Commercial broadcasters should ‘foot the bill’ to set up trust fu...
Commercial broadcasters should “foot the bill” to set up trust fund that will take public broadcasting off “annual federal dole, remove corporate program sponsorship and free the service to pursue its mission without constant censorship pressures that come with…
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private funding,” said Jerold Starr, exec. dir. of Citizens for Independent Public Bcstg. (CIPB). He said commercial broadcasting was only industry that made money off public resource without paying for it. “Oil drillers, cattle grazers, cable operators and cellular phone companies all pay a fee for using public resources. Why not commercial broadcasters?” Starr asked. CIPB estimated public broadcasting needed $1 billion per year for all TV and radio, local and national programming and said funding could be accomplished by 5% tax on sale or transfer of TV and radio licenses, 2% tax on broadcast advertising and 2% annual spectrum fee or tax on spectrum auctions. Gore Commission, which explored social responsibilities of digital broadcasters, had suggested in 1998 that Congress create trust fund for public broadcasting and that, if it did, PBS should reduce or eliminate “enhanced underwriting,” which “closely resembles full commercial advertising,” Starr said.