House Republicans are once again trying to zero out funding for noncommercial media.

Public media groups such as PBS and NPR have long drawn the ire of some Republicans, who claim they are liberal outlets often carrying water for Democrats. Other members of the GOP — including at least one prominent Republican who knows a lot about noncommercial media — funding, support the Corporation for Public Broadcasting as a nonprofit news and entertainment outlet crucial to early education.

But the Republican-controlled House Appropriations Education Subcommittee on Friday (July 14) voted to zero out funding for CPB starting in 2026. Public media are forward-funded in an effort to avoid the sort of political football game that, despite that effort, its funding became at the hands of angry Republicans.

That group included former President Donald Trump, who tried to zero out funding in 2017. 

The reduction is part of $64 billion in cuts the bill makes across numerous programs. At the markup Friday (July 14), subcommittee ranking member Rep. Rosa DeLauro (D-Conn.) likened those cuts to attempting to “end public education in America,” both in the media and elsewhere, and branded the bill the “Every Child Left Behind” Act.

CPB is currently slated to get $535 million in 2026, all of which would go away if the funding bill reported out of subcommittee actually made it into law. It would be one of 60 programs slated for elimination in the bill, which Republicans say is all about returning to fiscal responsibility.

Subcommittee chairman Robert Aderholt (R-Ala.) said the cuts were about reining in “reckless D.C. Beltway spending.” He said the bill’s cuts were only a "first step." He also said the bill maintained funding for “high value” programs, which definitely sent a clear message to public media about how much they were valued by Republicans on the subcommittee.

Those media outlets got the message.

“This is a dark day for America’s Public Television Stations, and we are only one of the casualties of a severe cutback that would also affect other important national institutions,” APTS president Patrick Butler said. 

Previous Republican efforts to zero out noncom funding have failed and Butler is hoping for a similar result. “We remain hopeful that the strong bipartisan support for public media, both in Congress and among the American people, will ultimately result in full funding for CPB, system interconnection and infrastructure and Ready To Learn as the appropriations process moves forward,” he said.

The bill also zeros out funding for CPB's Ready To Learn preschool educational effort and $60 million in funding for technical infrastructure.

CPB is headed by Republican Pat Harrison, the longest-serving president in its history and former co-chair of the Republican National Committee. She has said Republican-backed cuts would “devastate and ultimately destroy public media’s role in early childhood education, public safety, connecting citizens to our history and promoting civil discussions for Americans in rural and urban communities alike.”

“Americans in rural and urban communities who depend upon public media content and services are very disappointed by the House Labor-H subcommittee’s move to eliminate CPB’s two-year advance funding," Harrison said following the vote. "The elimination of this nearly 50-year funding structure would destroy the firewall that protects public media’s independence, and significantly weaken the public-private partnership that enables stations to raise needed funds.

“Public media has always enjoyed strong bipartisan support, affirming its essential role in strengthening our nation’s civil society," she said. "The federal appropriation ensures universal access to free, high-quality, innovative, and diverse content that educates and enriches the public dialogue.”

The issue of noncommercial funding became a flashpoint in the 2012 presidential campaign, when Republican candidate Mitt Romney suggested during a debate that he liked Big Bird, just not well enough to keep funding the popular Sesame Street character. (Just three years later, in 2015, first-run episodes of the groundbreaking children’s show shifted to the private sector via a deal with HBO; episodes now run on streaming service Max before they play on public stations.) 

Then, under the winner of that election, Democrat Barack Obama, the co-chairs of the President's National Commission on Fiscal Responsibility and Reform back in 2010 recommended zeroing out funding for CPB as one way to help save $200 billion. Obama wound up not acting on those and other recommendations that drew flak from various quarters, including Democratic fans of Big Bird.

In a move billed as advancing both innovation and diversity, some top noncom media executives will be tapped to brush up their digital skills.

