Multimillion-Dollar Dues Have Stations Rethinking PBS Ties

The burden of paying annual dues to PBS has some public television stations rethinking their contracts with the nonprofit national broadcaster, writes The New York Times.

In Orlando, where PBS held its annual meeting last week, TV station WMFE ended its PBS deal and is being taken over by a religious programmer. WMFE executives said the station could no longer afford nearly $1-million a year in PBS dues amid declining donations and viewer pledges.

Payments that reached $7-million a year were a factor in Los Angeles station KCET’s decision to cut PBS ties last year, and Chicago’s WTTW considered pulling out over its $4.5-million annual bill to show marquee PBS shows such as “Masterpiece Theater” and “PBS NewsHour,” which are increasingly available to viewers on multiple stations in major markets and also online.

At last week’s meeting there was talk of several other stations considering leaving the fold, according to The Times. PBS is retooling its dues formula to help its flagship stations, which pay far more than secondary stations in their markets for the right to first broadcast top shows.