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Responding to the demand for online programming, the Public Broadcasting System (PBS) announced a five-year initiative to be sure Barney, Bert and Ernie are in line with the digital age. The initiative will include a number of new online offerings for preschool and early elementary school kids including a 24-hour multicast service, both launching in Fall 2006. PBS will not change its name to Public Multicasting System for obvious reasons.

Senior Vice President of PBS Brand Management, Lesli Rotenberg, will be spearheading the effort, entitled PBS KIDS Next Generation Media, to get more PBS content online, and is calling for a expert "Think Tank" of advisors.

In the statement from PBS, it is unclear what is exactly meant by "multicast," but Pamela Parker at ClickZ speculates it is a combination of a cable destination and an on-demand channel, similar to PBS KIDS Sprout.

Online, PBS is expanding their offerings on pbskids.org, pbskidsgo.org, and pbsparents.org, to include a greater number of age-appropriate activities, features, and resources for families.

The kids' nonprofit TV network said each new component of PBS KIDS Next Generation Media will also include resources for parents and teachers. Those resources can be found at pbsteachersource.org.