Arkansas TV commission pauses plan to drop PBS membership

The Arkansas Educational Television Commission voted Thursday to delay the state network’s disaffiliation from PBS.

During a quarterly meeting attended by PBS President Paula Kerger and supporters of a new nonprofit advocating to preserve PBS programming for the state, Kerger warned that donations for the network would dry up if the public does not have a say in the matter.

Kerger told commissioners that their Dec. 11 decision to drop PBS membership, originally set to take effect June 30, was hastily made without consideration of the public’s willingness to support Arkansas TV and based on a misunderstanding of PBS’ bylaws.

Kerger asked the commission “to give yourself a little time to think about it” and how local supporters are reacting to the change. “At least get the public’s voice into the conversation. That’s the important thing, because ultimately that is why we’re all standing here.”

After Kerger spoke, Commissioner Cynthia Nance offered a motion to suspend or pause Arkansas TV’s split with PBS for 180 days. The commission will use that time to “evaluate other resources that may be available” to support the retention of PBS programming. The motion passed 4-1. Commissioner Maria Sullivan, whose husband, Arkansas state Sen. Dan Sullivan, is a vocal critic of the state-owned TV network, voted against the motion.

“I think there’s an enthusiastic group of Arkansans who would continue to step up and support and help us sustain this relationship,” Nance said. She added that Arkansas TV can meet the state legislature’s demands to produce more Arkansas-focused productions while maintaining its PBS programming.

Commissioner Gary Newton, who was elected chair during the meeting, expressed skepticism about the motion before and after the vote and abstained from voting. “I do not want to present to the public that if you send in your money, that this is going to change. That puts an unreasonable burden on the donors, on the citizens,” Newton said. “I just don’t see the necessity of pausing this period.”

Friends of Arkansas PBS, a nonprofit that launched in February in response to the disaffiliation plan, helped to focus public attention on the changes coming to the state network and generated a big turnout for the meeting. Multiple speakers pleaded with commissioners, and some questioned their intentions for cutting ties to PBS. At times, an overflow crowd outside the meeting room cheered after station supporters and PBS executives spoke.

“Please reconsider your shortsighted decision,” said Peggy Weatherly, the widow of Allen Weatherly, who directed the Arkansas public television network for 16 years. “Fight with the citizens of Arkansas to keep PBS here. And don’t let those in the state who would like to keep us uneducated win the battle.”

Before the vote, Kerger told the commissioners that by shutting the public out of their decision to drop PBS membership, they risked alienating viewers and donors who value PBS programming. The pause gives them “a window to step up,” she said. Without that, “you’re going down a path, and there’s no motivation for them to give, because you’re on a path to disaffiliate by June.”

Commissioner Woody Freeman, whose term as chair ended with the meeting, told Kerger that her warning “makes sense.” He later said, “I always like to give somebody a second chance.”

Ann Cowie, the commission’s secretary and treasurer, said that’s exactly what the public is asking for — time to raise the money to keep PBS programming freely accessible in Arkansas.

Misunderstanding over 180 days  

In December, the commission approved a disaffiliation plan by new Executive Director Carlton Wing to rebrand Arkansas PBS to Arkansas TV and drop its PBS membership as of June 30. The decision responded to the loss of approximately $2.5 million of annual CPB funding after Congress rescinded the corporation’s appropriations. Wing, a former Republican state representative and co-founder of Wing Media Group, planned a slate of original productions and national programs from American Public Television and the National Educational Telecommunications Association.

At Thursday’s commission meeting, Kerger recalled watching the board’s disaffiliation vote Dec. 11 “with some frustration.”

In response to the CPB rescission, PBS had reduced Arkansas TV’s dues from $2.4 million to $2 million, Kerger said. For fiscal year 2027, which begins July 1, the network’s estimated dues payment would be $2.1 million. “So slightly more, and that is basically to keep us sort of flat,” she added. “But that is again a significant reduction of what the dues would’ve been had the defunding not happened.”

Kerger clarified a point of friction over a clause in PBS’ bylaws that specifies a 180-day period for stations to give notice about dropping PBS membership. Arkansas TV leaders cited the provision and the threat of paying another year of dues as the reason to vote in December.

Kerger told the commission that the 180 days is a “rolling” date, not a hard deadline, of the time it takes to “unwind” a station’s membership. “It’s a much bigger relationship than just saying, ‘We don’t want the content anymore,’” she said.

“You didn’t have to vote in December for a full year” of PBS membership, she said. “All you had to do was just let us know at any point, ‘We’re going to disaffiliate. We think we want to move ahead,’ and then we would work with you within that 180 days. And if there’s some compelling reason that 180 days feels like it’s a bridge too far, we’ll work with you on that.”

Arkansas Assistant Attorney General William Puddephatt, whose interpretation of the 180-day clause influenced the commission’s vote in December, defended his analysis to the commission Thursday. He said he had reviewed the PBS bylaws and communicated with PBS’ legal team before advising the commission that they had to vote in December or would be obligated to pay PBS dues in full for FY27.

Kerger said Puddephatt might have confused rules regarding PBS membership dues with the annual certification paperwork that PBS requires of member stations under FCC regulations. “All I can tell you is what our rules are,” she said. “Somehow, something got conflated.”

“At any time, you can decide that you don’t want to be a PBS member,” Kerger said. “Once you notify us … you have 180 days until you terminate your membership as PBS, and then we would prorate your dues or whatever for the full year. You’re not on the hook. … You have that flexibility.”

Responding to a question from Commission Chair Gary Newton, she added, “With all due respect, I can tell you, sir, that I have an email trail back and forth where we clarified that this is the policy. So I don’t understand why it continued to be misunderstood.”

