Corporation for Public Broadcasting to Shut Down After 58 Years

The Corporation for Public Broadcasting (CPB) Board of Directors has voted to dissolve the organization after 58 years of service. Operations began winding down last year after the passing of Congress’s rescission package, which pulled all of CPB’s federal funding. 

The private nonprofit corporation was first authorized by Congress under the Public Broadcasting Act of 1967, and went on to build and steward the federal government’s investment in public broadcasting through programs like NPR, PBS, and 1,500 locally owned and operated public radio and television outlets across America. As BroadwayWorld previously reported, Congress voted in 2025 to cut $500 million in funds allocated to the CPB.

“For more than half a century, CPB existed to ensure that all Americans—regardless of geography, income, or background—had access to trusted news, educational programming, and local storytelling,” said Patricia Harrison, President and CEO of CPB, in a statement. “When the Administration and Congress rescinded federal funding, our Board faced a profound responsibility: CPB’s final act would be to protect the integrity of the public media system and the democratic values by dissolving, rather than allowing the organization to remain defunded and vulnerable to additional attacks.”

As part of its closure, CPB will complete the distribution of all remaining funds. CPB will also provide support to the American Archive of Public Broadcasting to continue digitizing and preserving historic content, and CPB’s own archives will be preserved in partnership with the University of Maryland and made accessible to the public.

“What has happened to public media is devastating,” said Ruby Calvert, Chair of CPB’s Board of Directors. “After nearly six decades of innovative, educational public television and radio service, Congress eliminated all funding for CPB, leaving the Board with no way to continue the organization or support the public media system that depends on it. Yet, even in this moment, I am convinced that public media will survive, and that a new Congress will address public media’s role in our country because it is critical to our children's education, our history, culture and democracy to do so.”

“Public media remains essential to a healthy democracy,” Harrison said. “Our hope is that future leaders and generations will recognize its value, defend its independence, and continue the work of ensuring that trustworthy, educational, and community-centered media remains accessible to all Americans.”