Overview

• President Trump signed an executive order in May and Congress approved a rescissions package in July that clawed back $1.1 billion in CPB’s budget through fiscal 2027.
• CPB will eliminate most of its roughly 100 staff positions by the end of the fiscal year on September 30, with a small team remaining until January 2026 to complete legal and financial wind-down tasks.
• This marks the first time since the Public Broadcasting Act of 1967 that federal appropriations for public media have been fully withdrawn, ending CPB’s six-decade role as the primary conduit for public media funding.
• Over 1,500 local radio and television stations, especially rural affiliates reliant on CPB for up to 90% of their budgets, have launched emergency fundraising drives to avert closures.
• NPR and PBS are ramping up listener donations, corporate partnerships and other nonfederal revenue sources to sustain flagship news shows and children’s programming.