Photo Credit: Markus Winkler
About one week after the House again voted to claw back $1.1 billion in public broadcasting funds, the overarching rescissions package has officially become law.
President Trump just recently signed that package, which extends to a total of $9 billion in spending. Therein, the rescissions have axed $535 million in annual Corporation for Public Broadcasting (CPB) funding across 2026 and 2027. The CPB, in turn, issues grants to NPR and PBS.
Unsurprisingly, the latter two entities are far from thrilled with the cuts. As we’ve noted when covering the rescissions’ legislative journey, however, the funding in question technically accounts for a small portion of their annual budgets, referring specifically to 2% for NPR and 15% for PBS.
Nevertheless, some lawmakers and reports have pointed to possible fiscal fallout and corresponding operational obstacles for local affiliate stations. Time will, of course, reveal the precise impact here.
More immediately, as we previously highlighted, both NPR and PBS have been urging public donations in response to the sliced funding. “Defunded but not defeated,” reads a red banner situated prominently on PBS.org’s homepage. “Your support is essential. Help keep your local PBS station strong.”
Per the New York Times, several stations have benefited from a “sharp uptick” in donations since Congress approved the rescissions.
One of those stations, Colorado’s Rocky Mountain Public Media, disclosed receiving north of 6,600 donations last weekend alone, with over 1,000 new supporters and one $500,000 donation.
On LinkedIn, president and CEO Amanda Mountain describes Rocky Mountain Public Media as a “$25 million/year dual-licensee public media station.” In other words, the funding influx is significant and, should the momentum continue, could prove a net positive (or at least something close to that) for multiple stations.
Additionally, dedicated drives and outreach efforts to deep-pocketed parties as well as organizations will presumably fuel further fundraising. PBS CEO Paula Kerger recently discussed local-station assistance with philanthropic foundations, the Times indicated.
As things stand, affected stations are already implementing cost-saving measures – and shedding light on the portion of annual funding lost due to the rescissions. While it probably doesn’t need saying, every market and station is different.
But at a glance, the station-specific fallout doesn’t appear insurmountable. For instance, Vermont Public serves the entire state (population 650,000) and will reportedly part with $4 million in federal funding across 2026 and 2027 – or 10% of its budget.
Despite streaming’s prevalence, a clear-cut majority of Americans still listen to terrestrial radio on a weekly basis. On the other hand, platforms like YouTube and Netflix have been steadily chipping away at the television consumption shares of cable and broadcast.
To be sure, streaming’s television usage percentage topped its combined cable and broadcast counterpart for the first time in May, per Nielsen. That there are more visual media options than ever today – besides non-public local news stations to boot – is worth keeping in mind on the PBS side.
