PBS slashes budget by 21% following congressional funding cuts

PBS is cutting its budget by 21%, a spokesperson confirmed to CBS News on Friday.

The public media company's board approved the budget cut Wednesday, according to the PBS spokesperson. Board members also voted to reduce dues paid by local stations by $35 million, a move that will slow the spigot of money PBS sources from its wide-spanning member network. The reduction was earlier reported by the New York Times.

The PBS spokesperson didn't immediately respond to questions about what the cuts could mean for the future of the broadcaster, which provides news and educational programming to more than 130 million people each year.

The budget reduction comes after Congress passed legislation last month that strips about $1 billion in funding for the Corporation for Public Broadcasting, or CPB, a decades-old nonprofit that supports public radio and television stations, including NPR and PBS. In response, the CPB announced earlier this month that it would begin winding down its operations.

Both NPR and PBS receive roughly half a billion dollars in public funding through the CPB.

Some PBS' member stations, which rely heavily on federal funding, have already taken a hit — something PBS CEO Paula Kerger warned about when the bill was moving through Congress.

"These cuts will significantly impact all of our stations, but will be especially devastating to smaller stations and those serving large rural areas," Kerger said in a statement after the Senate approved the rescissions package in July.

The PBS network consists of approximately 350 locally controlled and operated public television stations, according to the CPB website.

Among them is NJ PBS, New Jersey's public television network, which confirmed Friday it's planning to downsize its staff as a result of the slowdown in state and federal funding. Some stations in California have also cut staff as a result of the funding reductions, according to CalMatters, a California-focused publication.

"Due to a significant cut to our New Jersey state funding and the recent rescission of CPB funds, we are facing a financial reality that requires NJ PBS to make the difficult decision to reduce the size of the NJ Spotlight News team," a spokesperson told CBS News in an email.

The spokesperson added that, in addition to streamlining operations, the network will work toward a "sustainable, multiplatform, more digital-forward future."

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