Wisconsin Public Television's production services unit extends our expertise and facilities to state agencies, University of Wisconsin System institutions, not- for-profit organizations and others. Some productions created for these various clients are broadcast on Wisconsin Public Television. The popular Sewing with Nancy series is taped in our studios and distributed to some 124 PBS licensees around the country.

Other video products, ranging from brief public service announcements to multi- part instructional videotapes, are not intended for WPT broadcast. We have provided these services to an ever-increasing list of clients and production partners for more than 20 years.

The past decade has seen an exciting extension of the educational mission of public television beyond the classroom and into non-broadcast technologies -- mainly through satellite videoconferencing. Our production services unit is the center for this production at WPT. Our unit produces approximately 30 videoconferences each year for public and private clients.

Each videoconference is custom designed for its target audience which can range from a few hundred people in sites scattered around Wisconsin to thousands viewing at sites throughout North America. Typically these events employ "one-way video" and "two-way audio": content experts present information enhanced with videotape segments and computer graphics, and viewers have the opportunity to interact with them via telephone, fax machine or computer.

The primary clients for videoconferencing services are the University of Wisconsin-Extension, Cooperative Extension and the Educational Communications Board. These institutions represent 80 percent of WPT's work in this area.