PBS and its corporate sponsors are getting behind the upcoming Ken Burns' World War II documentary "The War," in an unprecedented way.
The series, which will extend for seven episodes and entail 15 hours, will premiere on September 23.
Burns who has had a strong marketing relationship with General Motors (GM) since 1987, decided he needed to bring in more sponsors this time around. Along with GM, others sponsoring the documentary will be Bank of America (BAC) and Anheuser-Busch (BUD). Including PBS, they'll promote the series with a $10 million marketing budget.
The documentary is presented through the personal accounts of WWII veterans from four cities in America - Luverne, Minn.; Sacramento; Waterbury Conn.; and Mobile, Ala.
Burns believes "The War" is important and will extend beyond the typical public television audience in interest, the reason he's enlisted more sponsors this time around to promote it.
Co-producing the project with Burns was Lynn Novick
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