In light of the rapidly changing events in Washington, APTS wants to give you an update of the status of public broadcasting's funding in the continuing resolution (CR) that was negotiated last night. As you may know, earlier today the White House and Congress announced that they have reached a final agreement in the CR for the remainder of FY 2011 funding cycle. The final negotiated bill is still being drafted and will be voted on next week.

While we won’t know all the details until next week, at this point the Speaker’s office is reporting that the CR contains no significant cuts to funding for public broadcasting. We have also been told that the negotiated bill will contain no policy rider which would place restrictions on public broadcasting funding. Initial reports state that the bill will contain a one percent across the board cut to all programs in order to help achieve the roughly $38 billion in cuts contained in the bill.

We will be sure to keep you informed as we learn the details of the bill, including any impacts on the other public broadcasting funding sources.

Jeffrey Davis

Vice President, Communications

Association of Public Television Stations