The Corporation for Public Broadcasting and National Public Radio found themselves at odds as CPB wound down most of its operations this fall.
CPB awarded a grant to fund a new nonprofit entity to distribute programming to public media stations, but it was met with a lawsuit by NPR. The confrontation was another stress point in an already fraught public media ecosystem.
Public Media Infrastructure is the name of the new consortium. It was created by American Public Media Group, the National Federation of Community Broadcasters, New York Public Radio, Public Radio Exchange (PRX) and the Station Resource Group.
CPB announced that PMI would receive a grant of $57.9 million over five years to handle public radio distribution through 2030. Of that amount, $35 million is for satellite interconnection, and $22 million for other services.
NPR sought to block the CPB grant with a temporary restraining order to “stop immediate and irreparable harms” to the public radio system. NPR manages the Public Radio Satellite System (PRSS), which faces the possibility of being defunded.
Because of the lawsuit, CPB said in October that it had yet to begin distributing grant money to PMI. It says this could delay rollout of essential distribution services. (About 30 staffers at CPB were continuing to work this fall to finalize remaining grants. That was expected to end in January. How the five-year grant would be administered beyond that was unclear.)
The saga has political aspects. In its filing, NPR claims that CPB pulled back a grant of more than $30 million for PRSS to distribute public radio content following pressure from the Trump administration.
[Related: “CPB Says NPR Suit Is an ‘Over-Caffeinated Conspiracy Theory”]
Continued operations
NPR has managed the largely satellite-based PRSS for 40 years. NPR Distribution, which manages PRSS, says the service helps hundreds of public stations and independent producers to share programming. Each year it distributes approximately 400,000 hours of news, music and specialized audience programming.
The transmission infrastructure is directed by the PRSS Network Operations Center in Washington. While NPR operates and maintains it, the system is a cooperative enterprise, with stations owning their equipment and sharing collective ownership of the satellite transponder capacity and core operating systems.
NPR’s request for an injunction to prevent the grant was scheduled to be heard in late October. NPR hoped the matter would be decided by the end of the year.
The motion is tied to a lawsuit filed in May by NPR and others against the Trump White House, challenging the executive order that led to the government clawing back funds for CPB. Ultimately, according to NPR, the “court ruling on the EO will decide if the grant money for satellite interconnection will go to NPR or PMI.”
NPR’s grant agreement with CPB for PRSS funding ended Sept. 30. But NPR said it would continue operating PRSS for now with ongoing contracts and agreements in place.
“NPR’s board has passed a stable FY26 budget that will fund PRSS and not increase PRSS station fees, despite the loss of federal funding,” the organization said.
It said in a statement that it also plans to continue to support stations on the Grove content management system and to develop the ContentDepot Edge terrestrial distribution service for which it announced a pilot launch last spring.
It said its strategy focuses on growth and improvement for the public media system. “None of this planned work is dependent on this motion or on the PRSS money.”
“New tools”
Earlier this year, CPB posted a request for proposal to fund a modernization of national content distribution to local stations. NPR proposed a continuation of PRSS, which was one of two proposals. The other came from PMI.
How distribution of public media programming in the United States would change is not clear. Nor is PMI’s business model known, observers told Radio World.
PMI said in a press release that it expects to work collaboratively with the PRSS and NPR to ensure the continuity of services. PMI’s proposal reportedly included a carve-out of funds to continue supporting PRSS until the new system is in place.
The consortium did not answer Radio World’s questions but replied with a statement:
“PMI will ensure the continuity and stability of core system-wide infrastructure — including satellite and emergency alert systems — while innovating radio and digital distribution systems, creating new tools for revenue generation and data analytics, and building content delivery services designed to enable local stations to remain vital sources of local news and programming for their communities.”
According to observers familiar with developments, PMI proposed using more of an internet-based content distribution system while innovating and adapting to rapid changes in technology.
One spectrum expert noted that the FCC earlier this year issued a notice of inquiry exploring a possible auction of upper C-band spectrum for wireless services. This person said perhaps that played a role in CPB’s decision to move in a different direction.