‘We have to deal with the facts’

Kerger told the commission that she’s very concerned about the future health of Arkansas TV, warning that the network could see a steep drop in donor support if it removes PBS programming. She cited a decision by KCET in Los Angeles to disaffiliate in 2011, which put the station in a financial freefall that later led to its 2018 merger with PBS SoCal. Raising revenues from corporate underwriting sales, another potential revenue source for Arkansas TV, has become challenging for public TV stations nationwide, she added. Kerger said she would be willing to help make the case for more state funding if the network maintains PBS membership.

Wing pushed back on PBS’ ability to help raise additional money. “You say you’ve got people that are ready and willing to raise money,” he said. “That’s great. If they’re willing to sign a promissory note, that’s different. We have to deal with the facts as they are in front of us right now, which is the money that we have and the money that we don’t.”

“If money comes in in the future, then perhaps the whole decision-making process can be changed,” Wing continued. “But as an executive director, I have to see … that there’s a balance sheet.”

Marge Betley, CEO of the Arkansas PBS Foundation, a nonprofit that raises private funds for the network, told the commission that pausing disaffiliation provides a window to make the case for maintaining PBS programming in Arkansas. “There is certainly a heightened awareness around this now that did not exist six months ago of just how consequential contributions are.”

The foundation has received more than 1,000 phone calls, emails and letters decrying the PBS cancellation since the commission voted to disaffiliate, she said.

Donors “have expressed feelings ranging from disappointment to frustration and anger,” Betley said. Some said they will cancel their donations — either immediately or later this year. Others said they’ll consider maintaining it if they like the new programming.

As of Nov. 30, the network had 26,061 active donors, she said. By Feb. 28, the total had dropped 14% to 22,323, representing a loss of 3,738 active donors. The decline of active donors is significant, she said, but due to the flood of donations triggered by the federal rescission, total revenues raised through individual contributions are currently higher than last fiscal year.

“We share this information not to be the voice of doom and gloom,” Betley said, “but because we need to be aware of what the financial picture is in order to be able to do thoughtful planning for the future.”

When Arkansas TV unveils its new program schedule later this year, fundraisers will be better able to promote the new programs in donor messages. “We have to reckon with our current reality and what our current donors at least are telling us about their views,” she said. “I hope that I will be able to report better numbers in June.”

Nashville PBS CEO Becky Magura, a PBS board member and vice chair of APT, also addressed the commission, asking them to “just take a little time” to reconsider their decision to disaffiliate. The PBS board is willing to listen to their concerns, she said. 

“The good people of Arkansas, they deserve PBS,” Magura said. 

PBS as a defense against chaos

Several donors to the Arkansas TV Foundation addressed the commission during the meeting.

“Things are going to go downhill. You’re going to have some real serious problems.” said Rod Neal of the Parkway Village retirement community in Little Rock. “The longer you wait to make a decision to get back to the PBS network, the worse it’s going to be.”

Paula Johnson of Little Rock called for more public input on future decisions. “My husband and I rely heavily on the programming you provide,” she said. “We are seniors who no longer widely travel, and we don’t attend many evening cultural events. This PBS programming fills the gap in our lives.” She is an Ambassadors Circle donor who contributes an annual gift of $600 or more, she told the commission.

Alois Adams, a retired physics professor at the University of Arkansas at Little Rock, spoke to the value of PBS’ educational programming. “Some of you may be familiar with the second law of thermodynamics. It has to do with entropy. If an isolated system doesn’t get input from the outside, it generally becomes disordered … and becomes chaotic. Please look at PBS as maybe some of that outside influence that would keep our society ordered and away from chaos.”

Other speakers expressed skepticism that the decision to drop PBS was really about the cost of membership. Josh Black of Conway expressed his wish to “have an honest public dialogue instead of this facade of a pretense that this is a financial issue. … This is a political and ideological issue.”

“I’m here because I’m angry — angry that my two homeschooled daughters, [who] adore and rely on PBS programming, will no longer have access to the shows that they know and love,” he added. He described PBS Kids as programming that he and his wife can trust with their children.

“Undoubtedly and undeniably,” Black said, “cutting PBS programming will push children towards programming that is ultracommercialized and far more problematic and unhealthy.”

The co-chairs of Friends of Arkansas PBS — former Arkansas first ladies Barbara Pryor, widow of Gov. David Pryor, a Democrat who served on the CPB board; and Gay White, who was married to the late Gov. Frank White, a Republican — also spoke.

Pryor described the new local programs on Arkansas TV as “absolutely excellent,” while adding that PBS is a “great tool for educating our people. … I think that PBS is the best.”

“I know that you’re thinking about … the budget, but I feel like there’s a strong enough feeling … that we can solve the financial part of it,” she said. “We will see what happens if you give us a chance.”

Speaking separately, White told the commission, “You know my desire would be to keep PBS in Arkansas. And I’m speaking … as a donor and someone who loves some of the programs. And I will add that I don’t watch them all. Some of them I’ve found less to my liking, so I don’t watch those.” She praised British dramas such as Call the Midwife and All Creatures Great and Small, as well as Nature, Nova, Great Performances, PBS Kids and Ken Burns.

After the vote concluded, Clemmer, the commission’s newly elected vice chair, warned that PBS lovers need to put their money behind their expressions of support. “I hope people hear that we listened,” she said. If the financial outlook doesn’t improve, “our original decision from December is going to hold. We’re not going to have a choice.”

The public, underwriting sponsors and the foundation need to step up, or “we’re just going to be back where we were,” she said.

Clemmer acknowledged that Peggy Weatherly’s remarks influenced her decision to approve the motion. 

Clemmer, Newton and Cowie — each of whom moved into commission leadership roles at the meeting — voted in December to drop PBS membership.