public television

The House has approved funding for the Corporation for Public Broadcasting, the independent agency that dispenses federal money for noncommercial media. The $495 million in funding, which was not only full funding but an additional $50 million, is for 2022. CPB is forward funded in an attempt to depoliticize the process.

The full House Appropriations Committee has proposed to increase funding for the Corporation for Public Broadcasting, approving the recommendation of the Subcommittee on Labor, Health and Human Services, Education and Related Agencies, which last month approved a funding boost of $50 million (or about 15%) to $495 million for fiscal year 2022.

The digital media executive will help accelerate cultural transformation, innovation and content creation throughout the public media system.

Representatives of noncommercial stations tell FCC officials that allowing sales of the educational spectrum could create a “hostile leasing environment.”

President Trump has once again recommended phasing out federal funding for noncommercial TV and radio — comprising about 15% of noncom’s total budget — but if recent past is any guide, he does not have enough support in Congress on either side of the aisle. The phase-out was part of the President’s budget, submitted to Congress last week.

America’s Public Television Stations celebrates the senior U.S. senator from Maine with the group’s Champion of Public Broadcasting Award, citing her longtime support for federal funding for public media.

The Knight Foundation says it will invest $300 million in local journalism over the next five years. Among the beneficiaries are the American Journalism Project, which provides grants to local nonprofit news organizations; the investigative site ProPublica; Report for America, a service organization that pays for the hiring of local journalists; and PBS’s Frontline, the documentary program that’s making its first foray into local news.

PBS, already offering programs on streaming outlets such as Amazon, Netflix and Roku, is considering additional agreements with Sling TV and YouTube TV. “We’ve been in discussions with them,” said PBS President Paula Kerger Saturday during the PBS portion of the annual winter press tour for TV writers. “I’m not making any announcements today, but stay tuned. … We think that’s certainly a place that our viewers would appreciate.”

PBS has signed a long-term lease on a new headquarters less than a mile from its current location in Arlington, Va., and will move in summer 2020. The broadcaster has been housed at 2100 Crystal Drive since 2006. That lease expires in 2021, PBS President Paula Kerger told GMs in an email.

Noncommercial TV stations want the FCC to let them spend the money on a post-incentive auction repack campaign funded by Congress in the Ray Baum’s FCC reauthorization act. That would include coordinating the campaign for both noncommercial and commercial stations.

WNET’s ambitious All Arts multicast channel and streaming service could develop into a package of cultural content available to stations nationwide. Some content, including an original show, is now available online. The complete network will launch Jan. 28.