APTS Praises Washington for Preserving Noncom Funding

Corporation for Public Broadcasting got $445 million for FY2012

By John Eggerton -- Broadcasting & Cable, 12/19/2011 4:15:37 PM

The Association of Public Television Stations gave the White House and Congress a shout-out for preserving noncom funding in the FY2012 appropriations bill that was approved over the weekend and signed by the President.

That funding had been under fire, including from a bipartisan panel advising the administration on budget cuts, but in the end the Corporation for Public Broadcasting got $445 million for FY2012, it is forward-funded to try to insulate it from politics, plus preservation of that forward-funding mechanism, which some Republicans wanted to phase out.

The bill also retains $27.2 million for Ready To Learn, the curriculum-based early learning program that has been in Republican sites since its somewhat-less-curriculum-based days of the Postcards from Buster controversy.

"We are extremely grateful that the President and Congress continue to support level funding for public broadcasting, especially during these challenging times," said APTS president and CEO Patrick Butler in a statement.

But APTS was not so pleased with the bill's phase-out of CPB's digital program. Stations had asked for $36 billion to help with DTV  post-transition issues.