Exclusive Sponsor of ExxonMobil Masterpiece Theatre Honored for Extraordinary Commitment to Public Television
ALEXANDRIA, Va.-- October 28, 2002 -- The Exxon Mobil Corporation has been honored as the first ever recipient of the PBS Corporate Leadership Award. Presented on behalf of the public television community, the award recognizes companies that have demonstrated an extraordinary commitment to public broadcasting. ExxonMobil was selected for its generosity as ExxonMobil Masterpiece Theatre's sole underwriter for more than three decades, an unsurpassed level of support to public broadcasting.
"It is fitting that ExxonMobil has been selected as the first recipient of the PBS Corporate Leadership Award," said Pat Mitchell, PBS President and CEO. "They were among the very first companies to recognize and support the quality and the value of public broadcasting some thirty years ago, and today they stand as the first among equals for their steadfast commitment to ExxonMobil Masterpiece Theatre and public television."
"In the history of public broadcasting, no other sponsor has made such a significant contribution to public television and to the viewing public that PBS serves," said Henry Becton, Jr., President and CEO of WGBH, which produces ExxonMobil Masterpiece Theatre for PBS. "We are deeply indebted to ExxonMobil, whose generous support has made it possible for us to bring television's best drama to the American public for more than three decades."
"We thank PBS for this special recognition and particularly the staff of WGBH who have made Masterpiece Theatre such an outstanding program," adds Ken Cohen, Vice President of Public Affairs for the Exxon Mobil Corporation.
The PBS Corporate Leadership Award was presented at the annual PBS Development Conference in Dallas. More than 900 public broadcasting professionals, industry leaders and special guests gathered October 9-12 to explore new tools, best practices, research and information to support the work of development officers from across the nation. The award was conferred at the Development Recognition Banquet, the highlight of the four-day event.
For more than 30 years ExxonMobil Masterpiece Theatre has enthralled audiences with the works of the finest classic and contemporary writers interpreted by the world's foremost actors. Little wonder it is the longest running primetime drama series on American television and the most honored, with 30 Emmy Awards, 12 Peabodys and two Academy Award nominations.
ExxonMobil is a leading global petroleum and petrochemicals company whose subsidiaries have operations in more than 200 countries.
PBS, headquartered in Alexandria, Virginia, is a private, nonprofit media enterprise owned and operated by the nation's 349 public television stations. Serving nearly 100 million people each week, PBS enriches the lives of all Americans through quality programs and education services on noncommercial television, the Internet and other media. More information about PBS is available at pbs.org, the leading dot-org Web site on the Internet.
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Contact:
Jan McNamara, PBS
703-739-5028
Cynthia Langlands, ExxonMobil
972-444-1107
Ellen Dockser, WGBH
617-300-5338