An update on federal funding for the Corporation for Public Broadcasting (CPB) and local public media stations.

Dear Supports,

The budget compromise for the remainder of FY2011 that passed Congress marks an important milestone for public broadcasting. In eight weeks the situation went from the total elimination of any federal funding (as passed by the U.S. House on 02/19) to the preservation of 93 percent of the appropriation for CPB, including a slight increase to the CPB in 2013. Federal funding is funneled through CPB directly to your local stations.

Now, the sprint to the passage of an FY11 Continuing Resolution (CR) will be replaced by a marathon to the FY12 federal budget. There will likely be renewed calls in Congress to eliminate public broadcasting funding in the coming months and public stations like AETN must be prepared to stand up again to defend our mission and values.

More than 360,000 citizen advocates joined the group 170 Million Americans to advocate their feelings about public television and public media services. Visit 170millionamericans.org to learn more about the services and their goal to sign up one million advocates.This strong base of supporters will allow voices to be heard throughout this ongoing process in the coming months and years as Congress works through significant budget issues. We heard from Washington that the hundreds of thousands of individual contacts from across the nation had a positive impact.

Here are the details of the budget deal as it relates to (CPB):

$445 million for (CPB) in FY2013

• This maintains the critical two-year advance funding mechanism that has been in place for CPB since 1976.
• This funding is not subject to the 0.2 percent across the board rescission in the CR.

$430 million for CPB in FY2011

• This funding is subject to a 0.2 percent across the board rescission in the CR.

$6 million for the CPB Digital program

• This funding is subject to a 0.2 percent across the board rescission in the CR.
• This is a cut of $30 million below FY2010 levels; however, it is the amount requested by the president for FY2012.

$27.3 million for Ready To Learn

• This funding is up to the discretion of the Department of Education, which could affect the level of funding for popular PBS children's educational programming.
• This is level funding from FY2010.

$4.5 million for Rural Digital

• This funding is subject to a 0.2 percent across the board rescission in the CR.
• This is level funding from FY2010.

We will keep you updated as this process rolls on.

Please know how grateful we are for the interest and involvement of so many supporters of AETN and our appreciation to all who have contacted or will contact their Washington delegation.

Whatever a person's individual feelings about this or other issues, democracy requires involvement, and we hope this continues as our nation grapples with a myriad of tough issues.

Allen Weatherly
Executive Director
Arkansas Educational Television Network

Updated 4/12/2011