For nearly 60 years, Arkansas’s only statewide public television network has worked to inform and inspire viewers through stories that educate and strengthen its communities. Moving forward, from June 30, 2026, that programming will be absent of anything from PBS — one of the biggest casualties to date of Congressional defunding of the Corporation for Public Broadcasting.
In an announcement unveiling “a new local name for a more local future,” Arkansas PBS and AETN shared that it will now be calling itself Arkansas TV.
With local storytelling, “meaningful community partnerships and more opportunities to celebrate the people and places that make Arkansas extraordinary” coming for the entity, the organization shared that the name change is the result of “a new vision focused on content made by Arkansans for Arkansans,” adding, “as we approached the start of our 60th year in service to the state, it was the perfect time to reimagine our brand identity to reflect the people, the places, and the purpose behind our brand.”
The “perfect time” for saying goodbye to PBS is likely thanks to the end of federal dollars supplied to what was Arkansas PBS and AETN through the CPB.
According to Current.org, the move follows those seen at WEIU-TV in Charleston, Ill., and WSRE in Pensacola, Fla. That said, KCET Television said goodbye to PBS in 2011 and later merged with PBS SoCal’s KOCE-TV to rebrand as “PBS SoCal Plus” — a sign that acrimony in even the most liberal of U.S. markets between Member stations and PBS pre-dates Donald Trump as U.S. President.
Still, the absence of $2.5 million from Washington to Little Rock is a significant blow to the Arkansas TV budget, and paying those fees to D.C. was “simply not feasible for the network or our Foundation,” it explained.
The governing body for Arkansas TV voted 6-2 at a December 11 meeting to forego the PBS contract renewal.
Arkansas TV is led by CEO Carlton Wing, who succeeded Courtney Pledger following her May resignation from the organization. Wing is a former Republican State Representative and a co-founder of Wing Media Group, which produces outdoorsman programming.
Impacted by the decision to not renew its PBS agreement are DT multicast offerings PBS Kids, Create and WORLD.
“Beginning July 1, 2026, national PBS content will only be available via streaming from PBS.org, the PBS App and through Amazon Prime, Hulu Live, and YouTube TV,” Arkansas TV said.
