Arkansas’ public television network is rebranding and dropping all programming from the Public Broadcasting Service in the wake of a loss in federal funding.
The network’s new name of ArkansasTV – or ATV – was unveiled in a meeting of the Arkansas Educational Television Commission on Thursday. The name change is effective immediately.
CEO Carlton Wing said the move to disaffiliate with PBS is necessary because of a loss in roughly $2 million in annual funding from the Corporation for Public Broadcasting. He said annual fees paid by the network to PBS usually total roughly the same amount, representing the network’s single largest external expenditure.
“How we were able to survive for the first year was by dipping into reserves and by some unprecedented fundraising by our foundation. That’s not a long-term business strategy,” he said, adding the network would be forced to reduce its staffing by as much as half if it continued to pay dues to PBS.
Congress voted to rescind roughly $9 billion in previously-allocated funding to the Corporation for Public Broadcasting in July. The CPB, which provided grants to individual public media stations to help offset the cost of national programming, is set to dissolve entirely early next year.
Wing says the network will pivot to 70% locally produced programming, with 30% coming from other sources like American Public Television and the National Educational Telecommunications Association.
PBS programming will still be broadcast in Arkansas through the end of next June, and PBS Kids content will remain free to stream on its app. Other content will be available on the PBS Passport app, which costs $60 annually. It’s unclear whether ArkansasTV’s disaffiliation will impact the app’s availability, or whether it receives funding from app subscriptions – payments are typically processed in the form of monthly donations to a local PBS station.
Marge Betley, CEO of the Arkansas PBS Foundation, says she does expect an initial drop in donations from viewers upset about the programming changes.
“We are always temporary stewards of the organizations and the missions that we serve, and in order to do that job well, not just for the present but for future generations, we look at both our mission and our long-term sustainability,” she said.
The network’s new Chief Financial Officer James Downs told commissioners they’ve accounted for a drop in donations, and that continuing to pay for PBS programming would lead to a negative cash balance before the end of the next fiscal year.
“We’re projecting that it takes us into a financial position that is not sustainable, with deficit spending projected to reach that $6 million negative by Fiscal Year [20]30,” he said. “By not paying PBS dues… we would have that much smaller deficit gap with an extra year to resolve it by seeking some new funding sources and continuing to reduce costs and become more efficient.”
Downs estimated an annual cost of $969,000 for new locally-produced programming as well as shows from non-PBS sources and content from the broadcaster’s archives. Funding from the CPB represented 20% of the network’s budget in FY2025, with the vast majority of funding, about 45% coming from the state legislature.
Wing says their projected deficits could narrow thanks to new sponsorship and underwriting opportunities brought on by the shift in programming.
“I have already had multiple meetings with people who have never even thought about doing business with public television before that are now very interested with an Arkansas-centric focus, because most of our programming has not been Arkansas. In fact, 5.5% of our programming has been locally-produced,” he said.
Wing teased some upcoming locally-produced shows, including a cooking show, an oral history series and a show exploring “the immense challenges Arkansans face” and “how community members and non-profit organizations are working together to build a better future.” A series on local eateries, a documentary on Arkansas’ history and a new season of the network’s children’s series “Blueberry’s Clubhouse” are also in the pipeline.
Some commission members voiced concern about the move to disaffiliate from PBS, fearing a drastic drop in viewer support. Some voiced hope that the move would put pressure on PBS to allow member stations to pick-and-choose individual shows to broadcast, a request Wing said PBS had previously denied.
“I think we could give it another year with foundation support… but I think we’re rushing into it now without all these things being really fleshed out,” commission member Annette Herrington said.
“We come back a year later and end up potentially making the same decision, however with far less of a financial cushion to make that decision,” Wing replied.
The motion to disaffiliate from PBS passed on a roll call vote, with Herrington and fellow commission member Cynthia Nance voting against it.
This is the second re-branding of the broadcaster in recent memory; it was previously known as the Arkansas Educational Television Network, or AETN, before changing to Arkansas PBS in 2020.
Little Rock Public Radio also received funding from the Corporation for Public Broadcasting, but is unaffiliated with ArkansasTV.
