Reader comments
KBYU-TV keeps PBS affiliation

I wish KBYU would show The News Hour all five weekdays. it's disappointing to tune in at 7:00PM and find a different program running. It's the best news program on TV.

PBS did the right thing, however, just why KBYU wants to be affiliated with PBS is another question.

I guess there are still a FEW good programs on PBS. This comes from someone who used to be a PBS devotee. That's before it made such a hard turn to the left. There's plenty of other really great documentary programming on a lot of other stations now. No need for us to continue to waste our tax dollars on something the free market produces in great quantity. PBS really should be zero funded and scrapped.

PBS should not have any say as to what the affliates watch,or show, as long as my annual contributions are paid into them, I pay channel 7, 9, and BYU.. It is freedom of speech and there are other channels to watch, and see without them saying that Christianity is involved, it is for our local area, that the Public Broadcast System is set up for, not the religious standards. Just because BYU is associated with it, should not dictate whether the Main PBS has rights for us to see our local programs.

PBS funds a huge portion of the affiliates expenses. Your contribution does very little. KBYU is a member station of PBS, not just "associated" with it. They have a right and obligation to have a say in what their member stations show. Get the facts first.

No, PBS should not be destroyed. They should cancel their relationship with KBYU. KBYU won't show most most of PBS' programming. Part of PBS' mission statement is not to have partisan or religious programming. KBYU does not agree with this. The federal government gives token support to PBS. This means that the government is supporting the broadcast of daily Catholic mass in LA and the broadcast of LDS things in UT, among others. Is this how you want your tax dollars spent?

"Is this how you want your tax dollars spent?"

Yes.

"PBS funds a huge portion of the affiliates expenses. Your contribution does very little."

This is simply not true. In the fiscal year ending June 30, 2008, only $52,916,000 of PBS' $338,899,000 (or 15%) Operating Revenue came from CPB and/or Federal Grants. However, 58% came from member contributions. Donated Broadcast Rights (underwriting funds paid directly to producers by corporations, foundations and other sources to help offset program production costs) accounted for over half the Total Revenue which was $592,468,000. Unfortunately, 2008 also saw a $4,481,000 LOSS for the year.

If PBS is "Public" broadcasting, I suggest they keep the donors happy in the local markets. Unless they can pony up more federal money (tax-laced money anyway) or corporate donations, they're going to see more losses in the future.

One last point, unless PBS were to deny a legitimate call for a new religious program, there is no evidence of PBS favoring one religion over another. This was the point of the amendment in the constitution- not an all out ban of religion in the public sector.

Nice stats. Well written. Nice ending on the religion in the public sector. Kudos. You done a nice job answering the irishman.

I think both of your are pretty cool. But I agree with the stat man. God wins. Again.

PBS exists to serve local as well as national markets. Like it or not, Utah is partially a Mormon market. Any idea that KBYU should completely ban religious program could be viewed as bigotry and a form of censorship.

I am happy that KBYU gets to keep its traditional broadcasting, but I think the whole no religious programming policy is outrageous. And to say that PBS does not air political programming is the most ridiculous thing I have ever heard. Have you ever watched NOW or Bill Moyers? Its OK to be a shill for the left and try to push that agenda on to people, but if a local station wants to air a religious program that is valuable and wanted by the community that it is broadcast to, someone's rights are being violated? Give me a break. Why aren't publicly elected officials reviewing the inane policies made by the managers of the "public" broadcasting service?

You mean they are not as rah, rah Republican as Fox. PBS was and is 'fair and balanced' long before Fox came along. Their family programming fits well with KBYU. I hope the relationship lasts for decades to come.

Fox News isn't subsidized with taxpayer dollars; and if you think politically nuetral "family programming" balances out some of the most liberal programming of any station (commercial or non-commercial) then you must be smoking something.

To say the PBS doesn't broadcast partisan politics is nuts. Just watch any Bill Moyers program. Same thing with some of the commentaries on the News Hour. They are very partisan. It's almost as bad as watching ABC and Katie Couric.

What a sad state of affairs when Religious programming can be banned in PUBLIC Broadcasting and local interests were seriously in jeopardy in order to keep such affiliation. The divide is just getting broader all the time. This is one way "average" Americans could view such programs of local interest without having to pay a cable fee. Now, the ruling, which used the grandfather clause to protect this freedom, means other areas who might have enjoyed programs with religious messages will not be allowed to have this for all. This country is feeling more and more like Nazi Germany as freedoms are taken away from many in order to avoid "offending" some.

I have to agree PBS is pathetic and they have lost the respect of many viewers now. I recently contributed to KBYU TV in the fundraising event but had this ruling been implemented, that would have been the last donation from me.

We must all rally together to protect such basic freedom. The constitution says we will not prohibit the exercise of religion, but we are allowing the airways to do so. We are in danger, whether or not you want to watch religious programs, peril lurks.

It is sad when irreligion has become the state religion and PBS has no problem with broadcasting irreligious shows.

Looks like discrimination against other religions. Sounds like discrimination against other religions.
Because it is discrimination against other religions.

It's immoral and UN-American. All religions should get the same treatment. Every religion should get the same access to PBS. That's the American way.

If this was being done based on peoples skin color there would be a firestorm. But on the basis of religon it's OK? NO!

Can you believe that PBS, who thinks ABSOLUTELY NOTHING of presenting half-truths, theories masquerading as, and proporting to be truth, and outright lies has a problem with a few BYU Devotionals???

That's one of the symptoms. The disease is moral relativism and militant atheism.

Can we ever have an intelligent non-partisan news program? I doubt it.

The News Hour almost always has both conservative and liberal commentators (usually intelligent) on all issues. When has Fox News done that?

And yes, Bill Moyers is a voice of the Left, but have you listened to John McLaughlin? He's quite conservative. Why limit perspectives? I want to hear from both sides. And that includes religious programming. Why limit quality programming? Have Americans abandoned free speech?

I want to see public programming from a variety of perspectives. Conservatives should embrace PBS. It would help them to move beyond the rantings of talk radio. Can you envision a conservative documentary on Prop 8 and gay marriage that is of the quality of a "Frontline" documentary?

There are over 350 PBS stations nation wide.
The largest national network has over 100 fewer stations. PBS has many markets where more than one PBS station serves that market.
In 1994 or 1995 congress attempted to defund PBS. It would have been a good move. The popular programs would have survived as would PBS as a network. Many of the stations would have become independant. Their air time is valuable and they would have been a commercial success.
Free of government control the nonsense about denying KBYU its PBS affiliation would never come up.
Many of the programs on PBS preach evolution as if it were fact not theory.

Do you actually think they would air a conservative documentary on gay marriage? The point is that they are not allowing different perspectives on religion. They should, but they don't. I would be fine with the left-wing commentary of a majority of their commentators if there was truly opportunity for others to air their views as well. The fact that they are banning religious programming shows that they are not willing to look at other points of view. That would be a shame if it were just another commercial station like MSNBC or CNN, but since it is subsidized with my tax dollars, it is outrageous.