GAO Reports Federal Funding Cuts Could Reduce Public Television's Children's Programming

GAO Reports Federal Funding Cuts Could Reduce Public Television's Children's Programming

Administration's Proposed Slashing of Funds Could Cause Stations to Go Dark

WASHINGTON, Feb. 21 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- If federal funding were reduced by the twenty-five percent recently proposed by The Bush Administration, Public Television stations would need to reduce their level of service, or some would completely shut down their operations, a GAO study released this week reported.

The report comes just weeks after President Bush proposed slashing federal funding for public broadcasting, including the Corporation of Public Broadcasting (CPB), by roughly $145 million in his FY 2008 budget submission to Congress.

The GAO study, "Telecommunications: Issues Related to the Structure and Funding of Public Television," reviewed revenue, membership and programming data for all Public Television licensees. The GAO also interviewed officials from 54 of Public Television's 173 licensees, CPB, PBS, federal agencies, and program producers for commercial and Public Television.

Association of Public Television Stations President and CEO John Lawson said: "In 2005, Rep. Ginny Brown-Waite stood on the House floor and made false claims about a 'billion dollar Big Bird' in a failed effort to cut public broadcasting's federal funding by 45 percent. When the House voted to restore our funding anyway, she and Rep. Candice Miller sent the GAO to prove that we were hoarding funds or could reap huge windfalls from the private sector if we only tried harder."

"Now that the GAO has officially refuted their positions, we call upon Reps. Brown-Waite and Miller to at least publicly acknowledge their findings," he said.

The GAO concluded that another source of funds doesn't exist to fill the void that would be left if federal funding were reduced or eliminated. The GAO further found that substantial growth of nonfederal funding for Public Television stations "appears unlikely."

In addition, the GAO study said the benefits that Public Television sometimes receives from business ventures associated with its programs are "infrequent and do not generate significant revenue." "Public Television does not have the financial resources to invest heavily in the cost of program production to secure a larger share of any resulting back-end revenues. Moreover, the sale of merchandise associated with a program generally returns a small percentage of the retail price to the program's producer and investors, as is also true commercial television programs," the GAO study stated.

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Source: Association of Public Television Stations

CONTACT: Tania Panczyk-Collins of the Association of Public Television
Stations, +1-202-654-4222, tpanczyk@apts.org

Web site: http://www.apts.org/

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