Such a move by the FCC could affect radio’s distribution infrastructure, since satellite companies use it extensively for radio and television downlinks. The FCC auctioned the lower portion of the C-band in 2020, generating around $80 billion in revenue for the government.
However, CPB said it recognizes that many broadcasters, particularly in rural, mountainous or remote areas, depend on satellite distribution because broadband alternatives are limited. At the same time, it wants the most “effective and accountable” future interconnection system.
“Beginning in 2026, together with cohorts of partner stations, PMI plans to design and pilot new services, including live over IP and audience analytics,” a CPB spokesperson wrote in an email.
The public dispute has drawn further attention to the plight of public broadcasting in the United States. Since the Trump White House stripped away federal funding and grants for CPB, public media has come under increasing scrutiny.
According to report by public media publication Current, CPB officials have said even though it has been funding PRSS since 1979, the process has been a “grant-making decision, not a statutory mandate.”
The developments come as NPR member outlets are demanding greater relief from programming fees and as some stations announced layoffs and content cuts.
NPR’s fiscal year began Oct. 1. In September it announced it was trimming its own operating budget by $5 million and reducing fees to some qualifying stations by that amount. Some observers say that may just be a starting point.
Affiliate tensions
More broadly, tensions have been simmering for some time between NPR and its member stations.
Paul Jacobs of consultancy Jacobs Media wrote on his blog, “Over this time, there was the expected tension between the network and its affiliate radio stations on a variety of different issues. Like any of these relationships, win/win situations are not always attainable. Sometimes what may be good for the network causes issues with those hundreds of affiliate stations.”
Mike Henry of Paragon Media said PRSS is a standard for program satellite delivery in the way that Dell or IBM are standards in computing.
“Stations paid more for that standard. Maybe the new entity can provide a less expensive and modernized standard,” Henry wrote in an email. “I was not surprised that CPB opted to fund a less expensive internet-based content distribution system.”
Stations that use PRSS are not likely to see much disruption to services in the short term. And with so much in flux in public media, Henry said some stations are finding new ways to collaborate directly and not through a “mothership” such as NPR.
“In some cases, stations are distancing themselves from NPR due to negative brand perceptions, while others are questioning the expense of NPR’s programs and leaning into more local content.”
Steven Bass, former chief executive of Oregon Public Broadcasting, says NPR’s focus on serving and monetizing audiences, through channels such as podcasts, created new conflicts and tensions with affiliates.
“Friction is always present in a membership organization, just as it is in a typical affiliate structure. With NPR, the friction isn’t generally about fees or distribution such as PRSS. It’s more due to the rise of on-demand audio, which fundamentally shifted the relationship between NPR and its member stations,” he said.
He agreed that regardless of the outcome of the grant dispute, PRSS will remain operational and will be required to serve all public radio stations that were previously qualified to receive CPB support for at least a few more years.
“If NPR fails to prevail in its suit, what would be lost is the opportunity to build new capabilities for distribution, both broadcast and digital. There’s a lot of foundational technology that is required to deal with the shift toward on-demand consumption. NPR has tried to serve these needs but has not been that successful.”
Another observer wondered how NPR will be able to move forward either way.
“One thing that I can’t figure out is the business strategy behind the lawsuit. If NPR is successful, it will be at the cost of important relationships with the PMI partners. That doesn’t seem like a clear win to me,” this person said.
Steve Williams, president and CEO of Newark Public Media’s WBGO, said his station depends on PRSS for distribution of the show “Jazz Night in America.” He said WBGO has been completely satisfied with its relationship.
“It’s premature to fully assess the possible impact, although I suspect NPR will have a swift and appropriate operational response if the court action fails. I’m confident they will prioritize the immediate needs of the hundreds of stations that, like WBGO, rely on their hourly newscasts and tentpole productions like ‘Morning Edition’ and ‘All things Considered.’”
Williams listed several questions he and others in public media hope can be answered soon.
“What will be the distribution priorities? Is the model sustainable, after the CPB money is exhausted, in a depressed economic environment for public media?”
He continued: “If CPB and PMI are in a legal dispute with the network that produces and distributes the two most popular public radio programs, how will a fiscally challenged public radio system support two costly distribution systems? Are NPR and PMI planning to collaborate or combine efforts?”
