San Francisco nonprofit created by Congress in 1988 that funds, co-produces and distributes independent documentaries for public television, including the PBS series Independent Lens. It has supported more than 1,400 films.
The Independent Television Service (ITVS) is a nonprofit based in San Francisco, California, established by Congress in 1988 to expand the diversity and innovativeness of programming available to public broadcasting. Funded by the Corporation for Public Broadcasting, ITVS began funding programs in 1990 and partners with independent filmmakers to develop, co-produce and distribute documentaries that reflect the range of American communities.
ITVS produces Independent Lens, the weekly documentary series on PBS that began in 1999, and has funded programs for POV, Frontline, American Masters and American Experience. It runs development and co-production funds for short and feature documentaries, the Incubator Fund and the Independent Lens Creator Lab, along with community engagement and multiplatform distribution. The organization says it has supported or co-produced more than 1,400 documentaries, with more than 97 Emmy and Peabody Award winners and an average of more than 30 million viewers a year.
ITVS has a staff of about 40 and an annual operating budget of about $16 million. Staff work in a hybrid arrangement with at least two days a week in the San Francisco office, and benefits include fully paid employee health and dental insurance and a 403(b) match. An interim President and CEO leads the organization while a search for its next chief executive, run by URL Media, is under way.
