The Corporation for Public Broadcasting is a private, non-profit corporation created by Congress in 1967. The mission of CPB is to facilitate the development of, and ensure universal access to, non-commercial high-quality programming and telecommunications services. It does this in conjunction with non-commercial educational telecommunications licensees across America. CPB is the only public broadcasting organization that receives a direct federal appropriation, which it distributes by statutory formula to public radio and television stations and to program producers.

The Public Broadcasting Service, formed in 1969, is a private, nonprofit corporation that distributes programs by satellite to its member stations nationwide. In addition to providing some of the nation’s most acclaimed news and public affairs, science, nature, cultural and children’s programming, PBS also provides a wide range of educational services, from preschool through adult levels. PBS and its members stations are leaders in education technology, developing services such as closed-captioning for hearing-impaired viewers and Descriptive Video Service for blind audiences.

National Public Radio, incorporated in 1970, is a major producer and distributor of national public radio news, information and cultural programming. In addition, NPR distributes independently produced programming, operates public radio’s satellite interconnection system and is public radio stations’ primary Washington, DC representative. NPR is a membership organization with more than 600 member stations nationwide.