What will happen to PBS and NPR stations once they lose federal funding?

Public media stations are on the verge of losing the federal funding that has helped keep them on the air for decades. Here’s what that would look like.

PBS and NPR stations are on the verge of losing the federal funding that has helped keep them on the air for decades. The Senate and the House have passed a rare measure called a “rescission,” which would claw back money that was already budgeted by Congress, including nearly $1.1 billion in funding for public media. President Trump, who proposed the spending cut, is expected to sign the measure into law. Here’s what might happen once the funding for public broadcasting is zeroed out. Over time, some local stations may be forced off the air, while other stations may have fewer shows to broadcast. Stations may have fewer resources for news reporting and educational programming. But the exact impacts are hard to predict because the public radio and TV system is complex. The center of the system is the Corporation for Public Broadcasting, or CPB, an independent entity established by Congress in the 1960s to support local radio and TV stations across the United States. CPB receives $535 million in taxpayer support annually and disburses the funds to about 1,500 local radio and TV stations, as well as programmers and infrastructure providers. Those funds are what President Trump and congressional Republicans are revoking. Democrats wanted the funds to remain in place.