The Corporation for Public Broadcasting said Monday (Sept. 13) that it has tapped The Poynter Institute to develop a Digital Transformation Program to "coach up" 80 senior public media execs on "transforming" their digital culture. The program will be funded, not surprisingly, by a grant from CPB, which allocates the federal government's noncommercial media funding.

Getting that training will be 75 public media station CEOs plus the head of the five National Multicultural Alliance (NMCA) groups.

Also Read: CPB Funds Station Efforts to Combat COVID-19 Misinformation

The nine-month program includes webinars and one-on-one coaching in, among other things, "attracting and growing new and diverse audiences, increasing audience engagement, converting audiences to loyal members, and driving new revenues from digital channels," according to CPB.

CPB already has a Digital Culture Accelerator Program currently mentoring 22 station participants, but is expanding that effort through the new program.

The program is expected to launch in January 2022.

The Corporation for Public Broadcasting, which hands out government funds for noncommercial media, is awarding more than a quarter million dollars in emergency grants to help combat COVID-19 misinformation.

According to CPB, it is awarding $275,000--up to $20,000 apiece--to 14 stations, TV and radio, in areas with the potentially deadly combination of high infection and low vaccination rates, or areas where hotspots appear to be emerging.

"General managers of stations serving America’s communities that are hard hit by the pandemic are committed to breaking through the cycle of misinformation regarding the COVID-19 vaccine and are providing information that is saving lives,” said CPB president Patricia Harrison. “CPB is committed to funding their work as part of our stewardship and mission.”

The money will go to multiplatform PSA campaigns and community outreach efforts, on platforms including on-air, texts and TikTok videos.

CPB is a founding partner of the COVID Collaborative.

The Biden administration is urging the unvaccinated to get vaccines and the vaccinated to, eventually, get booster shots as the delta variant drives infections and hospitalizations in a second surge of the virus.

The board of directors of the Corporation for Public Broadcasting, which hands out federal funding for noncommercial media, has approved a plan to distribute the $175 million in emergency funding for public media in the American Rescue Plan, President Biden's COVID-19 relief bill that passed Congress March 11.

The money is to be used "to prevent, prepare for, and respond to coronavirus, including for fiscal stabilization grants to public telecommunications entities," including "to maintain programming and services and preserve small and rural stations threatened by declines in non-Federal revenues."

Also Read: CPB Boosts Funding for Diverse Content

The CPB plan was agreed to by an advisory committee of public radio and TV representatives. 

According to the plan, "Of the $175 million, $100 million will be calculated using the CARES Act formula that was developed in April 2020 in order to prioritize funding to small, rural and/or minority stations. The remaining $75 million will be distributed according to the respective television and radio Community Service Grant (CSG) formulas, which also take into account stations’ service to rural communities, as well as the number of transmitters needed to cover large geographic areas, and the amount raised in non-federal financial support (NFFS)."

Also Read: CPB Gets Budget Increase

"The stabilization funding from Congress will support essential public media services and sustain the broad reach and access that keeps public media resources available online, over-the-air and in communities across the country," said CPB President Patricia Harrison.

The Corporation for Public Broadcasting, which decides how to allocate government funding for public media, has decided to boost funding for the five multicultural media alliances.

Also Read: CPB, PBS Launch Podcast Training Program

According to CPB, which was created by Congress to hand out the money, said each of the five organizations that make up the National Multicultural Alliance (NMCA) will get a $500,000 increase starting this fiscal year, a collective 37% increase.

CPB said those organizations provide "content about diverse communities, created by diverse filmmakers, to the public television system and viewers across the country."

The move comes during Black History Month and as the nation is working to help close the historic diversity divide, a reckoning prompted by the death of George Floyd.

Also Read: House Increases CPB Budget

“CPB’s commitment and funding for diverse filmmakers and storytellers spans decades and has resulted in content that educates, informs and inspires mutual understanding and respect,” said CPB president Pat Harrison. “Our increased support for the National Multicultural Alliance will build on that foundation and ensure that public media’s content reflects the broadest range of cultural and social perspectives.

