MediaShift’s first two titles are How to Self-Publish Your Book (80 pages, $3.99) and Your Guide to Cutting the Cord to Cable TV (50 pages, $2.99). (I have to point out here that GigaOM’s also got a cord-cutting ebook, written by our own Janko Roettgers.) The titles are available through Kindle and the iBookstore for now and will eventually be available through Nook; print-on-demand editions will also be released, priced at $4.99 to $6.99.

Mark Glaser, the executive editor of MediaShift, says he’s planning on releasing 10 to 20 ebooks this year, depending on how well the first titles sell. “This is a test for us and PBS,” he said, “so we will learn as we go and adjust prices, length, subject matter and more.”

In case you missed it, the moment came during a surreal 34-minute blackout in the second half that left the players milling around while the announcers tried to fill the void with “analysis.” That’s when the public broadcaster jumped in with this:

This might be a good time think about alternative programming. #SuperBowlBlackOut #WeHaveDowntonPBS—
  (@PBS) February 04, 2013

According to Marketing and Communications Director, Kevin Dando, the timing was fortuitous because PBS was already in the midst of a weekly discussion in which Downton lovers gather on social media to discuss the show. When Dando tweeted the invitation for SuperBowl viewers to come on over, he says his phone almost blew up.

“Within seconds, we saw hundreds, then thousands of retweets,” said Dando, including from celebrity chef Giada De Laurentiis and from Time magazine’s TV critic:

I'm game! “@PBS: This might be a good time think about alternative programming. #SuperBowlBlackOut #WeHaveDowntonPBS”—
Giada De Laurentiis (@GDeLaurentiis) February 04, 2013

Carson wd have brought up candles by now MT @PBS: This might be a good time think about alternative programming. #WeHaveDowntonPBS—
James Poniewozik (@poniewozik) February 04, 2013

Dando says the SuperBowl invitation was one of PBS’s two most popular tweets in the last 12 months. The other came in October when the network rushed to defend itself after Mitt Romney questioned the value of Big Bird during the Presidential debates.

Last night, PBS was one a handful of brands, including Oreo and Audi, to “newsjack” the so-called #BlackoutBowl. These nimble moves on social media typically garner a flurry of free publicity but it’s unclear how much they change people’s intention to purchase or watch something.

“We’ll find out from the ratings if it helped,” said Dando.

First, some context. If you somehow missed it, Presidential candidate Mitt Romney thrust Sesame Street into the center of the election debate by declaring that he liked Big Bird but that he didn’t want to subsidize the bird’s employer, PBS.

Romney’s comments set off the predictable social media firestorm on Twitter, including the inevitable parody accounts like this one:

Which began sending out funny tweets like this one:

Still flummoxed we’re the focus of budget cuts. Oscar lives in a TRASH CAN

— Skid Row Big Bird (@SkidRowBigBird) October 4, 2012

The more people took notice of the Big Bird flap, the more important people wanted to weigh in too:

President Obama: “Thank goodness somebody is finally getting tough on Big Bird.”

— Barack Obama (@BarackObama) October 4, 2012

While these type of instant-memes are becoming ever more common, what stands out in this case is how quickly PBS responded. As Mashable reports, the broadcaster purchased the keyword “big bird” in order to have a PBS message appear atop the Twitter stream:

The episode shows how PBS has learned an important new communications skill: whipping up ads on very short notice. As Twitter VP Joel Lunenfield noted on Tuesday at an advertising week event in New York, social media creates massive, passionate “transient communities” around certain events. These audiences, however, dissipate very quickly — is anyone going to be tweeting about Big Bird a week from now?

What this means is that advertisers in these situations don’t have months or weeks. Instead, they have just hours to make a message (or better yet a pretty picture) and to buy spots to place it. Despite what the old proverb says, for marketers, the race will indeed be won by the swiftest.

The new titles–over 1,000 in all and rolling out over the next several months–include NOVA, Masterpiece and Antiques Roadshow; the Ken Burns documentary series; and news shows like Frontline and Washington Week, which will be available the day after they air. The new deal brings the number of titles available on Amazon Prime Instant to over 12,000 by the end of the year.

Amazon Prime Instant Video is available free to Amazon Prime members, who pay $79 a year for two-day shipping. Kindle Fire buyers will get 30 days of Amazon Prime for free. (Don’t confuse it with plain Instant Video, a library of 100,000 titles that customers can rent or purchase.)

The PBS agreement is the latest in a string of deals Amazon has signed for Prime Instant video. The company signed a deal with Fox (NSDQ: NWS) in September, and added 1,000 NBC Universal movies and 2,000 CBS episodes over the summer.

In Amazon’s press release about the expanded PBS partnership, the company plays up the fact that the PBS titles will be available on the Kindle Fire–seemingly the first time that Amazon has explicitly mentioned a mobile device in a programming release. Amazon Instant video has previously been limited to Macs, PCs, and computer-connected TVs.

“Original local content like that should tie into the interests of PBS’ wider national audience,” said Paula Kerger, PBS’ president and CEO, in an interview with paidContent. “That

But it has to be built first. The CPB funding will be used over the next six months to “create development plans” and produce a working prototype of the Public Media Platform; NPR is administering the grant. They want a platform that allows non-compatible systems to share content — and they want to be able “to match or exceed” their radio-TV audience. The goal: an open API for the partners; their members; other public radio and TV stations; indies; and content creators and developers who want to work with them.

John Boland, PBS’ Chief Content Officer, who devised the initiative, said that Need To Know is meant as a response to the “crisis in journalism,” referring to the upheaval in the news industry in the face of tens of thousands of layoffs and the transition from traditional to new media.

For the most part, the site and the accompanying TV program are also a part of recent moves by the network to deepen its online offerings. Last month, PBS revamped The Newshour program. Those changes also included an update of the website, highlighted by a partnership with digital news site GlobalPost to supplement its international coverage. On top of refurbishing The Newshour, PBS began reworking The Nightly Business Report as well.

Need To Know appears to be something of an adjunct operating between PBS’ current daily news programs, such as Washington Week roundtable discussion and its Frontline documentary series. The site and program will cover five primary beats: the Economy; the Environment and Energy; Health; Security; and Culture. The stories, interviews, blogs and photo features will be continually added to and updated online, with the production teams soliciting commentary and ideas from online readers and users.

This comes as PBS has been trying to beef up its digital presence and creds, few steps behind its radio cousin NPR and public radio in general. PBS spokesperson confirmed the details, but refused further comment, and said they will announce details on it tomorrow.

In the meantime, instead of watching Charlie Rose and or Antiques Roadshow on PBS’ tiny player, users can scan the very Hulu-looking wide screen for just about all of the broadcaster’s regular series. Aside from the resemblance, the PBS Video Portal also has a “share function.” Coincidentally, perhaps, the launch occurs on Earth Day. Since this is PBS, the portal will highlight a spate of environmental shows. Also, PBS.org will run the premiere episode of Oregon Public Broadcasting’s archeology-themed series Time (NYSE: TWX) Team America before its TV debut this summer.

The expanded video portal follows last September’s introduction of the PBS Kids Go Video Player. That player is still a priority. PBS has added interactive games and claims to be streaming more than one million video clips each week.