In addition to the potential federal funding cuts that public broadcasters across the country are facing, PBS North Carolina could also lose a big chunk of its state funding this year.
The Senate budget would slash $4 million of the roughly $10 million the TV network receives from the state.
The House budget, meanwhile, doesn’t directly target PBS NC for cuts, but it does include a $61 million cut to the UNC System, which includes the network. Under that proposal, the UNC Board of Governors would decide what to cut, with a mandate to “prioritize reductions to the UNC System Office and UNC systemwide initiatives” over budget cuts on individual university campuses.
"In the worst-case scenario, you would be looking at about 30 to 31% of our entire budget with what's laid out so far," said PBS NC's general manager, David Crabtree. "We don't think worst-case scenario is going to happen, but you have to prepare for it."
At the federal level, President Donald Trump's "rescission" request to Congress would eliminate funding for the Corporation for Public Broadcasting, which provides more than $4 million annually to PBS NC, along with its grants to WUNC and 10 other public TV and radio stations across the state. Trump says national programming from PBS aims to "spread radical, woke propaganda disguised as ‘news.’”
Sen. Brad Overcash, R-Gaston, is a budget writer overseeing higher education appropriations. Asked if the proposed PBS NC cut is related to President Donald Trump’s criticism of PBS programming and funding, he told WUNC that “Senate budget writers were tasked with finding strategic cuts that wouldn’t impact core government services. PBS NC is successfully raising private dollars, and the decision was made to adjust the public funding because of that.”
Crabtree says that fundraising has been flat in recent years, and budget cuts are already happening.
"We began in January with a 10% cut of non-personnel expenses that expanded to 25% for our new budget for fiscal year (20)26, so we were already in a proactive mode before any of this happened," he said. "That has prepared us to look where we could cut even further."
The cuts could impact locally produced programs focused on North Carolina, from political talk shows like "State Lines" to travel shows like "North Carolina Weekend."
Federal cuts have already hit PBS stations across the country. PBS North Carolina was one of the recipients of a U.S. Department of Education Ready To Learn Grant that was axed in May. Crabtree says that money funded educational outreach around the station’s Rootle channel for children.
"In all 100 counties, we have Rootle ambassadors to work with — not only the children, but also with teachers in that area —supplying them with additional professional development, additional supplies, additional events to happen for community engagement," he said.
For now, that program has been able to continue with other funding. Another service PBS NC provides to communities across the state is unrelated to TV shows.
The 13 towers that beam out its broadcasts from Waynesville to Wilmington also host a communications network for first responders. The state has been funding upgrades and maintenance to that system, including an additional $17 million in the House budget bill.
"During Helene, we were able to keep all of those counties in western North Carolina connected for emergency management, so operations from county to county could continue to communicate with each other," he said, adding that some of the infrastructure facilities "have not been touched other than maintenance in decades." Legislators in recent budget bills "realized that to maintain that safety network, we needed to get ahead of the problems."
PBS NC also provides video feeds from state emergency briefings and the UNC Board of Governors. Crabtree says many people aren’t aware of the station’s public safety functions. "When a hurricane is approaching, or there's a wildfire in the state and the governor wants to get the message out, we are there as a vanguard to get it out cleanly, effectively and in real time," he said.
Given the funding uncertainty as state budget talks continue and Congress debates Trump's rescission request, UNC System President Peter Hans says he’s keeping a close eye on the budget situation for the public broadcaster.
"We obviously need to think through pressures, changes from the national level, potentially from the state, but we're having those discussions, both internally and with our federal and state partners," Hans said.
State House and Senate leaders hope to agree on a final budget plan in the coming months.
PBS NC and WUNC Radio are both public media broadcasters, but the two are fully separate from each other. While WUNC Radio is an affiliated entity of UNC Chapel Hill, the station receives no state or university funding. WUNC would be impacted by the proposed federal cuts, which make up about 5% of the station’s budget.
