PBS is a good thing, by and large. Their programming often aims for the brain, which is more than most other networks can claim. They remain about the only channel on television where those of us who enjoy the classics — whether literature or music and dance and theater — can find an occasional bone thrown our way. And I yield to no one in my enthusiasm for that high-class soap opera, “Downton Abbey.”

But sometimes I get fed up with it. And no, I’m not talking about the incessant fund-raising, always an embarrassment for both pleaders and givers. No, I have in mind one specific: the annual broadcast of the New Years concert of the Vienna Philharmonic, which used to be an occasion for considerable pleasure but now has become increasingly a cheapening experience that I find demeaning to serious listeners.

First, the broadcast conveys only about half of the music performed at the concert. That’s in part because the hostess, Julie Andrews, takes viewers on marginally related tours of wineries, porcelain making institutions, historic sites, palaces and the like instead of permitting us to hear what the orchestra is playing. I readily admit some viewers may prefer that — but this is an orchestra concert, so why can’t we just be allowed to see the orchestra and its conductor? Similarly, during other parts of the concert, views of the orchestra are replaced by shots of dancers dancing moving to fairly nondescript choreography in sumptuous but empty Austrian palace rooms. Maybe it works as a sales pitch for Vienna, but really, it’s just distracting, repetitive and, frankly, an insult to many of us.

Near the end of the “Blue Danube” performance, by the way, the dancers actually show up in the audience, providing television viewers — and possibly audience members — a bewildering and annoying distraction from the conclusion of one of the most beautiful pieces of music ever written. And this stunt required the collaboration of the Vienna Philharmonic, to whom shame should be directed.

As for the concert itself, well, what I heard was pretty good. Daniel Barenboim was a somewhat starchy conductor (until he loosened up in the finale), but it’s hard not to find just about everything quite agreeable. This is, after all, the Vienna Philharmonic, and they know the heart and soul of this music inside and out, as was evident when they played the final Radetzky March without a conductor. Sadly, the last bars of the march were covered up by graphics and an announcer’s voice. Dreadful.

As I said, this used to be must-see viewing, PBS. But I think I’ve seen it for the last time. I’ll stick to a DVD or CD in order to get the entire concert — without the bothersome side pieces.