The first broadcast of Mister Rogers' Neighborhood was on the National Educational Television network on February 19, 1968; the color NET logo appeared on a model building at the beginning and end of Mister Rogers' Neighborhood from 1969 to 1970. When NET ceased broadcasting, the series moved to PBS, even though episodes as late at 1971 were still copyrighted to – and produced for – NET.
The former NET model house was "remodeled", first to a small yellow-orange sided house, and then into a red apartment building. The roof's lopsided slant from its days as a NET logo remained. When the pre-70 episodes were rerun in 1976, the NET ident that followed the closing credits and showing of the NET model house was replaced with an additional segment showing underwriters (see "Funding"). The showing of the NET model house itself was left intact on these reruns as late as the 1980s.
The final week of original episodes of the "first series", first broadcast starting February 16, 1976, featured Mister Rogers in his workshop, watching scenes of past episodes of his series, which he recorded on videocassettes and kept on the shelf in his workshop. On the Friday episode of that week, he reminded viewers that they, too, can watch many of those old episodes beginning the following week.
As of August 11, 1995, the episodes from the first series were no longer shown on television, since there was an ample supply of the second series in circulation, and since many of the first series episodes had become outdated. A few episodes from the first half exist in the Museum of Television & Radio, including the first episode of the series and the first color episode. A complete collection of episodes, including more than 900 videotapes and scripts from the show along with other promotional materials produced by Rogers or his Family Communications Inc. production company, exists in the University of Pittsburgh's Mister Rogers' Neighborhood Archives located in the Elizabeth Nesbitt Room in the university's School of Information Sciences Building.
Reruns
When PBS began re-airing the first 460 color episodes of the series in 1976, some of the early color episodes from 1969 and 1970 were re-edited with new voice-overs or footage. For example, in one 1969 episode where Mister Rogers demonstrates the noise-proof ear protectors that airport workers use on the tarmac, the film footage used featured a worker directing a United Airlines jet with its stylised "U" logo—which wasn't introduced until 1974. All of the episodes revised from the first series also included an extra segment following the closing credits, mentioning the episode number and additional companies that provided funding since these episodes originally aired, even though they had not provided funding at the time of original production.
Almost all of the 1979–2001 episodes are in active rotation on PBS. The only exception is the week-long "Conflict" series (episodes #1521–#1525), first aired during the week of November 7–11, 1983 to coincide with ABC's airing of the television film The Day After, and designed for children to cope with the aftereffects of that film. The series/story arc covered the topics of war, bombs, and an arms race. The "Conflict" series was last aired during the week of April 1–5, 1996.
Only a few episodes of the series have been released to DVD by Anchor Bay Entertainment. 100 episodes have been released as part of Amazon Instant Video.
Funding
From 1968 to 1976, the sponsor credits were part of the series credits; the ones used in the opening are silent other than the theme, and an announcer or Fred Rogers reads the sponsor credits aloud during the closing credits. From 1976 onward, repeats of episodes from 1969 to 1976 have additional closing sponsor credits over a still of the trolley with the series logo and episode number. From 1979 onward, the sponsor credits were in a separate segment at the start and end of each episode, announced by Fred Rogers. Only the sponsors' names were shown on screen.
Sears-Roebuck Foundation (February 19, 1968–November 29, 1991)
NET-affiliated stations (February 19, 1968–May 1, 1970)
Corporation for Public Broadcasting (February 2, 1970–February 20, 1976, February 25, 1991-August 31, 2001)
Johnson & Johnson Baby Products Company (February 17, 1975–February 20, 1976)
Ford Foundation (February 17, 1975-February 20, 1976)
Public Television Stations (February 17, 1975–August 31, 2001)