PBS President and CEO Paula Karger is in a race against time. Public television and radio stations across the country typically receive their annual grants from the Corporation for Public Broadcasting in November. But after President Donald Trump signed the repeal bill in July, $1.1 billion in federal funding earmarked for public broadcasting in 2026 and 2027 was eliminated, forcing a scramble to close the funding gap. This is especially urgent for small stations in local markets that have relied heavily on federal funding to sustain operations.
Several PBS stations are already at risk of closure. Penn State announced plans to close its public television station WPSU (now likely to survive through acquisition by Philadelphia station WHYY), while New Jersey’s PBS said its sister station will likely close next year. Meanwhile, state legislatures such as North Dakota and Indiana have also cut funding for local public broadcasters.
“My biggest concern is the most vulnerable stations, so I’ve spent a lot of time working with some other stations and some major foundations to try to raise money to give these stations a glide path so they have a few years of funding to decide if they want to consolidate or merge,” Karger said.
“Some of the smaller stations are considering coming together in some sort of common agreement that would change the way they operate but would keep local media in communities across the country,” she added. “I think this is a really good model. There are some stations that are looking at merging with neighboring stations to serve a larger market. And there will be some stations that feel this is a bridge too far and decide not to proceed.”
In light of these budget shortfalls, PBS has reduced the membership fees it requires from member stations. But that means less money coming in to cover PBS’s own budget. The station recently announced it would lay off about 15% of its workforce. After the U.S. Department of Education eliminated CPB’s Ready to Learn subsidy in May, PBS Kids programming was among the hardest hit.
Karger is also looking to raise money through the nonprofit PBS Foundation to cover the cost of fares it funds or produced by partner stations such as WGBH Boston, WNET New York and WETA Washington.
“Obviously, the No. 1 priority is the PBS NewsHour, because it’s an ongoing news operation that’s always burning money,” Karger said. “And we’re also looking at some big series where CPB has been helpful, like ‘Nova,’ ‘Nature,’ and ‘Great Performances.’
But Kelger said PBS needs to adjust its output. For example, the long-running series “American Experience” will go on hiatus after the two-part series “Kissinger” airs later this month.
“By the end of the year, there will be no one left on American Experience,” said executive producer Cameo George. “There are no new movies. There were movies in the works for 2026, but those movies were canceled when the news broke that funding was cut and PBS decided they didn’t want to fund future seasons…I always hope that PBS would bring back ‘American Experience,’ because I think it’s fundamental to understanding American history.”
Next year, PBS plans to rebroadcast episodes from its programming library that align with the theme of America’s 250th anniversary, Karger said. Beyond that, PBS still has plenty of original programming planned for 2026, but the service could rely heavily on reruns of marquee shows like Ken Burns’ “Civil War” to make up for budget deficits.
“Some series may have fewer episodes and tap into deeper parts of the library,” she says. “We have incredible assets, but a lot of the content we have isn’t seen by a lot of people.”
From the moment President Lyndon B. Johnson signed the Public Broadcasting Act of 1967, the threat of ending federal funding for public broadcasting was lurking. Fred Rogers, host of “Mister Rogers,” famously addressed Congress during a 1969 hearing defending the need for and use of funds to support services.
But as the threat became real under the Trump administration, some filmmakers feared their stories would be watered down to avoid any controversy. Mark Levin, creator of the recent “American Experience” series “Hard Hat Riot,” told Variety that he was asked to remove the 1980 ending in which President Ronald Reagan says, “We will make America great again.” “They were worried that in this political atmosphere, the show wouldn’t get aired,” Levin said. (George says it was a creative decision, “not a political one.”)
Asked whether the current environment could influence PBS’s editorial decisions, Karger said, “They’ve already taken our money away. If there was a risk like that, I think you’ve seen it before, but we obviously don’t want to do that.” “But I feel like we’ve been struggling all year, but we’ve never backed away from the programs that we proposed. I think we gave a very fair and honest assessment of the first 100 days of the Trump administration on ‘Frontline.’ The NewsHour continues the same quality journalism we always do. When we were fighting with the federal government, some people asked me, “What if we agreed to quit our newscasts?” To me, that feels completely contrary to our mission and what we’re supposed to do. I think people are now relying more and more on us for reliable information. The best thing we can continue to do is just keep moving forward and keep doing the work that the world expects of us to do. ”
Karger listed a litany of situations in which public broadcasting has come under criticism over the past 10 months, starting with FCC Chairman Brendan Kerr’s letter to PBS accusing the broadcaster of running ads and telling Congress to cut off advertising funding if he did. A letter of inquiry from the FCC followed and the investigation continued. Then an executive order was issued that made it illegal for federal funds to go to PBS or NPR. There was a House subcommittee hearing in which Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene (R-Ga.) accused PBS and NPR of becoming “radical left echo chambers.” These included defunding children’s services and firing Democratic members of the CPB board.
“We have a lot of conservative donors who support us because they believe that the work we do is actually not only fair, but valuable,” Karger says, pointing to series like “Breaking the Deadlock” and “Firing Line.” “There has to be a place that brings different points of view to the fore in a non-adversarial way, where people at least want to hear each other’s opinions. It’s up to us to work harder to make sure we bring the vast array of perspectives from across the country forward.”
The challenge going forward is finding ways to work with the filmmaking community even at a time when resources are dwindling, she added. “While we may not be able to do as much in the short term as we are trying to do, I am determined as we move forward that we are not just stuck with long-running series. We must continue to invest in programs that are responsive to the moment.”
Due to the current government shutdown, there is clearly no movement at this time on efforts to restore public media funding. But Kelger says she’s not giving up the fight. “It’s not over yet,” she says. “Back to the conversation. I’ve spent time talking to people on both sides of the aisle on the Hill, and I think there are some possibilities, especially in next year’s budget. It may take a while for that to move forward. But I just want to be clear that we’re not giving up on federal (funding).”
But Kelger is realistic that a “white knight” will not emerge to save public broadcasting. That’s why, over the long term, PBS is considering reducing its own assets, the types of programming it greenlights, where PBS should focus in this changing media landscape, and how it can rely more on philanthropic support.
“We’re very encouraged by the fact that so many people are getting involved,” Kelger said. “All of these donations that we receive to our PBS Foundation will be extremely helpful as we try to figure out how to exactly right size our organization so that we can operate based on the amount of resources that we have.”
