UPDATED: PBS programs will remain in Arkansas after commission accepts funds raised for dues

PBS programs will be available in Arkansas for another year after the state’s public television commission agreed Thursday to pay PBS dues and undo its effort to cut ties from the national network.

Arkansas had been set to become the first state to cut off from PBS, but paused the move earlier this year following an outcry from donors and viewers.

The Arkansas TV Foundation announced Wednesday it achieved its goal of raising more than $2.1 million to cover PBS membership dues from July 1, 2026 to June 30, 2027. The six-member Arkansas TV Commission voted with no dissent at Thursday’s regular meeting to use the money for its intended purpose, and members of the public applauded the decision from an overflow space outside the meeting room.

“This achievement, I believe, is a testament to the value that our campaigns place on the PBS programming as a resource for trusted, high-quality, lifelong learning,” Arkansas TV Foundation CEO Marge Betley told the commission.

Arkansas TV is the rebranded name of Arkansas PBS, previously called the Arkansas Educational Television Network. The station announced the rebrand in December, the same day the commission voted to leave PBS in response to the defunding and closure of the Corporation for Public Broadcasting.

Arkansas public television viewers, parents disillusioned with network’s plan to cut ties with PBS

Arkansans expressed their discontent with the possibility that PBS programs would no longer be available over the air starting July 1. Many said they would no longer donate to the network if it left PBS, and Betley said in March that the network lost more than 3,700 donors from December through February.

Former Arkansas first ladies Barbara Pryor and Gay White spearheaded a campaign to keep PBS in Arkansas.

“I think it’s the most wonderful thing that’s happened lately in Arkansas,” Pryor told the Advocate. “I feel like we have really experienced a victory today for everybody in our state, and I think it’s wonderful that all of us have come together to work on that.”

Funding sources

The PBS Dues Fund launched in March after the commission paused the disaffiliation effort. Donations came from all 75 counties, Betley said.

Large donations came from the Knight Foundation, the Walton Family Foundation, Schueck Family Foundation and the Tyson Family Foundation. An anonymous Arkansas donor pledged $1 million to be used per year for three years, on the condition that the network retains its PBS membership and the foundation matches every dollar with contributions from other donors.

The foundation has secured commitments of more than $1.5 million each toward the cost of PBS dues in fiscal years 2028 and 2029, bringing the total amount of “commitments or cash in the door” to about $5.25 million, Betley said.

The majority of Arkansas TV’s funding comes from state funds. Carlton Wing was a Republican state lawmaker before he resigned in September to become Arkansas TV’s CEO, and he urged his colleagues to approve the network’s spending authority in 2024.

The appropriation faced resistance from House Republicans several years in a row until this spring, when some lawmakers praised Arkansas TV’s potential disaffiliation from PBS.

An additional appropriation bill would have given the state the option to match up to $550,000 in private donations to Arkansas TV. The measure passed the Senate but narrowly failed in the House.

The station’s $2.1 million in dues for the coming fiscal year are a discount from the $2.3 million the station paid annually when CPB was operational. PBS lowered the dues in response to CPB’s closure.

The commission chose to renew its PBS contract last June on the final day of the previous fiscal year. An uptick in donations had allowed the foundation to provide the station with a one-time emergency fund of $1.5 million, supporting both operating expenses and about half of the PBS dues.

Members of the public sitting in an overflow room at Arkansas TV’s Conway headquarters applaud after the network’s commission voted to maintain its PBS affiliation on June 4, 2026. (Video by Tess Vrbin/Arkansas Advocate)

National input

PBS CEO Paula Kerger urged commissioners at their March meeting to rethink their decision to leave PBS, especially since some areas of Arkansas have poor broadband connection and cannot reliably stream free online PBS content.

Kerger told the commission she was open to discussing measures, such as lowering digital PBS distribution costs, that would help Arkansas TV afford PBS dues. Wing said Thursday that Kerger’s “vague offers to help” did not meet his expectations, such as offering less expensive dues.

PBS chief calls for Arkansas public TV commission to ‘take a pause’ on leaving national network

Kerger told the Advocate in March she was surprised not to receive advance notice from Wing before the Arkansas TV Commission voted to leave PBS.

PBS has held six nationwide meetings of station general managers since Wing took over Arkansas TV, and he has only attended one of those meetings, PBS Senior Vice President of Corporate Communications Jeremy Gaines said Thursday. No one from Arkansas TV attended PBS’ annual in-person meeting in Austin, Texas last month, Gaines said.

Arkansas is not the only state whose public television station has considered leaving PBS. Some commissioners for Alabama Public Television proposed cutting ties with the network last year, but the panel voted to keep PBS programming in November and again in April.

A few Arkansans told the commission they appreciated the decision to keep PBS in the state.

“I credit my watching PBS with learning an incredible amount of information, and it’s very important for senior citizens like myself to continue to have education on TV,” Peggy Casey of Little Rock said.

Former Arkansas TV Foundation employee Kendi Jensen-Loving brought his two young daughters to Thursday’s meeting. He told the Advocate he was glad the commission’s “correct decision” will allow his children to keep learning from PBS programs.

“I’m [also] really happy that they have a view into the democratic process to really see that when people come together and want to make change, they can do so,” Jensen-Loving said.