WASHINGTON—In a development that will end nearly 60 years of work to establish and sustain public media, the Corporation for Public Broadcasting has announced that it will begin an orderly wind-down of its operations.
The move comes after the passage of a Federal rescissions package that clawed back previously approved funding and the release of the Senate Appropriations Committee’s FY 2026 Labor, Health and Human Services, Education, and Related Agencies (Labor-H) appropriations bill that excludes funding for CPB for the first time in more than five decades.
As part of the plan to wind down operations, CPB told its employees Aug. 1 that most of its staff positions will end with the close of the fiscal year on Sept. 30.
A small transition team will remain through January ensure a responsible and orderly closeout of operations. The CPB said that this team will focus on compliance, final distributions and resolution of long-term financial obligations, including ensuring continuity for music rights and royalties that remain essential to the public media system.
“Despite the extraordinary efforts of millions of Americans who called, wrote, and petitioned Congress to preserve federal funding for CPB, we now face the difficult reality of closing our operations,“ CPB president and CEO Patricia Harrison said. “CPB remains committed to fulfilling its fiduciary responsibilities and supporting our partners through this transition with transparency and care.”
President Donald Trump and Republicans who have long sought to eliminate federal funding for public media, managed to achieve that goal this year with the passage of the rescissions package and plans to eliminate future funding for CPB.
CPB funding is relatively small part of the federal vudget, just $535 million in fiscal-year 2025. PBS and National Public Radio receive most of their funding from other sources. But CPB’s demise is likely to have a major impact on smaller local stations, vendors of broadcast equipment and funding for emergency alert systems, which have traditionally been financed by the CPB.
The CPB was established 1967 to “build and sustain a trusted public media system that informs, educates, and serves communities across the country,” it said.
More to come as reaction comes in.
