Company Profile

Company Overview

CPB is a private, nonprofit corporation created by Congress in the Public Broadcasting Act of 1967.

CPB is the steward of the federal government’s investment in public broadcasting and the largest single source of funding for public radio, television, and related online and mobile services.

CPB’s mission is to ensure universal access to non-commercial, high-quality content and telecommunications services. It does so by distributing more than 70% of its funding to more than 1,400 locally owned public radio and television stations.

CPB by the numbers:

410 grantees, representing 1,123 public stations receive CPB funding
170 grantees, representing 366 TV stations receive CPB funding
Out of CPB’s 580 grantees, 220 are considered rural
99% of Americans have access to public media
More than 70% of CPB’s federal funding goes directly to local public media stations
Less than 5% of funding is spent on CPB operations
$1.35 – Average annual cost per American for public media
CPB does not produce programming and does not own, operate or control any public broadcasting stations. Additionally, CPB, PBS, and NPR are independent of each other and of local public television and radio stations.

CPB strives to support diverse programs and services that inform, educate, enlighten and enrich the public. Through grants, CPB encourages the development of content that addresses the needs of underserved audiences, especially children and minorities. CPB also funds multiple digital platforms used by thousands of public media producers and production companies throughout the country.

CPB's core values of collaboration, innovation, engagement, and diversity, help to inform our program investments system-wide.