Groups getting the increased funding are Black Public Media (BPM), the Center for Asian American Media (CAAM), Latino Public Broadcasting (LPB), Pacific Islanders in Communications (PIC) and Vision Maker Media (VMM).

With the pandemic making it even more important that kids are "ready to learn" from home, the Corporation for Public Broadcasting are teaming up with PBS Kids and audio tech company PRX on a Ready to Learn podcast training and development program.

Ready to Learn is the Department of Education-funded early learning multimedia effort.

Also Read: House Approves CBP Funding Increase

The new Ready to Learn Podcast Accelerator will be a 16-week program (May through September 2021) and will be for producers of educational kids content, in this case five production teams.

The production teams selected for the program--the application window is currently open but closes March 19--will get the 16 weeks of training via workshops and webinars, as well as $10,000 in funding for production and operational expenses as well as access to PRX's podcast distribution and promotion platforms.

Also Read: Ready to Learn Renewed

The program is open to independent producers, public media stations, or any media organization based in the U.S. and with a "demonstrated level of interest in children’s storytelling and education media."

The content can be fiction or nonfiction, but must be targeted to kids 4-8 and their significant others--family and caregivers--and focused on introducing them "to the world of work," which means emphasizing skills like goal-setting, task performing and persistence and flexible thinking, according to CPB.

AMC NETWORKS

AMC Networks has named Brett Dismuke general manager of WE tv and Urban Movie Channel, adding oversight of the female-focused network to his duties. Dismuke had been chief content officer of UMC since January. 

CPB

Kathryn Washington was elevated to senior VP, television content at the Corporation for Public Broadcasting, charged with funding “innovative, diverse and creative programming.” She was VP, television content. 

CROWN MEDIA

Lara Richardson has joined Hallmark Channel parent Crown Media Family Networks as chief marketing officer. She comes from Discovery, where she was group executive VP of marketing for Discovery and Science Channel.

DISCOVERY

Jim Keller has joined Discovery as executive VP, digital ad sales and advanced advertising, based in New York and tasked with driving digital revenue for Discovery Plus. He was VP, head of national advertising sales at Hulu.

FOX NEWS

Tom Lowell was named executive VP and managing editor of news at Fox News Channel, tasked with overseeing daytime coverage. He had been VP and managing editor of news since 2016, overseeing network newsgathering. 

INTEGRAL AD SCIENCE

Digital ad verification firm Integral Ad Science has tapped Mehul Desai as country head, India. He most recently was chief operating officer at Scan-IT, where he led technical and business operations. 

MARKETCAST

Analytics firm MarketCast has added Zoë Friend as corporate senior VP of customer research and insights. She led a team of 40 as head of Netflix’s content and marketing research practice for five years. 

MSNBC

Rashida Jones was named president of MSNBC, succeeding 25-year veteran Phil Griffin at the helm of the cable news network. She had been a senior VP at NBC News and MSNBC.

PALEY CENTER

Jamitha Fields was named to the new post of VP of diversity, inclusion and engagement at The Paley Center for Media. She had worked as the organization’s VP of development and client services for four years.

RIEDEL 

Riedel Communications, a provider of IP-enabled video solutions, has promoted Renaud Lavoie to senior VP, technology. He had worked as managing director of Riedel Montreal for about a year. 

WARNERMEDIA

Jennifer Biry was named chief financial officer at WarnerMedia, succeeding now-AT&T CFO Pascal Desroches. She was most recently CFO of AT&T Communications’ mobility and entertainment organizations. 

WNET GROUP

The WNET Group in New York has named James King as the new artistic director of its ALL ARTS multimedia platform. He is the former managing director of Harlem Stage, also in New York. 

