Public Broadcasting Service

The Public Broadcasting Service (PBS) is an American network of broadcasters. Unlike most networks in the US, PBS is funded solely by corporate support and donations from viewers. As such, it is able to broadcast without commercial interruption (with the exception of periodic appeals for donations). Although there are nationally broadcast programs (such as Sesame Street and Masterpiece Theatre), each affiliate is responsible for purchasing programming outside of national hours.

Due to its non-commercial, arts-based nature, PBS has long had an affinity with BBC programming, and since the 1970s it has been the main broadcast home for Doctor Who in America. Broadcasts of Doctor Who in the 1980s and 1990s were notable for using an "omnibus" format. Instead of airing each individual episode on a weekly or daily basis, each serial was edited together into a movie format. This meant that individual broadcasts could be as short as 45 minutes (for broadcasts of 2-episode stories), to several hours in the case of The War Games. (The Trial of a Time Lord, however, was edited into its 4 component stories rather than all 14 episodes being broadcast in one marathon). Initially, only the Tom Baker, Peter Davison and Colin Baker stories were widely broadcast on PBS, but this was later expanded to include the new Sylvester McCoy series and extant series from the William Hartnell, Patrick Troughton and Jon Pertwee eras.

The omnibus format varied in quality with regards to episode transitions. Sometimes cliffhangers were edited together smoothly, while other times the "electronic scream" episode-ending sound effect and sometimes a few moments of the episode opening credits were accidentally left in (this occurred frequently with Davison-era episodes). Some Pertwee omnibus episodes would switch from color to black and white and back again in the case of serials where only B&W prints of some episodes survived; Invasion of the Dinosaurs was the only incomplete serial to be broadcast by PBS, with its then-missing first episode omitted.

PBS affiliates also produced their own documentaries based upon the series, utilizing behind-the-scenes footage and interviews with cast and crew at American Doctor Who conventions.

When the Doctor Who resumed producation again in 2005, PBS did not initially receive broadcast rights to the newer episodes, which instead went to the Sci Fi Channel. However, PBS affiliates subsequently received rebroadcast rights to Series 1 of Doctor Who starring Christopher Eccleston. These episodes aired in summer of 2007 and as of this writing, Series Two episodes have finished airing in the summer of 2008.