The Corporation for Public Broadcasting (CPB) has announced it will shut down. The move follows the Republican Party’s cutting of all the nonprofit’s funding. 89 NPR and PBS station transmitters in New York will be affected.
CPB, a private, nonprofit corporation authorized by Congress in 1967, is the steward of the federal government’s investment in public broadcasting. It’s support for more than 1,500 locally managed and operated public television and radio stations nationwide will end in September the organization said.
CPB is also the largest single source of funding for research, technology, and program development for public radio, television, and related online services.
For nearly 60 years, CPB has carried out its Congressional mission to build and sustain a public media system in the public interest that informs and educates across the country.
Through partnerships with local stations and producers, CPB has supported educational content, locally relevant journalism, emergency communications, cultural programming, and essential services for Americans in every community.
Some of America’s most popular children’s educational programs have come from CPB funding. These include, historically, “Sesame Street” (including Jim Henson’s Muppets) and “Mister Rogers’ Neighborhood;” and currently PBS Kids’ “Daniel Tiger’s Neighborhood,” “Wild Kratts,” “Molly of Denali,” “Work It Out Wombats!,” and “Lyla in the Loop.”
A 2011 FCC Report found that children’s programming on cable television was dominated by entertainment programming while educational programming for children remained chiefly provided by public television.
Masterpiece Theater/Mystery, Sesame Street, This Old House, Austin City Limits, Antique Roadshow
Prime-time television funded by CPB on local PBS stations has historically included “PBS NewsHour,” “NOVA,” “Nature,” “FRONTLINE,” “American Experience” (which includes Jacques Cousteau and Kens Burns documentaries on such topics as the Civil War, baseball, and country music), “This Old House,” “Austion City Limits,” “Masterpiece Theater,” and “American Masters.”
CPB also funds NPR’s “Morning Edition” and “All Things Considered,” a prime vehicle for national news to rural areas. The FCC found that NPR had 17 international bureaus and a greater number of foreign correspondents than NBC, CBS, Fox News, or MSNBC.
A 2017 Congressional Research Service report found 90 percent of public radio stations provided local newscasts and about half carried local news on weekends.
Polls conducted by YouGov from 2022 through 2025 showed PBS and NPR to be among the most trusted media institutions in the U.S. and that trust in PBS and NPR was growing.
Five surveys conducted by YouGov and the Pew Research Center from February through July 2025 found consistent majorities or pluralities of Americans supported continuing federal funding for PBS and NPR.
Previously, in every year from 2004 through 2021, surveys of Americans had shown PBS to have been consistently ranked as the most trusted institution in comparison to commercial broadcast and cable television, newspapers, and streaming services, and in January 2021, Americans valued tax dollars spent on PBS behind only military defense and oversight of food and drug safety.
Under the Public Broadcasting Act of 1967, the congressional declaration of policy stated that it was in the public interest for the CPB to facilitate the development of educational, cultural, and other programming not provided by commercial broadcasters, as well as programming for audiences that were unserved or underserved by commercial broadcasters.
CPB said that the majority of staff positions will conclude with the close of the fiscal year on September 30, 2025. A small transition team will remain through January 2026 “to ensure a responsible and orderly closeout of operations.”
“This team will focus on compliance, final distributions, and resolution of long-term financial obligations, including ensuring continuity for music rights and royalties that remain essential to the public media system,” their statement said.
Donald Trump led the fight against CPB, which he has referred to as a “monstrosity,” calling NPR a “TOTAL SCAM!” in April.
On July 10th, Trump threatened lawmakers who did not support cutting funding for public media, saying any Republican who voted against the move would not receive his support or endorsement.
CPB costs about $1.1 billion in federal funding, about the same amount the federal government will spend to convert a Qatari “flying palace,” gifted to Trump, according to a report this week by Forbes.
(By way of comparison in spending, a recent Congressional report claims Elon Musk’s DOGE wasted $21.7 billion across the federal government in the first six months of the 2025. During that same period Federal spending totaled over $3.5 trillion, a $250 billion rise from the $3.25 trillion spent in the same period last year.)
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Map showing clusters of NPR and PBS stations funded by CPB courtesy CPB Station Finder
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