The Corporation for Public Broadcasting (CPB) announced on Friday that it will begin shutting down after Congress voted to cut nearly $1.1 billion in federal funding as part of Donald Trump’s “Big Beautiful Bill.” This move threatens the future of local PBS and NPR stations that rely heavily on this support to stay on the air.
CPB told its employees that most jobs will be eliminated by September 30, with only a small team staying until January 2026 to help with the transition.
“Despite the extraordinary efforts of millions of Americans who called, wrote, and petitioned Congress to preserve federal funding for CPB, we now face the difficult reality of closing our operations,” CPB president and CEO Patricia Harrison said. She added, “CPB remains committed to fulfilling its fiduciary responsibilities and supporting our partners through this transition with transparency and care.”
PBS and NPR say they will keep working to serve the public even after CPB shuts down.
A PBS spokesperson said, “As this remarkable institution winds down, PBS is committed to building on CPB’s legacy and maintaining our service to the American people for years to come.”
NPR’s CEO Katherine Maher said, “We will continue to respond to this crisis by stepping up to support locally owned, nonprofit public radio stations and local journalism across the country, working to maintain public media’s promise of universal service, and upholding the highest standards for independent journalism and cultural programming in service of our nation.” She called the CPB shutdown a “loss of a major institution and decades of knowledge and expertise.”
Local stations rely heavily on CPB funding. For some rural areas, these stations are the only source of local news as newspapers continue to vanish.
The cut to CPB funding is part of a wider effort by the Trump administration to reduce federal support for media. Trump is currently facing multiple lawsuits from news organizations, including the Associated Press, NPR, PBS, and CPB, as tensions between him and the press grow.
CPB is working with its board to manage the shutdown and will keep local stations and producers informed as the process moves forward.
