I believe that KTEH could buy rebroadcast rights from an independent
distributor if it wanted to, and suspect that it has done so in the past. It
gets much of its British programming this way, according to Tom Fanella.
During a pledge break a couple of years ago, Tom mentioned that PBS had
changed the way it charges member stations for PBS-brand programming--rather
than allowing stations to buy individual programs, the mothership now charges
a lump sum and allows each station to broadcast whatever it wants from the
lineup. Stations like KTEH, which regularly broadcast shows not in the PBS
package, suddenly had to pay quite a bit more for programming they didn't
want, and they had to get that money from the non-PBS line of the budget. I
don't think that Sandbaggers will ever again be a part of the regular PBS
programming package, though I'd be delighted if it happened.
One final note: KTEH recently moved into a new and rather expensive studio,
and unfortunately now has even less for shows like Sandbaggers.
--Arthur, lucky enough to be able get KTEH (and yes, I upped my pledge this
year, despite the slow death of Sunday Science Fiction Night).