Overview
- Commissioners voted to keep PBS programming on APT through June 2026, averting an immediate disaffiliation.
- The commission formed a committee to design a statewide survey and draft a public disaffiliation plan in response to the governor’s letter.
- Talk of cutting ties intensified after APT lost nearly $3 million in CPB funding and scrutinized the roughly $2.2 million annual PBS membership fee.
- Some commissioners questioned PBS and NPR news for perceived bias, while viewers and donors organized petitions and outreach urging APT to stay with PBS.
- PBS content accounts for about 90% of APT’s schedule, and any disaffiliation would be the first by a U.S. public television network.