BRIEFLY NOTED

Other industry execs making moves

Adriana Diaz and Jericka Duncan have been named anchors of CBS Weekend News. Diaz will anchor Saturdays from Chicago and Duncan will anchor Sundays from New York. … Lara Richardson was named chief marketing officer at Crown Media Family Networks. She had been group executive VP of marketing for Discovery and Science Channel. … Kids’ content company Genius Brands International has promoted Michael Jaffa to chief operating officer. He was general counsel and senior VP of business affairs. … Hearst Television has upped Matt Helf to director of its HTV Design unit in Orlando. He had been a brand research manager. … Mission Broadcasting has promoted Taunya Tourville-Bennett to station manager and general sales manager of duopoly KWBQ/KASY Albuquerque, New Mexico. She had been local sales manager at the stations. … David Solomon was named CEO at independent cable ad rep firm Viamedia. He had been chief revenue officer. … Janet Dewart Bell has been named as chair of the Women’s Media Center. She is president of nonprofit organization LEAD Intergenerational Solutions.

The Corporation for Public Broadcasting has named Kathryn Washington senior VP, television content, effective Dec. 19. She had been VP, television content, overseeing national broadcast and digital content.

Her charter is to work with public TV stations and independent producers to fund "innovative, diverse and creative programming and content for national public media audiences."

CPB oversees the distribution of federal funding for noncommercial media to over 1,500 TV and radio stations. That funding accounts for an average 15% of station budgets.

"Kathryn is a dynamic leader who has played a significant role advancing CPB’s work developing broadcast media, programs and services that reach all Americans,” said CPB President Patricia Harrison. “At a time when public media’s role of bringing important information and stories to communities is more important than ever, Kathryn’s strategic vision, paired with her deep background in the public media system, will be invaluable as we develop strategies to support programming that reflects our diverse society.”

Washington joined CPB in 2009 and has served as senior director of content strategy and director of diversity and innovation.

The Senate Appropriations Committee has recommended level funding for the Corporation of Public Broadcasting ($465 million), as well as $29 million for the Ready to Learn early education initiative with the Department of Education, and $20 million to continue a noncom tech transmission upgrade.

That is great, said America's Public Television Stations, but not as great as if it had recommended the $50 million increase in CPB's budget that the House approved last summer. CPB provides on average about 15% of station budgets, with the rest coming from corporate donations, sponsorships, and viewer contributions.

“We’re grateful that the Senate Appropriations Committee has proposed to maintain level funding for public broadcasting in a particularly challenging year,” said APTS president Patrick Butler, “and we also appreciate the Committee’s recommendations of $29 million for Ready To Learn and $20 million to continue our interconnection investment. “As negotiations on FY 2021 funding take place, we hope the $50 million increase for CPB approved by the House of Representatives is included in the final appropriations package.”

Butler points out that noncoms have actually lost about $100 million in purchasing power over the past decade of level funding, but no increases.

Butler suggests the added $50 million would be money well spent, hitting all the right policy buttons in outlining its public service opportunities. "[A]s our stations voluntarily adopt the new ATSC 3 Next Gen broadcast standard," he said, "and if we are able to invest in datacasting technology at our stations nationwide, we will have spectrum available to do even more – in telehealth, Smart Cities connections, precision agriculture, national security and other important missions of public service."

The more money there is, the "better and faster" that can be accomplished, he said.

Noncommercial stations continued on their path toward full funding-plus even as the President has tried to defund the Corporation for Public Broadcasting.

Related: House Moves Toward Funding Boost for CPB

The House Appropriations Committee Monday (July 13) proposed a $515 million budget for CPB for fiscal year 2023. CPB, which hands out government subsidies to noncommercial TV and radio, is forward funded in an effort to de-politicize the process. 

The noncom funding was included in a 2021 Departments of Labor, Health & Human Services, Education and Related Agencies Appropriations Bill, which was favorably reported out of the committee in a bipartisan vote. It's next stop is a vote in the full House. 

“America’s Public Television Stations are most grateful that the House Appropriations Committee has recommended an appropriation of $515 million for the Corporation for Public Broadcasting (CPB) for Fiscal Year 2023,” said Patrick Butler, president and CEO of America’s Public Television Stations.

