WASHINGTON – The Public Broadcasting System is planning to sell its own blend of coffee via a partnership with Green Mountain Coffee Roasters, The New York Times reports. This will be the first non-media-related commercial venture for PBS.

Green Mountain Coffee will produce and package a PBS Blend, which will be sold by Green Mountain and the PBS Web site. Member stations also will be able to use the coffee as a product to offer during on-air fundraising pledge drives, the newspaper reports.

Andrea Downing, PBS vice president for home entertainment and partnerships, said the partnership with Green Mountain is the first of several planned enterprise ventures. PBS now gets about13 percent of its funding from the Corporation for Public Broadcasting and federal grants, and Congress has long asked the company to be more creative in gaining additional funding sources.

“This is an experiment,” Downing told the newspaper. “We’re looking for potential new revenue sources and expanding our brand awareness."