Question or comment about the scheduling of a program?
Contact your local station because all scheduling decisions are made locally.
Questions about CPB
What is the Corporation for Public Broadcasting (CPB)?
How are CPB, PBS, NPR and local stations related?
How is CPB funded?
Can I donate to CPB?
Why does public broadcasting need federal funding?
Does CPB take programming suggestions?
How is CPB governed?
Questions about Public Media
Who pays for public media?
Who creates public media programs?
Who operates local stations?
How many public media stations are there?
When does a program air?
How can I get a program on the air?
How can I support public media?
Questions about Grants
What kind of programming does CPB fund?
How can I request grants or funding for programming?
Does CPB fund projects outside of the United States?
Can I request grants or funding for a radio station?
Can I request grants or funding for a television station?
Questions about CPB
What is the Corporation for Public Broadcasting (CPB)?
CPB is a private, nonprofit corporation authorized by Congress in the Public Broadcasting Act of 1967. It is the steward of the federal government's investment in public media. Congress appropriates funds to CPB, which and CPB distributes these funds to more than 1,500 local rural and urban public media stations in the form of Community Service Grants (CSGs).
In addition, CPB funds researched-based educational resources for our nation's youngest learners, local, regional, and national news and information for communities throughout the country, and essential infrastructure for our nation's emergency alert system.
Learn more here.
How are CPB, PBS, NPR and local stations related?
Public media in the U.S. is locally based, with stations making programming decisions based on their community needs. CPB is the largest single source of funding for public radio, television, and related online and mobile services. Its funding provides the “public” part of the public-private partnership, with more than 70% of the annual appropriation going to local stations. By design, it’s not the only source: Public media’s strength is that its funding comes from many sources.
Stations and producers raise funds from viewers, listeners, and small and major donors. The monies that come from the community are vital. They represent support for the value of public media’s content and services, accessible to everyone – promoting lifelong learning, providing essential information and life-saving emergency alerts.
CPB does not produce or distribute programs, nor does it own, control, oversee, or operate any broadcast stations or national distributors.
PBS is a private, nonprofit media enterprise owned by its member public television stations. PBS distributes programming to approximately 350 locally controlled and operated public television stations across the country. It is funded principally by these member stations, distribution revenue, and underwriting support. CPB provides direct grant support to PBS for some of its national content and for the infrastructure that distributes content and emergency alerts from PBS to public television stations.
NPR is an independent, nonprofit membership organization of separately licensed and operated public radio stations across the United States. NPR produces and distributes news, information, and cultural programming across broadcast and digital platforms. It has more than 1,000 member and affiliate stations. NPR is principally funded by member stations, distribution services, underwriting and institutional grants, and individual contributions. CPB provides direct grant support to NPR for its international reporting bureaus and for the infrastructure that distributes content from NPR and other national public radio producers to every public radio station.
How is CPB funded?
CPB is a private nonprofit corporation that is fully funded by the federal government. Less than 5% is allocated to administrative costs – an exceptionally low overhead rate compared with other nonprofits.
CPB's appropriation originates with the Labor, Health and Human Services, and Education Subcommittees of the House and Senate Appropriations Committees in Congress. CPB receives a two-year advance appropriation, which means that Congress annually decides the amount of federal support for public broadcasting two years prior to the fiscal year in which the funding is received. In other words, Congress approved the FY 2025 funding level for CPB during the FY 2023 appropriations process. This is done to insulate content from political pressure, to allow for advance planning, and to help stations leverage funds from other sources.
For more information on CPB’s appropriation please see: Federal Appropriation.
Can I donate to CPB?
CPB does receive donations from time to time, used to support the overall health and efficiency of the public media system. CPB also encourages donors to support their local stations because public media is fundamentally community-based, with local stations focusing on what their communities need and care about. You can find local station information here: cpb-station-finder.
Why does public broadcasting need federal funding?
Federal funding is essential to the funding mix that supports public broadcasting. Public media is a successful and efficient public-private partnership in the best tradition of America's free enterprise system.
Federal funds, distributed through CPB to local stations, provide critical seed money and basic operating support. Stations leverage each $1 of federal funding to raise nearly $7 from other sources — including state and local governments, philanthropic foundations, private businesses, and universities — a tremendous return on the taxpayer investment. Further, this decentralized funding structure, which includes support from a combination of public and private, national and local sources, ensures editorial independence, robust local reporting, and resilience against the forces that create news deserts.
CPB, in addition to direct payment to public media stations, provides funding support for the system's technical infrastructure, copyright and other fees, and makes major investments in national content from which all stations and the families they serve benefit.
Most importantly, the annual federal investment in public media assures universal access to public media's educational programming and public services for all Americans, as mandated by the Public Broadcasting Act of 1967.
Does CPB take programming suggestions?
To protect the editorial independence of public media, CPB, by law, is prohibited from producing or broadcasting programming or interfering with programming decisions. Please contact PBS or NPR or your local station with your program suggestions.
