NJ PBS – the sole PBS affiliate covering local New Jersey news – will shutter next year following severe funding cuts and failed negotiations with the state, according to the network’s operator.
The Newark, New Jersey-based station, which has been run by WNET for the past 14 years, blamed its closure on “very significant” funding cuts from President Trump and New Jersey’s state government.
“Regrettably, WNET has been unable to reach an agreement with the New Jersey Public Broadcasting Authority to extend the management of New Jersey’s public television network beyond the expiration date of June 30, 2026,” the network said in a statement.
It did not clarify how the funding cuts thwarted contract talks with the state.
NJ PBS did not immediately respond to noti.group’s request for comment.
“WNET is committed to supporting the state through this transition and looks forward to collaborating with New Jersey–based institutions interested in operating a public television network,” the network continued, suggesting that it could remain open after the June deadline if it finds another operator.
NJ PBS will continue operations until June 30.
After its closure, the channel’s nightly news show, “NJ Spotlight News,” will move over to THIRTEEN – the only other PBS station licensed to New Jersey, though it covers New York City-area news. New Jerseyans can continue to access PBS programming online or via THIRTEEN.
“The closure of New Jersey PBS is a loss for all of us who live here. Their programming benefits all New Jerseyans young and old,” Sen. Cory Booker (D-NJ) wrote in a post on X Tuesday.
Trump earlier this year slashed $500 million from nationwide public broadcast funding – hitting roughly 330 PBS stations and 246 NPR affiliates.
In August, the Corporation for Public Broadcasting, a nonprofit that helps promote NPR and PBS stations, announced it was shutting down because of the funding cuts.
New Jersey Gov. Philip Murphy, a Democrat, also signed a spending plan this summer that reduced funding for NJ PBS to $250,000, down from $1 million the year before.
Murphy’s office did not immediately respond to noti.group’s request for comment.
Scott Kobler, chairman of NJ PBS, wrote in an op-ed that he was “disappointed” that the network was unable to reach a contract agreement – and blamed the state for the impasse.
“WNET and NJ PBS’s recent good-faith back-and-forth with the State included a request for a reasonable level of support,” Kobler wrote in the New Jersey Globe on Wednesday.
“I believe that the State’s intransigence or maybe even apathy, coupled with federal funding cuts and new media challenges, likely influenced WNET’s decision to protect its core enterprise as one of our nation’s leading public media platforms,” Kobler added. “So be it, but frankly it could have all been so much easier.”
New Jersey is already facing a troubling decline in local news outlets.
The Star-Ledger – once the top paper in the state – stopped printing in February and shifted to an online-only model, along with three of its sister papers: The Times of Trenton, The South Jersey Times and The Hunterdon County Democrat.
The Jersey Journal, a daily newspaper, stopped operations completely the same month.
[Notigroup Newsroom in collaboration with other media outlets, with information from the following sources]