APTS was also pleased that the committee has decided to fund Ready to Learn to the tune of $30 million. That is the grant program in the Department of Education that supports early childhood learning, particularly for lower income kids. That is a $1 million increase over RTL's previous funding.

The money will come in handy as public stations try to keep stay-at-home kids both educated and entertained during the pandemic.

The House Appropriations Subcommittee on Labor, Health and Human Services, Education and Related Agencies had recommended the full committee approve the $151, as well as $20 million for the interconnection facilities that allow the local stations to carry national programming, which the full committee also approved.

The fate of RTL had been unclear in the subcommittee, but the full committee approved that as well. 

A House subcommittee has recommended $515 million for public broadcasting for fiscal year 2023, according to the America's Public Television Stations (APTS), an increase of $50 million.

The House Appropriations Subcommittee on Labor, Health and Human Services, Education and Related Agencies has also recommended $20 million for the interconnection facilities that allow the local stations to carry national programming.

No word yet on whether the Ready to Learn Department of Education early learning grant program will be funded.

Noncommercial broadcasting is forward funded to try and insulate it from politics, though its appropriation has been a political football for years as Republicans accused it of being too liberal and tried to cut funding.

But Republicans and Democrats now appear to be on the same page about fully funding the service, even as President Donald Trump has tried to defund it in each succeeding budget.

The money actually goes to the Corporation for Public Broadcasting, the independent agency set up by Congress in the 1960s to hand out the approximately 15% of noncom budgets that comes from federal dollars. The rest is from corporate sponsors and contributions from viewers and listeners.

“America’s Public Television Stations are most grateful that the House Appropriations subcommittee has recommended an appropriation of $515 million for the Corporation for Public Broadcasting (CPB) for Fiscal Year 2023,” said Patrick Butler, president and CEO of America’s Public Television Stations.

Last June, amid the President's cries for de-funding CPB, legislators on both sides agreed to full funding-plus as well. 

Noncommercial educational (NCE) TV stations want the FCC to end the mandatory three-year satellite election of most-carry status by noncommercial TV stations, saying it is both unnecessary and that DBS providers have used it as a loophole through which to drop carriage.

That came in comments to the FCC on its ongoing effort to modernize media regs.

In those comments, PBS, NPR, the Corporation for Public Broadcasting and America's Public Television Stations said that given that noncommercial TV stations can't, unlike commercial stations, elect retransmission consent--and obviously want DirecTV and Dish to carry them--the election is simply a rote process.

They point out that there is no similar three-year election for cable carriage, which simply continues indefinitely unless there is a change in circumstance that modifies the must-carry agreement.

"The DBS rules should be aligned with the cable rules to permit a one-time election that continues for as long as the station remains qualified for carriage," they said.

In addition, they argue that, in at least a "handful of cases, each three-year cycle, the requirements "turn out to be a trap for the unwary NCE-TV station, resulting in the loss of DBS carriage in the station’s market for the next three years."

The FCC has released its agenda for the April public meeting, and as expected, it includes a vote on restoring the UHF discount, at least temporarily. It is a packed meeting, with a new take on Business Data Service(BDS) regs, helping out noncoms, rolling back another Tom Wheeler reg, and speeding the retirement of legacy copper.

 "Last September, the FCC voted to eliminate the [UHF] discount on a party-line vote. That decision has been challenged in the U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit," FCC Chairman Ajit Pai blogged about the meeting. "In my view, the FCC is likely to lose that litigation because it went about eliminating the UHF discount in the wrong way. So I’m proposing that we hit the reset button, returning the rule to the way it was up until last fall. And then we’ll launch a comprehensive review of the national ownership cap, including the UHF discount, later this year."

In dissenting from that party-line vote, Pai said that while he was not necessarily opposed to eliminating the discount, he was if it did not include at the same time reviewing whether the 39% national broadcast ownership cap should also be adjusted.

