CPB on Monday sent a memo to public broadcasting stations detailing the 5 percent sequester of its $445 million 2013 appropriation.
“Reflecting our continued concern about the potential for additional budget actions in FY 2013,” CPB President Pat Harrison told pubcasting executives, CPB will base this fiscal year’s second Community Service Grant payments on an appropriation level of $421.415 million, which will incorporate a recalculation of the first CSG payment at $421.415 million. CSGs should be ready by April 1, she added.
By statute, Harrison said, the 5 percent cut will be allocated across all CPB functions (numbers rounded): System support, a total $26.7 million appropriation, will receive a $1.33 million cut; administration, $22.3 million, drops $1.11 million; television station grants, $222.8 million, drops $11.1 million; television programming, $74.3 million, drops $3.7 million; radio station grants, $69.3 million, drops $3.5 million; radio programming acquisition grants, $22.8 million, drops $1.1 million; and radio programming, $6.9 million, drops $347,000.
Last year, CPB received initial estimates of automatic budget cuts of around 8 percent, prompting it to recalculate CSGs. That figure dropped to between 5.1 percent and 5.3 percent last month.