Five years after a splashy rebranding to Arkansas PBS, the statewide public television network is scrapping the name and dropping its membership in the national Public Broadcasting Service.
The reasons are financial, said the network’s new executive director and CEO, Carlton Wing. The network, formerly known as the Arkansas Educational Television network, will now be known simply as Arkansas TV.
The network lost $2.5 million in annual funding from the Corporation for Public Broadcasting when the CPB fell under the Trump administration’s spending ax earlier this year. Congress codified the $1.1 billion cut with its rescission bill in June.
Not coincidentally, the statewide network was paying nearly $2.5 million per year in PBS dues. The Arkansas Educational Television Commission voted Thursday to end PBS membership effective July 1.
“A careful … organization-wide review of operations, partnerships and sustainability revealed that annual PBS membership dues of nearly $2.5 million was simply not feasible for the network or our Foundation,” the commission said in a news release. It said the decision was “In the interest of creating a sustainable model for public television in Arkansas.”
CPB funding made up about 20% of the network’s $15.1 billion operating budget in fiscal 2024. Appropriations by the Arkansas General Assembly provided the lion’s share of the rest, about 45%.
“Public television in Arkansas is not going away,” Wing said. “In fact, we invite you to join our vision for an increased focus on local programming, continuing to safeguard Arkansans in times of emergency and supporting our K-12 educators and students. We are profoundly grateful for the overwhelming support that donors, viewers and community partners have shown since this funding loss. We are confident that we can secure ongoing and increased support from individual donors, foundation partners and corporate sponsors who see the value in investing in new local programming that serves our state.”
The public TV network, based in Conway on grounds donated by what is now the University of Central Arkansas, is heading into its 60th year with plans to showcase Arkansas storytelling.
“A great lineup coming in 2026 will feature two children’s series, two food-related series, two history series and several others that are in the initial phases of development and fundraising,” the network said.
Arkansas TV will not be able to broadcast many PBS programs after July 1, but viewers will still have ways to access it, the release said.
“The current PBS contract ends on June 30, 2026. Viewers will begin seeing our name change to ‘Arkansas TV’ over the next several months on TV, our website, social media and email,” the network said. PBS Kids content will be available on the PBS app, and other content will remain available on PBS Passport, which costs $60 a year.
“Arkansas TV is our promise that visual storytelling — centered on the people, places and experiences of our state—remains at the core of everything we do,” Wing said. “As we embrace our new identity as Arkansas TV, we are also making strategic decisions to ensure a sustainable model for public television in Arkansas and our ability to serve Arkansans for generations to come.”
Marge Betley, CEO of the Arkansas PBS Foundation, told Little Rock Public Radio that she expects donations from viewers to drop, at least initially, as programming changes set in.
“We are always temporary stewards of the organizations and the missions that we serve, and in order to do that job well, not just for the present but for future generations, we look at both our mission and our long-term sustainability,” she said.
At Thursday’s commission meeting, CFO James Downs said that the network would have faced a negative cash balance by the end of the next fiscal year if it continued to pay PBS dues.
“We’re projecting that it takes us into a financial position that is not sustainable, with deficit spending projected to reach that $6 million negative by Fiscal Year [20]30,” he said. “By not paying PBS dues… we would have that much smaller deficit gap with an extra year to resolve it by seeking some new funding sources and continuing to reduce costs and become more efficient.”
Wing said he’d had discussions with people eager to support programming “with an Arkansas-centric focus,” and said only about 5.5% of network programming has been produced locally.
The commission passed the motion to leave PBS in a roll call vote, with Commissioners Annette Herrington and Cynthia Nance voting against it.
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