, Massachusetts, United States |
| Area served | Worldwide |
| Website | Official Website |
American Public Television (APT) is the largest syndicator of programming for public television stations in the United States.
APT began in 1961 as the Eastern Educational Television Network (EEN); EEN was one of the first distributors of shows such as The French Chef (with Julia Child), Mister Rogers' Neighborhood, and Washington Week in Review on a regional basis, before introduced nationwide by National Educational Television (which would cede its network to PBS in 1970).
EEN introduced Wall $treet Week in November 1970 before PBS began distributing it nationwide in January 1972, as well as the unedited Monty Python's Flying Circus to American audiences in 1975 (ABC ran censored versions in late night previously), and brought The Three Tenors to public television audiences in 1991. The organization was known for a time as the Interregional Program Service in the 1980s, and American Program Service in the 1990s.
APT distributes more than 300 new program titles per year, including documentaries, talk shows, dramatic and comedic series, how-to programs, children’s series and classic movies. Shows regularly distributed by APT include The Open Mind, Rick Steves' Europe, Simply Ming, America's Test Kitchen From Cook's Illustrated, Richard Bangs’ Adventures with Purpose, Globe Trekker (aka Pilot Guides in other countries), Doc Martin, Rudy Maxa’s World, Sara’s Weeknight Meals and Scully: The World Show.
APT distributes weeknight international news series BBC World News (programme) and Newsline from NHK.
APT has also distributed special pledge shows to public television, including programs such as Liza's at the Palace...!, Anne of Green Gables, Carreras Domingo Pavarotti, Celine Dion: A New Day, Mike Douglas – Moments & Memories, Broadway: The Golden Age and Tony Bennett Duets: The Making of an American Classic.
In 2001, APT was the first company to bring a high-definition series to public television with the premiere of Smart Travels with Rudy Maxa.
APT is also a primary owner of Create, which offers primarily crafts and travel programming from the APT, PBS and NETA libraries. Established in January 2006, many of Create's affiliates are PBS digital stations, and Create is also carried on cable through local agreements with public television stations. Shows regularly carried on Create include Lidia’s Italy, P. Allen Smith’s Garden Home, The Joy of Painting, America’s Test Kitchen and Gourmet's Diary of a Foodie.
APT is also a partner in the PBS World, a 24-hour digital channel showing public TV non-fiction, science, nature, news, public affairs and documentaries.