Current (https://current.org/tag/cpb-funding/)
The measure approved for consideration by the full House proposes an increase of nearly 27% from CPB’s current funding levels and recommends $20 million for a public safety program funded through FEMA.
The funding will be split evenly between radio and television, with $100 million prioritized for smaller stations.
The emergency funds provide extra assistance to small and rural public stations.
The bill specifies that CPB spend the funds to maintain programming and services and to preserve small and rural stations.
A Republican lawmaker accused CPB having an “agenda” by supporting three films.
The appearance was Pat Harrison’s first before the House subcommittee in 10 years.
Public broadcasters and their advocates aren’t waiting for President Trump’s initial budget to mobilize support for CPB funding.
If the White House is serious about reducing the deficit, its budget will target larger programs, Rep. Cole says.
The incoming president’s team is using the conservative Heritage Foundation’s budget blueprint as a template for spending cuts.
The report was commissioned by CPB to evaluate operations of consortia members.
The spending plan, the House GOP’s blueprint for balancing the federal budget by 2024, now goes to the Democratic-controlled Senate, which is widely expected to defeat it.
CPB is reassessing its funding commitments to several grantees that provide specialized assistance and diverse programming to the public TV system.
Three staff positions — including that of the television station manager — have been cut at WKYU at Western Kentucky University in Bowling Green. The lay-offs were part of a restructuring that prepares the dual licensee for a potential 10 percent reduction in federal funding. WKYU staff members who lost their jobs are Terry Reagan, development director; Linda Gerofsky, TV station manager; and Dorin Bobarnac, engineer. Thirty-one employees remain at the dual licensee. James Morgese, a veteran pubcaster who took over as director of educational telecommunications at the university earlier this month, told Current that the restructuring includes creation of a single content division and allows radio and television staff to collaborate in producing programs for radio, television and the web.
KPCC’s ambitious three-year, $10 million project to fortify its newsroom and serve more people of color has created an unintended casualty: The Los Angeles station lost the popular namesake of its top-rated morning news magazine, The Madeleine Brand Show, after changes that included a new co-host.
Public broadcasting became a trending topic during and after Wednesday night’s presidential debate, as GOP nominee Mitt Romney repeated his pledge to defund PBS and the NewsHour’s Jim Lehrer was roundly criticized for his performace as debate moderator.
CPB’s financial analysis on alternative funding sources for public broadcasting, prepared by consultants at Booz & Co. and delivered to Congress in June, has had little impact on lawmakers’ views about continuation of CPB’s annual federal appropriation to date, CPB staff reported during a Sept. 10 board meeting in Washington, D.C.
In the report, analysts for Booz examined a range of options for replacing CPB’s federal aid — from selling commercial advertising to tapping spectrum auction proceeds or selling pay-channel subscriptions, among others. They concluded that withdrawal of federal aid would have a “cascading debilitating effect,” starting first with stations serving rural areas and ultimately leading to collapse of the public broadcasting system. The dire predictions haven’t made much difference in swaying lawmakers on Capitol Hill, CPB’s government affairs staff reported to the board. “I think it’s fair to say that in the past two-and-a-half months there’s been a little change in the conversation regarding funding for public broadcasting, and the idea of commercials,” said Michael Levy, CPB executive vice president. CPB staff have been meeting with key Republicans and Democrats on the House and Senate appropriations committees to discuss why a purely commercial model for public broadcasting is not a viable option. The Booz analysis predicted that public TV could earn more revenue from commercial advertising sales than it now does from underwriting, but the switch to ads would prompt a large portion of those who provide private support to the field — individual donors, foundations and underwriters — to withdraw their support, resulting in a net revenue loss.
At least 10 public television stations could be at risk of losing vital CPB community service grants this fiscal year and next because they have not raised the required minimum of $800,000 in nonfederal financial support.
What if Congress stopped allocating federal aid to pubcasting? The latest bleak financial analysis from CPB, released last week, adds some specifics about how service would be affected in dozens of congressional districts across the land. Fifty-four public TV licensees in 19 states and 76 public radio operators in 38 states would be “at high risk of no longer being able to sustain operations” if federal aid ends, CPB asserts in a report backed by Booz & Co. and delivered to the appropriation committees June 20. Congress asked CPB for a report on the field’s economic options when lawmakers approved the most recent advance appropriation in December.
As in years past, the administration budget released on Feb. 5 [2007] calls for substantial cuts to CPB funding and other system line items. The White House would slice more than $140 million from the system’s current funding levels in fiscal 2008, a reduction of almost 25 percent from ’07…
Statement of Dean Burch, chair of the Federal Communications Commission, before the Subcommittee on Communications of the Senate Committee on Commerce on S.3558, April 1, 1970. A prominent progressive FCC member, Nicholas Johnson, also endorsed the bill. Mr. Chairman, I welcome this opportunity to give you the Commission’s views on S.3558, the “Public Broadcasting Financing Act of 1970”. This bill is designed to carry out the President’s recommendation, as set forth in his Message on Education Reform, to extend Federal support of the Corporation for Public Broadcasting. S.3558 would authorize annual appropriations for the Corporation through fiscal year 1973.