INDIANAPOLIS (AP) — Indiana public broadcasting stations are weighing the merits of consolidating as leaner budgets and a push to cut funding in Congress pose what one observer calls the "most serious threat" yet to their operations.
Declines in corporate sponsorship and state funding have cut budgets at broadcasters in recent years, and the U.S. House of Representatives voted to cut funding to the Corporation for Public Broadcasting, which distributes $450 million to local stations. Two senators introduced a similar bill on Friday.
Lloyd Wright, CEO of Indianapolis station WFYI-FM 90.1 and Channel 20, said efforts to eliminate the subsidy come at a difficult time for public broadcasters. His station's budget is $1 million less than it was in 2009, and WFYI made its first layoffs in its history in January 2009, losing 12 percent of its staff.
Wright told the Indianapolis Business Journal that the eight radio and eight TV stations across the state are working to share more content and studying how much they could save by combining master-control operations. Similar efforts are under way in southern California.
"There has been a lot of discussion about mergers, consolidation," he said.
DePauw University communications professor Jeffrey McCall said public broadcasting is an underdog in budget debates, especially as the nation battles a massive deficit.
"The budget hawks in Congress have always questioned whether the government should be funding them," he said. "This is the most serious threat."
McCall said he thinks public broadcasters would find a way to make up for the subsidy if it were cut. But he notes that if some stations close, costs for programs could be passed on to others.
Wright said government support is essential to stations and allows them to air things such as state schools chief Tony Bennett's "state of Education" speech.
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