How is CPB governed?
A Board of Directors governs CPB, sets policy, and establishes funding priorities. CPB is the only public media organization whose board members are nominated by the President of the United States and confirmed by the U.S. Senate. A full board term runs for six years, with the President nominating members for vacancies. The Board appoints the president and the chief executive officer of CPB, who then names the other corporate officers.
Questions about Public Media
Who pays for public media?
Generally, individual contributions, primarily through membership donations, make up the largest share of public media stations’ revenue. By law, CPB directs more than 70% of the federal appropriation to local public media stations, making CPB the largest individual source of funding for public media stations. Other sources of funding include state and local governments and educational institutions, philanthropic foundations and other non-profit organizations, private businesses, and private colleges and universities.
Who creates public media programs?
Public media programming comes from a variety of producers, including American Public Media, PRX, the National Multicultural Alliance, Fred Rogers Company, NPR, local stations such as GBH, WNET, WETA, WBEZ, and WNYC, as well as independent producers. CPB funds but does not produce or broadcast programs.
Who operates local stations?
Public media stations are operated by a variety of Federal Communications Commission (FCC) license holders, including non-profit community organizations, public and private colleges and universities, local school districts and state governments. By law, CPB cannot own, operate, or control any broadcast station.
How many public media stations are there?
There are more than 1,500 locally owned and operated public media stations in the United States and its territories. You can find your station here.
When does a program air?
Contact your local station or check their program schedule on their website to find out when a program is scheduled to air. You can find your station here. Many programs are also available digitally to stream online for free at your convenience.
How can I get a program on the air?
Producers must pitch their programs to a public media distributor – including PBS, NPR, American Public Television, the National Educational Telecommunications Association, PRX and others -- who may market the program to broadcast stations throughout the country.
How can I support public media?
CPB encourages you to consider contributing to your local public television and radio stations. You can find your local station information here.
For information about other ways to support public media, you may contact PBS through PBS.org, NPR at NPR.org, or your local station.
Questions about Grants
What kind of programming does CPB fund?
CPB provides limited funding for broadcast and digital (television, radio, online) content for public media. Funded projects must align with public media's mission—to provide universal access to high-quality educational programming in the United States, especially to underserved audiences.
CPB grant funds may not be used for advocacy, direct political influence, commercial media, programs produced primarily by non-domestic entities, projects intended primarily for non-domestic distribution, and must adhere to standards of objectivity and balance. Currently, CPB is not funding requests for new programs about cooking, how-to, travel, or fitness/exercise. Within production budgets, CPB funds may be used only for expenses directly related to pre-production, production, or post-production, and other direct ancillary activities (such as promotion, educational materials, community engagement, and station engagement). Fees such as contingencies not otherwise allocated to specific costs may be considered unallowable.
What are CPB’s funding priorities?
By statute, most of CPB funding goes directly to public media stations. For discretionary funding, CPB supports programming that educates, informs, and strengthens our nation’s civic health. CPB grants support innovation on digital platforms; content that highlights the breadth of perspectives, backgrounds, experiences, and interests of the American people, and content and services that foster engagement and strengthens our nation’s civil society.
Who can apply for CPB grants?
CPB considers projects from content producers with experience creating nationally distributed programs. Production grants are provided directly to public media stations and non-profit organizations. Collaborative ventures between independent producers and public media entities are highly encouraged.
How do I know if my project is ready for CPB funding?
CPB supported content must be completed and distributed nationally through U.S. public media outlets. Projects are considered only if they have secured distribution. To ensure scarce federal resources are spent efficiently and sustainably, a considerable portion of the project's budget should also be raised prior to approaching CPB.
How can I request grants or funding for programming?
If you would like to apply for a content or production grant, please be aware that you should have a budget, a public media distribution plan, and other funders in place. Email grants@cpb.org.
Are there other funding opportunities available?
CPB also funds the Independent Television Service (ITVS), the National Multicultural Alliance and other public media organizations that support independent producers.
For updates on CPB grants and RFPs, sign up for email updates.
Does CPB fund projects outside of the United States?
Public media's mission is to provide universal access to high-quality educational programming in the U.S. CPB does not fund non-U.S. productions, unless co-produced by a U.S. entity.
Can I request grants or funding for a radio station or television station?
Only stations that are Community Service Grant recipients can obtain funding for radio and TV productions and system support projects.
The Radio Community Service Grant (CSG) program may accept a limited number of new radio stations each year during a defined application period. To qualify, a radio station must meet a set of eligibility criteria in addition to operating under a noncommercial educational license granted by the U.S. government.
For more, see the Radio CSG General Provisions and Eligibility Criteria and email csg@cpb.org.
CPB provides annual funding to public television stations through the Community Service Grant program, but is not accepting applications for new stations at this time, except by waiver.
For more information, go to the Television CSG General Provisions and Eligibility Criteria.