PBS is cutting its budget by 21%, a spokesperson confirmed to CBS News on Friday.<\/p>\n
The public media company’s board approved the budget cut Wednesday, according to the PBS spokesperson. Board members also voted to reduce dues paid by local stations by $35 million, a move that will slow the spigot of money PBS sources from its wide-spanning member\u00a0network<\/a>. The reduction was earlier reported<\/a> by the New York Times.<\/p>\n The PBS spokesperson didn’t immediately respond to questions about what the cuts could mean for the future of the broadcaster, which provides news and educational programming to more than\u00a0130 million<\/a>\u00a0people each year.\u00a0<\/p>\n The budget reduction comes after Congress passed legislation last month<\/a> that strips about $1 billion in funding for the Corporation for Public Broadcasting, or CPB, a decades-old nonprofit that supports public radio and television stations, including NPR and PBS. In response, the CPB\u00a0announced earlier this month <\/a>that it would begin winding down its operations.\u00a0<\/p>\n Both NPR and PBS receive roughly half a billion dollars<\/a>\u00a0in public funding through the CPB.<\/p>\n Some PBS’ member stations, which rely heavily on federal funding, have already taken a hit \u2014 something PBS CEO Paula Kerger warned about when the bill was moving through Congress.<\/p>\n “These cuts will significantly impact all of our stations, but will be especially devastating to smaller stations and those serving large rural areas,” Kerger said in a\u00a0statement<\/a>\u00a0after the Senate approved the rescissions package in July.<\/p>\n The PBS network consists of approximately 350 locally controlled and operated public television stations, according to the CPB website.\u00a0<\/p>\n Among them is NJ PBS, New Jersey’s public television network, which confirmed Friday it’s planning to downsize its staff as a result of the slowdown in state and federal funding. Some stations in California have also cut staff as a result of the funding reductions, according<\/a> to CalMatters, a California-focused publication.<\/p>\n “Due to a significant cut to our New Jersey state funding and the recent rescission of CPB funds, we are facing a financial reality that requires NJ PBS to make the difficult decision to reduce the size of the NJ Spotlight News team,” a spokesperson told CBS News in an email.\u00a0<\/p>\n The spokesperson added that, in addition to streamlining operations, the network will work toward a “sustainable, multiplatform, more digital-forward future.”<\/p>\n \n More from CBS News\n <\/p>\n