Which specific PBS shows rely most on Corporation for Public Broadcasting grants since 2020?
Executive summary
No public, centralized list in the provided sources identifies exactly which PBS shows “rely most” on Corporation for Public Broadcasting (CPB) grants since 2020; CPB’s Ready To Learn (RTL) grants supported children’s series and related digital products across multiple shows and stations, with a 2020–25 RTL award totaling about $112 million and year‑one funding of $24,322,018 cited for CPB/PBS work [1] [2]. Reporting and CPB materials name past RTL‑funded series such as Sesame Street, Reading Rainbow, Clifford the Big Red Dog, Dragon Tales, Between the Lions, Odd Squad, Peg + Cat, Molly of Denali and Elinor Wonders Why, and note that termination of the 2020–25 RTL cycle disrupted production for 44 stations and programs [3] [4] [2].
1. What “rely most” means — money, production, or development?
There is no single metric in the available reporting to rank PBS shows by dependence on CPB grants; CPB distributes most federal dollars as station grants and separate content grants, and producers, member stations and PBS itself mix CPB money with station dues, underwriting, philanthropy and other grants [5] [6] [7]. Federal appropriations flow largely through Community Service Grants to local stations (CPB says by statute more than 70% goes to stations), while a smaller portion funds content, development and targeted programs like Ready To Learn — so “reliance” can mean different things depending on whether a show is station‑produced, independently produced, or part of an RTL initiative [8] [6] [5].
2. Ready To Learn: the clearest connection between CPB grants and specific shows
The strongest, documentable CPB→program link in these sources is the Ready To Learn grant program. CPB and PBS won a 2020 RTL award — year one cited at $24,322,018 and the five‑year cycle referenced at $112 million overall — and RTL historically funded a string of children’s series and digital resources named in CPB and reporting, including Sesame Street, Reading Rainbow and Clifford the Big Red Dog as historical examples, and Dragon Tales, Between the Lions, Odd Squad, Peg + Cat, Molly of Denali and Elinor Wonders Why as previous RTL recipients named in reporting [1] [3] [4] [2]. The Department of Education’s May 2025 termination of the 2020–25 RTL grant put work by PBS and 44 stations on pause, which outlets reported threatened games and shows under production [3] [2].
3. Which shows are explicitly listed as RTL‑funded in reporting?
Available sources explicitly mention multiple children’s titles as historically supported by RTL or associated CPB grants: Sesame Street, Reading Rainbow, Clifford the Big Red Dog, Dragon Tales, Between the Lions, Odd Squad, Peg + Cat, Molly of Denali and Elinor Wonders Why [3] [4] [2]. Those mentions come from CPB press releases and trade reporting; none of the supplied documents provide a ranked list or dollar amounts per show since 2020 [1] [2].
4. Dollars and scale — what the sources quantify
CPB/PBS reported the RTL award would provide $24,322,018 in year one of the 2020 five‑year cycle and PBS spokespeople and coverage cite a total 2020–25 RTL pot of about $112 million, with an immediate loss of roughly $23 million cited after the Department of Education’s termination [1] [2]. CPB and PBS also stress the reach of RTL work — millions of viewers and billions of streams for RTL shows and apps — but the sources do not break funding down to individual program budgets [3] [1].
5. Systemic context — where CPB money goes and limits of the evidence
CPB distributes the bulk of federal appropriation to local stations (by law the majority goes to stations; CPB says more than 70% is allocated directly to stations), and stations in turn may use grants for programming, dues, production or acquisition [8] [5] [6]. The Public Broadcasting Act limits CPB from producing or scheduling programming directly, so program funding often arrives indirectly via stations and competitive content grants rather than a simple “CPB pays show X” transaction [7] [6]. The supplied sources do not provide program‑level accounting that would let us rank shows by percentage of budget that comes from CPB since 2020 — that data is not found in current reporting.
6. Competing viewpoints and political pressures
Sources show competing narratives: CPB and PBS emphasize RTL’s bipartisan history and educational reach, while White House and executive actions in 2025 aimed to curtail CPB funding and prohibit indirect funding to NPR and PBS, triggering the Department of Education action that terminated the RTL award [3] [9] [2]. Congressional and advocacy statements frame risks to beloved shows and stations differently — some urge continued funding citing station reliance and the relatively small federal share of station budgets, while critics argue for eliminating taxpayer support [10] [11] [9] [12].
7. Bottom line and what’s needed to answer the question fully
Based on the supplied documents, the clearest, evidence‑backed linkage of CPB grants to specific PBS shows is through the Ready To Learn program, which historically funded many named children’s series and had a 2020–25 budgetary footprint (~$112M) that supported multiple shows and digital products; but available sources do not provide a per‑show financial breakdown or a ranked “which shows rely most” list [1] [2] [3]. To produce a definitive ranking, station‑level grant reports or CPB/PBS program‑specific accounting since 2020 would be required — those are not present in the materials you provided [8] [6].