Public Television

RESOLUTION

PUBLIC SESSION

BOARD OF DIRECTORS

CORPORATION FOR PUBLIC BROADCASTING

WASHINGTON, DC

Monday, December 11, 2023

 

unanimously

 

WHEREAS,

Under the provisions of the Public Broadcasting Act, CPB makes grants to eligible public television stations in a manner intended to provide for the needs and requirements of stations so that they may serve their local communities and audiences; and

 

WHEREAS,

The Community Service Grant (CSG) program is the primary mechanism for CPB to provide this financial support to local stations; and

 

WHEREAS,

CPB management has consulted with a panel of television station representatives regarding changes to CSG policy and invited and received comment directly from public television stations as part of this consultation process; and

 

WHEREAS,

CPB management has reviewed and endorses the panel’s recommendations that current policies be retained – including the base grant formula, methodology for reporting indirect administrative support, the minimum non-federal financial support eligibility requirement, and the second base grant policy for mergers – except as outlined below.

 

NOW, THEREFORE, BE IT RESOLVED THAT

The CPB Board of Directors hereby adopts CPB management’s recommendations for the following changes to television CSG policy.

Recommendation 1

 

Incentive Grant

Retain the tiering of non-federal financial support (NFFS) to calculate the incentive grant portion of the CSG with a change to Tier 3, applying the incentive rate of return (IRR) [1] to 80% instead of 95% of a grantees’ NFFS:

  • Tier 1: Apply the IRR to 100% of a grantee’s NFFS for each dollar up to $3 million.
  • Tier 2: Apply the IRR to 92.5% of a grantee’s NFFS for each dollar over $3 million but less than $20 million.
  • Tier 3: Apply the IRR to 80% of a grantee’s NFFS for each dollar of $20 million or more.

 

Recommendation 2

 

Incentive Grant

Calculate the incentive grants of grantees that report NFFS of $35 million or more by using a five-year average NFFS. Then, tier the average NFFS per CPB policy.

Discontinue the current year-over-year growth limit on NFFS and options for grantees reporting more than $35 million in NFFS to make allocations of NFFS into future years.   

 

Recommendation 3

 

Universal Service Support Grant

Increase the pool for the Universal Service Support Grant program from 2% of the CPB’s federal appropriation to 2.2%.

 

 

 

[1] IRR is the incentive rate of return or CPB’s match to each eligible dollar of NFFS. The IRR is derived by dividing the total amount of system NFFS dollars approved for matching by the total amount of dollars in the incentive grant pool. The incentive grant pool is comprised of the balance of CSG funds available after the base grant and supplemental grants are calculated.

Resolution Date: 
Thursday, December 14, 2023

RESOLUTION
PUBLIC SESSION
BOARD OF DIRECTORS
CORPORATION FOR PUBLIC BROADCASTING
WASHINGTON, D.C.
May 5, 2020

(7 in favor; 1 absent)

WHEREAS,

In September 2019, the CPB Board approved TV Community Service Grant policy changes that included the establishment of a $1 million Healthy Network Initiative to begin October 1, 2020, to support eligible grantees that strategically develop and use data to more effectively understand, engage, and serve their audiences.

WHEREAS,

Since that time, COVID-19 has created unprecedented economic disruption across the nation, challenging public television stations’ ability to maintain local programming and services.

WHEREAS,

Public television stations have incurred additional costs to meet their communities’ intensified educational, health and safety, and public information needs as a result of the COVID-19 crisis.

WHEREAS,

CPB Management, with the endorsement of the 2019 Television Community Service Grant panel of station representatives that originally recommended the Healthy Network Initiative, recommends delaying implementation of the new Healthy Network Initiative to FY 2022.

NOW, THEREFORE, BE IT RESOLVED THAT

The CPB Board of Directors hereby adopts CPB management’s recommendation to postpone the launch of the CSG Healthy Network Initiative from FY 2021 to FY 2022; and distribute as unrestricted funds through the general CSG pool the $1 million that would have been allocated to the initiative in FY 2021.  

Resolution Date: 
Tuesday, May 5, 2020