PBS Slashes Budget by 21% After Federal Funding Cuts

New York Times

21 hours ago

PBS is cutting its current budget by more than a fifth to deal with Congress's recent decision to eliminate roughly $500 million in federal funding from public TV and radio, according to a memo from the organization's chief executive, Paula Kerger.
The decision, announced on Wednesday by Ms. Kerger in an email to PBS station managers, is one of the biggest consequences to date of the congressional vote, which eliminated federal funding and doomed the Corporation for Public Broadcasting.
The 21 percent cut was approved Wednesday by PBS's board, which also voted to reduce dues paid by local stations by $35 million. That means PBS will receive less revenue from its members, which are under pressure to make up for budget shortfalls of their own.
'We recognize that even with the dues reduction, adjusted payment schedule and efforts to raise funds for initial financial stabilization, we all face hard choices about the future,' Ms. Kerger said.
The public broadcasting system — PBS, NPR, and hundreds of local public TV and radio stations — has been staggered by the congressional vote to eliminate federal funding. With the last of the money scheduled to run out in October, station managers across the country are slashing budgets to stay in the black.
The cuts have also affected NPR, which is eliminating roughly $8 million of its overall budget as a result of the cuts. The organization's chief executive, Katherine Maher, told Texas Public Radio that those reductions were a 'first step' toward figuring out how to move forward without federal funding.
PBS is disproportionately affected by the loss of federal funding because it has historically relied on the Corporation for Public Broadcasting more than NPR has. The organization also received $23 million in federal funding from the Department of Education to support children's programming, which has also been eliminated.
It is not clear what the budget cuts mean for the day-to-day operations of PBS. The most beloved public TV shows, such as 'Sesame Street,' 'Daniel Tiger's Neighborhood' and 'PBS NewsHour,' are distributed by PBS but produced by third-party organizations. The Corporation for Public Broadcasting contributed funding for some shows, meaning that there are likely to be many funding gaps.
One likely impact will be staff reductions, said Alex Curley, a public media analyst who publishes a Substack newsletter focused on the topic.
'PBS hasn't gone through substantial layoffs since 2020, unlike NPR,' Mr. Curley said. 'It's hard to imagine they'll be able to avoid them with a budget reduction this large.'
While both PBS and NPR will survive the funding cuts, scores of stations across the United States are at risk of going dark. Many smaller radio and TV stations, particularly those that serve rural areas, received a large proportion of their annual budget from the Corporation for Public Broadcasting.