Are You Being Served? Not Anymore, According to Producer

*** UPDATE*** 

***BREAKING NEWS - AGAIN***

As of September 12, 2013, the owners of the broadcast rights for Are You Being Served? have come to their senses and agreed to license the series to PBS stations again. This is the content of an email we received from the distributor today:

Subject: Are You Being Served? / Are You Being Served? Again! / Allo Allo
Date: Thu, 12 Sep 2013 13:33:54 +0000

I am pleased to announce that effective today the three titles in the header of this email have been returned to our active sales catalog after having been held hostage by an agent for one of the writers.    

This is certainly good news for all.

Yea. Great news. Scrambling to get program schedules re-re-aligned is a minor inconvenience to keep fans in our audience happy! So, we're back to our regular schedule... the staff at Grace Brothers be at your service for the foreseeable future Monday through Friday at 7:30 p.m.

Strike that previous announcement!  

September 3, 2013 1:42 p.m. - In news that shocked us at Rhode Island PBS - and, in fact, rippled across all BritCom fandom on American public television - the perennial favorite, Are You Being Served? will be pulled from broadcast effective September 17.

It seems the decision has come from beyond the grave from series creator David Croft himself - or at least from the agent for Croft's estate. The program's distributor, BBC, is stunned as well. Word has it talks had been ongoing behind the scenes for about a year to keep the series licensed, but apparently the decision to terminate broadcast rights never really wavered and it is final. There is nothing any of us can do. Wow.

We at Rhode Island PBS fully acknowledge that there is no suitable replacement for the 69 episodes of snickers and knickers (and double-entendres) in 10 seasons at Grace Brothers. However, we will do our best, and ask for your patience and understanding during this transition. Are You Being Served? has been on our air consistently for the past 10 years, and on and off for more than 20 years. We even hosted a visit by John Inman in our studios in March 1994. That is quite a history and a beloved tradition.

Members of the Rhode Island PBS Brit Club will have an unexpected opportunity to choose which available series will go into our schedule. Members, please watch your email for news about the ballots and voting. 

So, how do you feel about this, fans?