The director of Alabama Educational Television Commission said he is still waiting for financial information to be used in a decision later this year on renewing with PBS.
Alabama Public Television Executive Director Wayne Reid said after the meeting Jan. 20 that financial information from PBS should come to the station soon.
“They said at one point it was going to be December. Now they’re saying this month we should get our dues information. I think they’re, they’re still, I think, getting feedback from stations and trying to figure out how to proceed forward there. So pretty interesting to see what they come back with. But that, once we get that, then we’ll take the picture and look at it,” he said.
The commission in November voted to maintain PBS programming through the end of its contract in June after two commissioners suggested dropping the programming citing the current administration’s budget cuts to the Corporation for Public Broadcasting.
The idea of dropping PBS drew sharp criticism from PBS supporters, and Gov. Kay Ivey urged the board to delay a decision on the issue. Following the commission’s decision to maintain its PBS contract in November, APT’s membership at the end of the year was over 25,800. Chief Financial Officer Melissa Austin said during the Alabama Educational Television Foundation Authority meeting the number is a “nearly 2,500 member increase” from October.