Yesterday, a House Subcommittee passed its Fiscal Year (FY) 2018 draft bill, with mixed results for your local stations.
Station Seed Funding Preserved
The draft bill provided full funding for the Corporation for Public Broadcasting (CPB), which distributes seed funding to your public radio and television stations.
The inclusion of CPB funding is a tremendous victory that belongs to you.
Your constant outreach over the past several months, helped us make a successful case to Congress to fully fund this essential program.
Interconnection Defunded
Unfortunately, funding for public media’s interconnection infrastructure program was eliminated.
Interconnection is an important program that enables virtually every American to receive local station programming for free – even in the most rural parts of our nation.
The system allows your stations to distribute programming, as well as public safety, national alert, and warning communications.
If Interconnection is eliminated, it becomes nearly impossible for local stations to broadcast your favorite programs and bring you important public safety communications.
What Happens Next
There is still a long way to go before funding levels for the Corporation for Public Broadcasting and Interconnection are finalized, so it’s important to remain active.
The first thing you can do is help us fight for full public media funding, including Interconnection funding, by emailing your Members of Congress here.
As early as next week, Congress could move legislation that could help or hurt our cause. So, please voice your support for your stations today.
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