NPR sues to block CPB $57.9M satellite award
NPR has filed a federal court motion seeking to block the Corporation for Public Broadcasting’s up-to-$57.9 million grant award for the public‑radio satellite distribution system to a new nonprofit, Public Media Infrastructure (founding partners include New York Public Radio, PRX and American Public Media), saying CPB had earlier told NPR it would receive more than $30 million to run the service before reversing course and noting NPR’s current PRSS grant expires Sept. 30, 2025. CPB says the award covers up to $57.9 million over five years and has begun an “orderly wind‑down” with a planned shutdown by early 2026, and a CPB spokesperson told the Washington Post the lawsuit forces the agency to expend scarce funds defending a suit “that has no merits”; the dispute sits alongside NPR’s separate lawsuit challenging a White House order barring CPB from spending federal money on NPR.
Legal
Politics
Media
🔍 Key Facts
- NPR filed a federal-court motion this week seeking to block the Corporation for Public Broadcasting's (CPB) $57.9 million grant award for the public‑radio satellite distribution system.
- CPB awarded the contract to a new nonprofit, Public Media Infrastructure (PMI); founding partners named include New York Public Radio, American Public Media and PRX, and other listed members include Station Resource Group and the National Federation of Community Broadcasters.
- CPB described the grant as up to $57.9 million over five years and has begun an "orderly wind‑down" of the existing system with a planned shutdown by early 2026.
- NPR says CPB earlier told it it would receive more than $30 million to run the service for three years before CPB reversed course.
- NPR's current PRSS (Public Radio Satellite System) grant with CPB expires Sept. 30, 2025; NPR's filing argues that funds once distributed would be unlikely to be clawed back.
- A CPB spokesperson told the Washington Post (quoted by Fox News) that the lawsuit forces CPB to expend scarce funds defending a suit "that has no merits."
- The satellite award dispute comes alongside NPR's separate lawsuit challenging a White House order banning CPB from spending federal money on NPR.
📍 Contextual Background
- Debarment is a federal administrative process that can render an entity ineligible to receive federal grants.
- The Office for Civil Rights in the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services referred Harvard University to a debarment process.
- The Office for Civil Rights is an office within the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services.
- YouTube and its parent company Alphabet agreed to pay a total of $24.5 million to settle a lawsuit brought by Donald J. Trump over the temporary suspension of his YouTube account after the 2021 U.S. Capitol attack.
- In January 2025, Meta paid $25 million to Donald Trump to settle his lawsuit over Facebook's and Instagram's suspensions of Trump's accounts after January 6, 2021.
- X (formerly Twitter) paid $10 million to settle a lawsuit by Donald Trump over suspensions related to the January 6, 2021 Capitol attack.
- Republicans and Democrats were engaged in negotiations over government funding ahead of an upcoming funding deadline described as occurring on a Tuesday.
📰 Sources (2)
CPB irked with NPR after outlet tries to block $58 million in dispersements to new nonprofit
New information:
- Fox News quotes a CPB spokesperson telling the Washington Post the lawsuit forces CPB to expend scarce funds defending a suit "that has no merits."
- Article names PMI founding partners: New York Public Radio, American Public Media and Public Radio Exchange (PRX).
- Confirms CPB described the grant as up to $57.9 million over five years and that CPB has begun an "orderly wind‑down" with a planned shutdown by early 2026.
- Notes NPR's filing emphasizes its current PRSS grant with CPB expires Sept. 30, 2025 and argues funds once distributed would be unlikely to be clawed back.
As federal funds wane, NPR ruefully clashes with CPB
New information:
- NPR filed a federal court motion this week seeking to block CPB's $57.9 million grant award for the public‑radio satellite distribution system
- CPB awarded the contract to Public Media Infrastructure (members: New York Public Radio, PRX, American Public Media, Station Resource Group, National Federation of Community Broadcasters)
- NPR says CPB earlier told it it would receive more than $30 million to run the service for three years before CPB reversed course; the dispute sits alongside NPR's separate lawsuit challenging a White House order banning CPB spending federal money on NPR