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PBS CEO Paula Kerger expressed hope that some federal funding for public broadcasting could be restored in the next fiscal year, something that would be a breakthrough as stations scramble to address severe funding gaps.
Kerger noted that Democrats inserted public broadcasting funding into their overall continuing resolution proposal to keep the government open past Sept. 30.
“We’re back in the conversation,” Kerger said at the Axios Media Trends Live event in New York on Thursday.
The Democrats’ proposal includes $490.9 million for the Corporation for Public Broadcasting in the next fiscal year. That’s less than the $535 million that was initially allocated.
Republicans are moving to pass their own continuing resolution without funding for public broadcasting, but they ultimately will need Democratic votes in the Senate to keep the government open beyond the end of the month. That likely means some kind of compromise, or a government shutdown.
In July, at the request of President Donald Trump, GOP lawmakers passed a package that rescinded $1.1 billion in public broadcasting funding over the next two fiscal years, rolling back funds that already had been allocated.
The CPB, which distributes federal grants to public stations, PBS and NPR, announced in August that it was shutting down, as it faced the loss of all funding.
“I think as the dust starts to settle out, and people realize we’ve had a couple stations already indicate that they may have to go out of business, it’s all becoming real, and so that gives me a little bit of hope,” Kerger said at the Axios event. “I don’t think we’ll go back to where we were. But I think if we can pull some more money, and particularly money for our stations, I would put our money aside for now, if we can get money into stations across the country, that would be a huge.”
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