ARTICLES: Big Bird declining all media appearances after debate thrusts him into presidential campaign

"Saturday Night Live," Jimmy Fallon, Piers Morgan, the "Today" show and "Good Morning America" all asked for appearances from the "Sesame Street" character on Thursday after he was unexpectedly thrust into the presidential campaign by Mitt Romney.

Sesame Workshop says the giant yellow Muppet is declining all appearances, but there was this tweet from Big Bird on the Sesame Street account: "My bed time is usually 7:45, but I was really tired yesterday and fell asleep at 7! Did I miss anything last night?"

Yes, Bird. During Wednesday's debate with President Barack Obama, Romney called for cutting federal funding to PBS, despite saying, "I love Big Bird." It renewed a long-running debate over subsidies to public broadcasting.

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NEWS / APPS: PBS KIDS Expands Video App to iPhone & iPod touch

ARLINGTON, Va., Dec 06, 2011 (BUSINESS WIRE) -- PBS KIDS today announced the PBS KIDS Video App is now available on iPhone and iPod touch, bringing more free educational video content to families than any other children's media app. The app gives families free, streaming access to more than 2,000 videos -- including clips and full episodes -- from their favorite PBS KIDS series. The PBS KIDS Video App launched on iPad in May with great success; it has served more than 430 million video streams -- an average of two million per day -- and has had over 450,000 downloads to date.

"PBS KIDS video has been incredibly successful online, making PBSKIDS.org the number one kids entertainment site for free streamed videos,i" said Jason Seiken, Senior Vice President, Interactive, PBS. "When we launched the PBS KIDS Video iPad app in May, it was equally well-received, with 50 million streams just in the first month and growing to more than 86 million streams in November. And kids watch more video streams on the PBS KIDS Video iPad app than on nearly all other children's broadcast and cable network websites.ii After seeing this high demand for our children's programming on the iPad we were committed to extending the app's reach to the iPhone and iPod touch, which will bring our popular content to even more kids and parents."

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NEWS / WEBSITES: PBS Kids Ranked #1 Kids Site for Free Videos

PBS KIDS' online educational content watched two times longer than any other top kids' site, also now available on Google TV

ARLINGTON, Va., Nov. 1 /PRNewswire/ -- For the first time, PBSKIDS.org is the #1 kids site for free videos streamed based on the number of videos viewed, according to the latest numbers from comScore Video Metrix (September 2010). Kids spent an average of 47 minutes watching free, educational videos on the site in September, twice the monthly average for other top kids' sites, with close to 88 million free video streams for the month.

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NEWS / RESEARCH / EDUCATION: Poll Names PBS Kids Top Educational Brand (USA)

Poll Names PBS Kids Top Educational Brand

A national survey by GfK Roper has found PBS Kids is the top educational media brand for children.

The poll asked more than 1,000 randomly chosen adults in the United States to compare such top brands as Leapfrog, Nick, Playhouse Disney, Noggin, Discovery Kids, National Geographic Kids, YahooKids and others, finding the highest level of confidence in PBS.

Among the results, 73% agreed that PBS serves all children, regardless of their circumstances; 73% indicated that the network provides “a trusted and safe place for children to watch television”; and 70% say that PBS serves as a “safe haven for children.” Overall, Americans noted they are much more satisfied with programming for children ages 2-8 on PBS compared with offerings on commercial broadcast and cable television.

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