The agenda for the meeting is a lengthy one (see below). It also includes:

Allowing noncommercial stations more flexibility to raise money for disaster relief without having to seek FCC waivers.

Pai is proposing to allow stations to use up to 1% of their airtime for such fund-raising for nonprofits, although it would not apply to stations funded by the Corporation for Public Broadcasting (CPB). That could be a moot point if President Donald Trump gets his way and CPB funding is eliminated.

Pai has another gift of sorts for noncoms, and another rollback of a rule.

The FCC will vote to eliminate a rule adopted by the FCC under his predecessor that would require officers and board members of noncoms to provide personal information to the FCC as part of its data collection on ownership diversity.

Noncoms were opposed to the rule because they said it would discourage people from wanting to serve in those positions, as was Pai, who says the FCC "should be thanking people who want to serve their community in this way, not imposing unnecessary regulatory burdens upon them."

The chairman is also taking another crack at updating.deregulating Business Data Service (BDS).

Wheeler attempted to do so, but ran out of time on a proposal that would have potentially regulated competitive BDS entrants, including cable operators, which those ISPs said was punishing them for providing the competition to incumbents that the FCC itself promoted.

There has been a lot of activity in the BDS docket in the past few weeks, with some folks wanting the chairman to close the docket, while others wanted various variations on the Wheeler effort. Cable operators just wanted to make sure Wheeler's potential regulation of new entrants was off the table, while competitive carriers wanted the Wheeler proposal, midsized carriers wanted more dereg, and AT&T wanted dereg, but preserving regulatory tests for the level of market competition.

Pai appeared to be steering toward the more deregulatory views of mid-sized carrriers, said one telecom source.

“The extensive record compiled by the Commission’s excellent staff shows substantial and growing competition in many areas of the country, thanks to new market entrants like cable companies," Pai blogged of his BDS item. "Where this competition exists, we will relax unnecessary regulation, thereby creating greater incentives for the private sector to invest in next-generation networks. But where competition is still lacking, we’ll preserve regulations necessary to prevent anti-competitive price increases."

It will also be something of an infrastructure-themed meeting.

The chairman is proposing to 1) help companies speed up the retirement of copper networks, 2) seeking comment on whether state and local reg are impeding network deployment and whether the FCC should preempt such impediments; and 3) expedite state and local approvals of wireless infrastructure deployment applications to speed the rollout of 5G. 

Following is the FCC's tentative agenda for the April meeting:

"Connect America Fund – The Commission will consider an Order on Reconsideration that would amend the construction project limitation within section 54.303 of the Commission’s rules to permit carriers to report, for universal service purposes, capital expenses per location up to the established per-location per-project limit, rather than disallowing all capital expenses associated with construction projects in excess of the limit. (WC Docket Nos. 10-90 and 14-58; CC Docket No. 01-92)

"Wireline Infrastructure Deployment – The Commission will consider a Notice of Proposed Rulemaking, Notice of Inquiry, and Request for Comment that would propose to remove regulatory barriers to infrastructure investment, suggest changes to speed the transition from copper networks and legacy services to next-generation networks and services dependent on fiber, and propose to reform Commission regulations that are raising costs and slowing, rather than facilitating, broadband deployment. (WC Docket No. 17-84)

"Wireless Infrastructure Deployment – The Commission will consider a Notice of Proposed Rulemaking and Notice of Inquiry that commences an examination of the regulatory impediments to wireless network infrastructure investment and deployment, and how the Commission may remove or reduce such impediments consistent with the law and the public interest. (WT Docket 17-79; WT Docket 15-180)

"Business Data Services – The Commission will consider a Report and Order that recognizes the strong competition present in the business data services market and modernizes the Commission’s regulatory structure accordingly to bring ever new and exciting technologies, products, and services to businesses and consumers. (WC Docket Nos. 16-143, 15-247, 05-25; GN Docket No. 13-5; RM-10593)

