Винченнский университет прекратил партнерство с PBS из-за отмены федерального финансирования

Vincennes University drops PBS affiliation for WVUT Vincennes University The university that oversees WVUT-TV in Vincennes, Ind., ended the station’s affiliation with PBS on June 30. Vincennes University announced its plan to drop PBS programming in early April. “This decision follows a broader review of operations and long-term sustainability, following a loss of federal and state funding for public broadcasting in 2025,” the university said in its news release. “University leadership emphasized that the transition is part of an ongoing evaluation of how best to serve students, the region, and the University’s public service mission.” The station’s homepage now features a video promoting programs sourced from American Public Television, the National Educational Telecommunications Association and independent producers. The station also plans to produce more programs around the university’s athletics and student-led programs, according to GM Kevin Watson. “Our affiliation has changed, but our mission remains the same,” a statement posted under the homepage video says. “As we begin this new chapter, we remain committed to serving our community with programming that informs, educates, and inspires.” WVUT became a PBS station in 1970. According to a fiscal year 2024 audit, the station received $866,007 from CPB before the federal funding rescission. Its state funding was also eliminated last year when Indiana’s legislature cut public broadcasting subsidies from its biennial budget. In FY24 WVUT received $359,411 from the state government. Vincennes University also owns a public radio station, WVUB-FM, which received $140,451 from CPB in FY24 according to its audit. The station, which airs Triple A-music and local and NPR newscasts, received $58,333 in state funding that year. Watson, who is also interim director of operations for WVUT and WVUB, told WTHI-TV in Terre Haute, Ind., that WVUT “had to reduce our staff by several people” due to budget cuts. He declined to answer Current’s questions about workforce reductions. Last year Watson applied for grant funding for WVUT and WVUB from the Public Media Bridge Fund, overseen by Public Media Co. and established after the federal funding rescission to stabilize at-risk stations. The radio station received $140,451 from the fund, according to minutes from a Vincennes board of trustees meeting in February. The fund didn’t award a grant to the TV station. Watson discussed WVUT’s funding request in a June interview with First City Focus, the station’s local public affairs program. Because the TV station’s previous managers would delay spending WVUT’s annual CPB Community Service Grant, they built a reserve of funds that could be spent the next year, when its next CSG would arrive. Because of this, he said the TV station did not demonstrate the financial need to qualify for a grant from the Public Media Bridge Fund. The rejection triggered the decision to cut PBS and save money on dues, Watson said. “While we would have liked to support every local public media organization that applied for stabilization grants through the Public Media Bridge Fund, the demand for funding far exceeded our available resources at the time,” said Public Media Bridge Fund Executive Director Erik Langner in a statement to Current. “Given these limitations, we relied on our stated evaluation criteria — urgency of need, risk of service loss to a community, potential to preserve/expand access to public media, and readiness to change — to make funding determinations. “Ultimately, the Bridge Fund is not intended, designed, or resourced to replace CPB,” Langner added. “As a result, we must make funding decisions that reflect the reality of our capacity and our mandate to help the public media system adapt to a post-CPB future.” Portions of WVUT-TV’s broadcast signal overlap with PBS stations WTIU in Bloomington, Ind., and WNIN in Evansville, Ind., according to coverage maps posted on the stations’ websites. It also reaches into communities previously served by WEIU-TV in Charleston, Ill., which ended its PBS affiliation last year and ceased over-the-air broadcasting in May. At least two other stations have disaffiliated with PBS since the rescission: KWSU-TV in Pullman, Wash., which is up for sale; and WSRE in Pensacola, Fla. Three stations have formed partnerships with other stations to maintain their PBS membership. These include WBGU-TV in Bowling Green, Ohio; KSMQ in Austin, Minn.; and UEN-TV in Salt Lake City, Utah. Current Reporter Tyler Falk contributed reporting to this article.