CHARLESTON, Il. — Eastern Illinois University announced that it will end its affiliation with the Public Broadcasting Service following the elimination of federal funding from the Corporation for Public Broadcasting, which will officially end on September 30.
The separation is effective October 1, according to a news release.
“According to University leaders, the shift in WEIU-TV’s funding model ensures EIU students retain access to the most critical components of their broadcast journalism and news media production learning experiences at EIU,” the university said in a statement. “This includes its student newscast, News Watch, and related weather programming, which remains central to EIU’s academic mission.”
Currently, PBS accounts for approximately 25% of WEIU-TV’s programming. The station has identified other programming options to replace its existing PBS content. WEIU-TV plans to drop its PBS brand affiliation and officially operate as “A Service of Eastern Illinois University.”
The elimination of federal funding comes to a loss of more than $790,000 – nearly 80% of the station’s overall annual operations budget.
However, the change does not impact WEIU-FM, which is licensed separately and not affected by the elimination of federal CPB funding.
Federal funding to the Corporation for Public Broadcasting (CPB) was discontinued in July following the Rescissions Act of 2025.