CPB functioned as a national stabilizer — negotiating rights, sharing infrastructure, smoothing disparities between rich and poor markets. Without it, public media begins to resemble the very commercial ecosystem it was designed to counterbalance.

Stations that once relied on PBS for national programming, interconnection infrastructure, and brand recognition now face three unattractive options: raise unprecedented levels of private funding, dramatically scale back operations, or reinvent themselves entirely.

Eliminating support for public media will ensure that millions of Americans — especially those in less populated, less profitable zip codes — will be more disconnected, unheard, and unseen.