Arkansas public television budget bill wins final approval in House

This article was first published by the Arkansas Advocate and is republished here under a Creative Commons license.

The Arkansas public television network’s budget bill is headed to Gov. Sarah Huckabee Sanders’ desk after winning final House approval Tuesday, but an effort to use state funding to match donations aimed at keeping PBS programs faces an uncertain future.

The Republican-led House has repeatedly taken several attempts to pass the appropriation for Arkansas TV, known as Arkansas PBS until December, when the network’s governing body made it the first in the nation to begin the process of cutting ties with PBS.

Appropriations need 75 votes to pass the House. Arkansas TV’s appropriation received 89 votes Tuesday, a day after it fell short of the minimum needed by three votes.

Republican Rep. Wayne Long of Bradford voted against the appropriation in 2024 and 2025, but he urged his colleagues to pass the bill Tuesday.

He said he doesn’t want “the government to be involved in the broadcasting business,” and he claimed Arkansas TV was “very biased” under previous leadership and the PBS name.

Arkansas TV CEO Carlton Wing was a Republican House member for nearly a decade before resigning in September to take over the public television network. He succeeded Courtney Pledger, whose eight-year tenure included multiple conflicts with the Legislature.

In 2024, Wing urged the House to pass the network’s appropriation while Long said defunding it would “be a very small step toward having smaller, more affordable government.”

On Tuesday, Long praised Wing and the Arkansas TV Commission for taking the network “in a totally new direction” and making an effort to split from PBS by July 1, the start of fiscal year 2027.

“Their new focus is a return to the roots of being an educational television network,” Long said. “Since I’ve failed to get rid of government television, the next best thing is to totally reform it.”

Wing has said Arkansas TV should prioritize in-house, Arkansas-specific programming. He has also said a PBS membership is unaffordable after the Corporation for Public Broadcasting closed, costing the state agency a major source of funding for PBS dues.

PBS supporters statewide told Arkansas TV leadership via email and in person that they did not buy the affordability argument and would not donate to the network if it left PBS. The network lost 3,738 donors between Nov. 30 and Feb. 28, Arkansas TV Foundation CEO Marge Betley told the commission March 12.

The commission voted to pause the disaffiliation process for 180 days until Sept. 8. Later in March, the foundation set up a fund solely for donations meant to pay for PBS dues, which would cost $2.1 million for fiscal year 2027.

Senate Bill 77 should incentivize donors to resume supporting Arkansas TV, Little Rock Democratic Sen. Clarke Tucker said last week. The bill would give the network the spending authority to match up to $550,000 from donors who want to keep PBS programs in the state.

Earlier last week, an anonymous donor pledged $1 million per year over the next three years to fund PBS dues on the condition that the network retains its PBS membership and that the foundation matches every dollar with contributions from other donors.

Senate Bill 77 passed the Senate Monday but was four votes short of passing the House Tuesday.

Bryant Republican Rep. RJ Hawk said Senate Bill 77 was an unnecessary addition to Arkansas TV’s regular appropriation, which he has routinely supported. He also said he supports Wing’s effort to make Arkansas TV’s broadcasts “all Arkansas, all the time” at a lower cost than PBS membership.

All 28 House members who voted no, voted present or did not vote on SB 77 were Republicans. Tucker told the Advocate he’s been in touch with some of those representatives to urge them to support the bill. The legislature is expected to wrap up its session Wednesday.

“You don’t know what’s going to happen until the votes are cast, but I’m going to keep working on it until we gavel out,” Tucker said.