APTS Seeks $50M More in CPB Funding, Projects Eventual ATSC 3.0 $100M

The $50 million in 2019 would be the first increase in CPB funding in 10 years, Butler told the APTS board. The current appropriation is $445 million, which CPB passes along to public broadcast entities. Butler said U.S. lawmakers encouraged him to pursue the $50 million. He said the White House “almost certainly” will again recommend zero funding for CPB. APTS members will stump for the additional funds during Capitol Hill visits Wednesday, he said.

House Appropriations Committee Chair Nita Lowey, D-N.Y., and Education Appropriations Subcommittee ranking member Rosa DeLauro, D-Conn., encouraged him to seek the funding increase, Butler said. “We have been advised both by senior Democrats and Republicans that this is a reasonable request.”

Though Butler warned previous APTS summits PBS was facing an uphill funding battle, he told us that changed with Democratic control of the House. “We were in a terrible budgetary and political situation for years,” Butler said in an interview. After the 2018 elections, lawmakers who have been “champions” for PBS funding are now in positions of responsibility, he said. APTS will honor House Majority Leader Steny Hoyer, D-Md., and Sen. Susan Collins, R-Maine, this week as champions of public broadcasting, Butler said.

Public TV officials said they're optimistic about the funding ask. Despite repeated White House calls to defund PBS, Hill lawmakers in both parties generally have supported PBS, said KUED Salt Lake City General Manager James Morgese. “They told me 'we don't have a king,'” Morgese said of his visits to the Hill last year. Years of “budget austerity” won public TV political allies, said APTS Chair and Mississippi Public Broadcasting Executive Director Ronnie Agnew. The White House didn't comment.

The funding increase is justified because a decade of level funding caused public TV stations to lose purchasing power due to inflation, Butler said. He advised stations to emphasize the funds will allow more educational efforts. To have resources to seek the funding increase and allow public TV to take full advantage of monetary opportunities from ATSC 3.0, APTS is also increasing membership dues, Butler said. The goal is to collect an additional $300,000 in membership revenue, and recruit additional lawmakers to support public TV.

Public TV will seek additional revenue by renting out spectrum for wireless applications using ATSC 3.0, Butler said, conceding that revenue may be a long way off. “Adopting the new ATSC 3 broadcast standard, on a voluntary, market-by-market basis, will take years,” Butler said. “That process must be substantially completed to free up the spectrum we need to build the business we want.” Smart cities, connected cars and the IoT are likely to need the spectrum of local PBS stations to send their signals, Butler said. “Is all this a $100 million business? We don’t know. But we’re going to find out." He said all PBS stations will be able to “share fully in this business” regardless of size.

The additional promise of 3.0 and public TV's focus on localism will let it outlast commercial broadcast networks, said Jeffrey Cole, who directs the University of Southern California's Annenberg Center for the Digital Future. Amazon has begun showing interest in sports TV, Cole said, and he predicts it soon will compete with traditional networks for major sports league programming rights. “Who is going to outbid the richest man in the world?” Cole asked about Amazon CEO Jeff Bezos. Without sports that provide their highest-rated content, networks will collapse and shift to over-the-top, Cole said. That could open an opportunity for public TV, he said. “You own that local business,” he told the audience. “ATSC 3.0 provides all kinds of ways of doing with broadcast what digital has done,” Cole said. “That's a space you move into and no one can touch you.”