"Reinstating the UHF Discount – The Commission will consider an Order on Reconsideration to reinstate the UHF discount used to calculate compliance with the national television audience reach cap. (MB Docket No. 13-236)

"Noncommercial Educational Station Third-Party Fundraising – The Commission will consider a Report and Order that would adopt rules permitting NCE stations not funded by the Corporation for Public Broadcasting to alter or suspend regular programming in order to conduct fundraising for third-party non-profit organizations so long as such stations do not spend more than one percent of their total annual airtime on such activities. (MB Docket No. 12-106)

"Promoting Diversification of Ownership in the Broadcasting Services – The Commission will consider an Order on Reconsideration that would allow noncommercial broadcasters greater flexibility to use a Special Use FRN for ownership reporting purposes and avoid the need to submit personal information to the Commission. (MB Docket No. 07-294; MD Docket No. 10-234)

Corporation for Public Broadcasting president Patricia Harrison was on Capitol Hill Tuesday to pitch full funding for noncommercial TV and radio—even as President Donald Trump has proposed cutting all federal funds—but to some Republican pushback over a familiar topic: alleged liberal bias, though to some encouraging words from the Republican chairman of the subcommittee.

She also signaled that FCC spectrum auction funds wouldn't be a big boon for noncommercial stations looking for funding elsewhere. 

Harrison asked for full funding for 2020 (the service is forward-funded to attempt to insulate it from politics), $55 million for 2018 for interconnection systems and $30 million for the Ready to Learn program at the Department of Education.

The President proposes the budget, but Congress has to approve that budget, so the cut is not a fait accompli. 

Harrison emphasized the educational aspects of noncommercial media, saying it was at the "heart" of its mission.

"Through the nearly 1,500 locally owned and operated public radio and television stations across the country, public media reaches 99 percent of the American people from big cities to small towns and rural communities. At approximately $1.35 per citizen per year it is one of America’s best infrastructure investments—paying huge dividends in education, public safety and civic leadership for millions of Americans and their families," she said. 

She also talked about noncoms' mission of fact-based journalism in a world of "fake news."

But politics has rarely been divorced from the CPB funding process, and that was the case in the hearing. 

Rep. Andy Harris (R-Md.)—a member of the House Appropriations Committee's Subcommittee on Labor, Health and Human Services, Education and Related Agencies, which was holding the hearing on CPB's appropriation—said that noncoms were the equivalent of a government-funded press and that in some cases--he conceded a small minority--it had a political agenda that went beyond education. 

He said if CPB expected to get any money from Congress, it needed to get rid of as many vestiges of that agenda as possible.

He cited as an example a noncom program in his own state that talked about supporters and opponents of "marriage equality." He said that term is biased, and he could just see the ads targeted to him if he voted against something billed as equality that he was opposed to.

He said that 99% of the time, noncoms "got it right," but the 1% of bias poisoned the well.

Harrison said she took his point, but that CPB's job was twofold, to provide a firewall between content producers and government and to seek fairness and balance. She said that overall, she thought CPB had done a good job. 

Harrison said in her written testimony that "the vast majority of public television stations did not participate in the spectrum auction and will not receive auction proceeds, neither will CPB nor will PBS." 

She also said that it was not clear that the $1.75 billion Congress has set aside for the post-auction repack will be enough to cover the move, and there is no compensation for translators needed for changing channels in the repack, which she said places "an undue financial burden on those stations since they will assume the extra expense as they seek to ensure universal access."

Commitee chairman Tom Cole (R-Okla.) didn't sound like someone who wanted to axe the funding for CPB. He did point out

that when Harrison was co-chairman of the Republican National Committee he was chief of staff.

In closing the hearing, Cole said: "If you look over a 50-year [CPB] history  it is a pretty impressive record of enriching the content of public dialog, opening doors to communities that don't often have these kind of opportunities and living within what is by what is by any measure  at the federal level a comparitavely modest budget, which you manage to leverage and multiply many times over."