TV & VIDEO - March 21, 1989

Officials of the Corporation for Public Broadcasting are casting a worried glance at the sky. The satellite whose transponders relay TV signals to public radio and TV stations around the country is due to fail in 1991. So CPB is urging Congress to take action soon in order to get a replacement up and operating in time to prevent serious disruption to public broadcasting service nationwide. Congress last year authorized $200 million to replace the satellite, but thus far it has appropriated only $56.81 million for fiscal 1991 for the project, CPB said. CPB President Donald Ledwig said failure to receive the satellite money would “force the public broadcasting system to divert scarce resources away from programming and into satellite replacement� . . . and that would “seriously disrupt and adversely affect public broadcasting’s programming nationwide.