PBS has laid off 24 staffers across several departments and eliminated seven vacant positions, according to a staff memo obtained by Current.
PBS President Paula Kerger announced the cuts in a Tuesday memo to station managers.
“As we said in our Operating Plan and Budget document for the coming fiscal year, we continue to look for operational efficiencies in order to deliver the best value for stations. Like many of you, economic instability, disruption in the media landscape, and political uncertainty have forced us to really examine how we do business in order to best position ourselves for the future,” Kerger wrote. “After pursuing many other cost reduction efforts, we have chosen to make staff reductions in order to keep our spending in line with our recurring revenue, and invest resources in areas where we see the greatest opportunities.”
“It’s never easy to say goodbye to colleagues and friends, but we feel confident that this will position us well for the future,” Kerger added.
A PBS spokesperson said in an email that the reductions “impacted 4 and a half percent of our staff, and those impacts were felt throughout the organization.” PBS did not answer questions about which departments were affected and whether any VP or director-level positions were affected.
In March, PBS proposed a 4% station dues increase for fiscal year 2025. The network plans to invest more in enhancing PBS Passport, the membership streaming service, and the budget is also intended to support more local livestreams. The board of directors will vote on the budget at a meeting Tuesday.
Would love to know where the cuts are occurring. As a 50 year veteran of PTV employment, it still seems you have not learned ANYTHING with your pledge programming and personnel. They are whinglinly awful. Forget using PTV station staff and hire professionals. Get actors who have been in award winning projects to shill for funding. AND GET RID OF THE DOO-WAP if you want to entice younger supporters. Most of the fund raising breaks could have been produced in the ’60’s. Stop with the loving hands at home and get serious about the quality of fund-raising programs and shilling you are doing. It is cringingly bad!