I also suspect the same. They need to get National Geographic or The Discovery Channel involved in the filming. They have brilliant cinematographers.
..and unlike National Geographic- getting Burnett involved means you won’t need any of that taxpayer PBS funding to make it happen.
Neither of those has cinematographers on their payroll. They're really not even producers to any great extent. Independent production companies come up with the ideas and pitch them to the various outlets, who buy or don't buy. If they buy the idea, the production company hires a crew and makes the show. This is exactly what Mark Burnett is doing right now, pitching to the outlets.