CPB Will Work To Restore Infrastructure, Program Cuts

Noncoms worried about loss of grants

By John Eggerton -- Broadcasting & Cable, 2/2/2010 10:21:24 AM

The Corporation for Public Broadcasting has added its voice to the noncommercial broadcasters concerned with some cuts in the president's proposed 2011 budget released Monday (Feb. 1).

In a letter to "colleagues," CPB President Pat Harrison said she was grateful for the appropriation noncoms did get, including the two-year forward funding that helps insure editorial independence, but she was concerned about the effort to zero out about $25 million in "critical infrastructure" grants currently funded through the Departments of Commerce and Education, as well as to cut the funding to the Ready To Learn and Ready To Teach programs.

Harrison said the former two programs provide "the primary source for telecommunications infrastructure assistance for public radio and television stations, particularly in under-served rural areas" and help rural stations expand their digital services, the latter in a world where expanding digital offerings is considered one of the prices of admission to full participation in the media's future.

The latter two were programs funded through the Department of Education to provide basic reading skills to low-income children. Together, the programs were funded at $38 million in 2010.

In the past, the Bush administration and congressional Republicans tried to zero out Ready to Learn funding in the wake of criticisms of one of its programs, but the funding was eventually restored and the program revamped to focus more on curriculum-based education.