WASHINGTON – December 22, 2022 – The U.S. Senate today approved a record $682 million federal investment in public media in the fiscal year (FY) 2023 omnibus appropriations package.
This package includes:
- $535 million for CPB’s two-year advance funding in FY 2025 – a $10 million increase.
- $60 million for Interconnection – a $40 million increase.
- $31 million for Ready To Learn – a $500,000 increase.
- $56 million for the second year of funding of the Next Generation Warning System – a $16 million increase.
“America’s Public Television Stations are enormously grateful for this bipartisan congressional support of a growing public investment in our work and for the Congress’s recognition of the critical role our local stations play in their communities,” said Patrick Butler, APTS president and CEO.
“The $10 million increase for CPB in this bill will help restore some of the $100 million in purchasing power public broadcasting lost over 10 years of flat federal funding — and with it our ability to continue strengthening the educational services, the public safety communications, the civic literacy and the beloved programming which make public television such an essential part of the lives of millions of Americans.
“We are also very pleased that this bill recommends an appropriation of $56 million for public broadcasting’s Next Generation Warning System for fiscal year 2023. Public broadcasting provides a critical communications infrastructure for emergency alerting and has active and growing partnerships with the public safety community at the local, State and federal levels. Reliable and resilient public broadcasting infrastructure is crucial to the success of this public safety mission.
“Public broadcasting stations reach 99% of the American population, and are the only local media in many communities, making our work in alert and warning critical to the safety of people and communities throughout the country.
“We are also thankful for the $60 million in FY 2023 for station interconnection, which is the backbone of the public broadcasting system, supporting nationwide emergency alerting, providing local stations with national programming, connecting stations with each other, and creating operational efficiencies. This $40 million increase would also support important system-wide digital infrastructure initiatives in cybersecurity, content delivery networks and data management, among others.
“And we are appreciative of the $31 million investment, a $500,000 increase, for Ready To Learn. This competitive grant program at the Department of Education supports public television’s essential work -- on-air, online and on-the-ground -- in early childhood education, to help build science, math and literacy skills of children between the ages of two and eight. Public television content created through Ready To Learn grants has been proven to help close the achievement gap between children from low-income families and their more affluent peers.
“We are hopeful for a speedy final passage of this appropriations package in the House. And we are profoundly grateful for the bipartisan, bicameral congressional support of Senate Appropriations Chair Leahy, Subcommittee Chair Murray, Subcommittee Chair Murphy, Committee Vice Chair Shelby, Subcommittee Ranking Member Blunt and Subcommittee Ranking Member Capito, and House Appropriations Chair DeLauro, Subcommittee Chair Roybal-Allard, Ranking Member Granger, Subcommittee Ranking Member Cole, and Subcommittee Ranking Member Fleischmann, and the full bipartisan membership of the Appropriations Committees for the critical support they have provided for the work of local public television stations through this funding for CPB, interconnection, Ready To Learn and the Next Generation Warning System."
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About APTS
America’s Public Television Stations (APTS) is a nonprofit membership organization ensuring a strong and financially sound public television system and helping member stations provide essential public services in education, public safety and civic leadership to the American people. For more information, visit www.apts.org.
Contact:
Stacey Karp
202-654-4222
skarp@apts.org