Public Broadcasting Act of 1967

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Public Broadcasting Act of 1967

Long title	An Act to amend the Communications Act of 1934 by extending and improving the provisions thereof relating to grants for construction of educational television broadcasting facilities, by authorizing assistance in the construction of non-commercial educational radio broadcasting facilities, by establishing a nonprofit corporation to assist in establishing innovative educational programs, to facilitate educational program availability, and to aid the operation of educational broadcasting facilities; and to authorize a comprehensive study of instructional television and radio; and for other purposes.
Enacted by	the 90th United States Congress
Effective	November 7, 1967
Citations
Public law	90-129
Statutes at Large	81 Stat. 365
Codification
Titles amended	47 U.S.C.: Telegraphy
U.S.C. sections amended	47 U.S.C. ch. 5 §§ 390-397, 609
Legislative history
Introduced in the Senate as S. 1160 by Warren G. Magnuson (D–WA) on March 2, 1967 Committee consideration by Senate Subcommittee on Communication and House Committee on Interstate and Foreign Commerce Passed the Senate on May 16, 1967 (266-91, in lieu of H.R. 6736) Passed the House on September 21, 1967  Signed into law by President Lyndon B. Johnson on November 7, 1967

The Public Broadcasting Act of 1967 (47 U.S.C. § 396) issued the congressional corporate charter for the Corporation for Public Broadcasting (CPB), a private nonprofit corporation funded by taxpayers to disburse grants to public broadcasters in the United States,^[1] and eventually established the Public Broadcasting Service (PBS) and National Public Radio (NPR). The act was supported by many prominent Americans, including Fred Rogers ("Mister Rogers"), NPR founder and creator of All Things Considered Robert Conley, and Senator John O. Pastore of Rhode Island, then chairman of the Senate Subcommittee on Communications, during House and United States Senate hearings in 1967.

The act charged the CPB with encouraging and facilitating program diversity, and expanding and developing non-commercial broadcasting. The CPB would have the funds to help local stations create innovative programs, thereby increasing the service of broadcasting in the public interest throughout the country.^[2]