STATEMENT

CPB to wind down operations

4 August 2025
PMA: The closure will harm Americans’ access to independent, trusted, and life-saving public service media content.
A gold wall has the CPB 'Corporation for Public Broadcasting' emblem embossed.
Washington, DC, USA- January 12, 2020: Corporation for Public Broadcasting (cpb) logo in Washington, DC, USA. The Corporation for Public Broadcasting is an American non-profit corporation. Credit: JHVEPhoto / Shutterstock.com

After Congress approved a bill stripping US public media of $1.1 billion worth of federal funding in July, the Corporation for Public Broadcasting (CPB) – the organisation that oversees the distribution of that funding – announced it will shut down its operations.

In a statement on 2 August, the CPB’s President and CEO, Patricia Harrison, said, “Despite the extraordinary efforts of millions of Americans who called, wrote, and petitioned Congress to preserve federal funding for CPB, we now face the difficult reality of closing our operations.”

“Public media has been one of the most trusted institutions in American life, providing educational opportunity, emergency alerts, civil discourse, and cultural connection to every corner of the country,” Harrison said. “We are deeply grateful to our partners across the system for their resilience, leadership, and unwavering dedication to serving the American people.”

What is the CPB?

The Corporation of Public Broadcasting is an independent non-profit entity, overseen by a Board of Directors. It was established by the Public Broadcasting Act in 1967.

70 percent of its funding goes directly to public radio and television stations, and funds programmes, infrastructure, digital platforms amongst other things. It has a specific mandate to invest in content for underserved communities.

Board members are appointed by the President and confirmed by the Senate. The Board is responsible for appointing the President and CEO of the CPB.

The Corporation for Public Broadcasting has been an Affiliate Member of the Public Media Alliance since 2019.

“This is a devastating outcome for the millions of Americans who use and depend on public service media,” said PMA’s CEO, Kristian Porter. “The Corporation for Public Broadcasting is a vital institution, serving as the distributor of federal funding, ensuring the independence and sustainability of hundreds of local public media stations.”

The CPB invests in projects like the Next Generation Warning System, collaborations between public media stations, digital transformation training. While CPB does not produce content itself, it funds public service-minded programmes, kids’ content, media and information literacy training, and underserved audiences.

“The CPB provides grants that local public media stations depend on to produce quality content,” Porter said. “They are an incubator for innovations and collaborations between public broadcasters. They underpin public media’s role as critical infrastructure when emergencies occur, as seen in the California wildfires earlier this year. And they support the digital transformation programme, ensuring public media remains relevant and accessible for all audiences.

“This is the latest blow for US public media under the Trump administration, having gutted USAGM, the agency that funds international outlets such as VOA, RFA and RFE, earlier this year. We stand in solidarity with our friends and colleagues at CPB and across the public media industry during this uncertain time.”

Most CPB employees will leave at the end of September, with a small transition team remaining until January 2026 to see out the end of operations.

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