\u201cWe have to figure out what our options are,\u201d said Ferris W. Stephens, the chairman of the commission. \u201cBefore we decide those things, I just think we need a lot more information.\u201d Stephens said he does not expect a vote at the November meeting.<\/p>\n
Alabama Public Television Executive Director Wayne Reid said some commissioners asked him to research the possibility and ramifications of ending the contract with PBS. Ending the affiliation would cause APT to lose access to popular programs such as \u201cSesame Street\u201d and \u201cPBS NewsHour\u201d, as well as its ability to distribute content on streaming platforms. Reid said the state network would have to buy other programming to replace it.<\/p>\n
\u201cIf we cut ties, all of that would be gone. Right now, we\u2019re doing a ton of research. Everybody here is working on what it would take to replace the things that are affected by PBS,\u201d Reid said.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n Stay up to date with the news and the best of AP by following our WhatsApp channel.<\/p>\n Reid said he was also asked to research if they could keep PBS but drop the news programs \u201cPBS NewsHour\u201d and \u201cWashington Week.\u201d Reid said the decision ultimately belongs to the commission.<\/p>\n No other statewide network has cut ties with PBS to date, a spokesperson for PBS confirmed.<\/p>\n The possibility prompted a backlash from Alabama public television viewers and donors.<\/p>\n Jennifer Greer, a retired writer and educator, is one of the volunteers helping to mount a postcard campaign to urge the state to keep the PBS affiliation. Preschoolers, students and adults across the state benefit each day from PBS programs, she said.<\/p>\n \u201cWhen you take one of the most effective tools in the public education toolkit, and you defund it and you make it so only the wealthy can afford it, that\u2019s just irresponsible. That\u2019s a step backward,\u201d Greer said.<\/p>\n Petitions and posts were shared across social media urging people to \u201cSave PBS for Alabama Children\u201d urging people to attend the upcoming meeting.<\/p>\n The Corporation for Public Broadcasting provided about $2.8 million for Alabama Public Television although the money is not directly used to purchase PBS programming. Alabama Public Television pays about $2.2 million to purchase PBS programming. The amount was discounted after the federal funding cut.<\/p>\n Greer and others said they are concerned that dropping PBS would put Alabama Public Television in a downward financial spiral. Public media gets a substantial part of its funding from memberships and donations. \u201cIf we separate from PBS, our contributions are going to plummet, and that could jeopardize the stability of the whole operation,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n Commissioners were divided at an Oct. 28 meeting, according to the Alabama Reflector<\/a> and al.com<\/a>.<\/p>\n \u201cI just, I don\u2019t want to fund it, PBS has made themselves the enemy of what I stand with, and so I do not like them, and I don\u2019t follow the philosophy of feeding the beast,\u201d commission member Les Barnett said during the meeting according to the Alabama Reflector. Barnett did not return an email from The Associated Press.<\/p>\n J. Holland, another commission member, said he is interested in exploring if the state can begin buying PBS programming on an a la carte basis, picking some shows but not others. The current PBS contract does not allow that.<\/p>\n Pete Conroy, another commission member, said they should keep PBS. He said he is concerned that some commissioners are \u201cacting politically.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cI know how much PBS programming is used in our public schools, private schools and churches. It\u2019s always about the kids. These children need to be lifted up with this kind of programming,\u201d Conroy said.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"MONTGOMERY, Ala. (AP) \u2014 Each day, PBS programming fills the airwaves of Alabama Public Television with shows such…\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":376712,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[30],"tags":[27131,12955,64,69,407,171,57,181083,181082,48937,22014,173,61,67,132,68,181081],"class_list":{"0":"post-376711","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-tv","8":"tag-al-state-wire","9":"tag-alabama","10":"tag-business","11":"tag-donald-trump","12":"tag-education","13":"tag-entertainment","14":"tag-general-news","15":"tag-jennifer-greer","16":"tag-pete-conroy","17":"tag-public-broadcasting-service","18":"tag-public-media","19":"tag-tv","20":"tag-u-s-news","21":"tag-united-states","22":"tag-unitedstates","23":"tag-us","24":"tag-wayne-reid"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@us\/115544301045030173","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/376711","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=376711"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/376711\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/376712"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=376711"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=376711"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=376711"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}
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