APTS Could Face Difficulty in Push for Increased CPB Funding, Butler Says
America’s Public Television Stations CEO Patrick Butler isn’t concerned about public TV being level funded in the next federal budget, but in an interview Monday conceded that APTS plans to ask for a funding increase might face difficulties. “I want to manage expectations,” he told the 2020 APTS Public Media Summit.
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APTS plans to seek a $50 million funding increase for CPB. Some $20 million would fund station interconnects, and $30 million would be for the PBS Ready to Learn pre-K education program. There would be another $20 million annual investment in network infrastructure overseen by the Department of Homeland Security, related to using public media bandwidth for emergency communications, Butler said. APTS sought a $50 million CPB funding increase in FY 2020, received a $20 million bump, the first funding increase in a decade (see 1912170052).
Butler told the summit’s crowd of public TV general managers that the high federal deficit, the two-year budget agreement adopted by the House and Senate, and President Donald Trump’s renewed calls to zero out funding for CPB may limit budget “ambition.” There's “very little room for new funding in fiscal 2021.”
Despite Butler’s cautions, New Mexico PBS General Manager Franz Joachim said he’s confident APTS will be able to boost CPB’s funding again. “I was worried about them not getting it this year,” he said in an interview. APTS wouldn’t be seeking the increase if it didn’t feel it had a chance of success, Joachim said.
Butler emphasized APTS’ push for more state funding. The association has hired state-focused lobbying firm 50 State in an effort to get state funding for PBS stations back to the levels prior to the 2008 recession, he said. Public funding at the state and federal level remains a substantial share of PBS station support, Butler said.
ATSC 3.0 is an important part of public media’s plans to aid first responders, Butler said. Federal funding of public media infrastructure to help that effort “might be the best money Congress has ever spent,” he said. Summit sponsors include ATSC 3.0 booster Sinclair and subsidiary One Media. Joachim said he’s actively contacting and working with first responders as part of the effort to use public media spectrum for emergency communications.
NPR CEO John Lansing said the public radio programmer also is seeking ways to extend the reach of its content. It's working with CPB to create technology to allow more content sharing across networks, Lansing said. NPR needs to reach a younger, wider audience, Lansing said.
An APTS-NAB joint FCC petition on distributed transmission systems that broadcasters say are important for the new standard could be fast-tracked into a rulemaking, APTS General Counsel Lonna Thompson said in an interview. Media Bureau staff told us last week the proceeding could get action in “months” (see 2002200064).