Big Bird is a Billionaire
[If you can't get an outfit that makes over a $1B a year in profits off the public teat, how can you ever cut any spending at all? ]
By Accuracy In Media | June 27, 2005
Merchandise from PBS can be found in every toy store across America, and yet that money does not appear on the Corporation for Public Broadcasting’s balance sheet. Americans should be shocked.
Rep. Ginny Brown-Waite of Florida denounces Big Bird as a Billionaire:
“If we cannot get this billionaire off the public trough, than I ask how can we ever hope to cut spending.”
Call or write Rep. Ginny Brown-Waite and thank her for leading the effort to cut the public broadcasting budget.
Rep. Ginny Brown-Waite
414 Cannon House Office Building
Washington, DC 20515
Phone: 202-225-1002
Ms. GINNY BROWN-WAITE of Florida. Mr. Chairman, today we are talking about deficits, debt and tight spending. We are talking about tight veterans budgets and funding our troops. But the other side of the aisle will not let us even cut from the most obvious sources. I would like to let them know, and the other Members, let them know what PBS does not want you to know, Big Bird is a billionaire.
What they do not want you to know is that the marketing rights for Sesame Street and Barney total $1.3 billion. Merchandise from PBS can be found in every toy store across America, and yet that money does not appear on the Corporation for Public Broadcasting’s balance sheet. Americans should be shocked.
This is the height of absurdity, a massive corporation shielding its profits so that it can continue to feed at the Federal trough. Where is the Democratic outrage at this? If this were a Fortune 500 company, we would be hearing breathless condemnations from the other side. But there is actually more. The average household income of a listener of NPR is approximately $75,000. Guess what? This means the taxpayers are being soaked so that the affluent people can get their news commercial-free.
This debate shows that many people have truly met a government program they could not cut. Mr. Speaker, Big Bird is strong enough to fly on his own. If we cannot get this billionaire off the public trough, than I ask how can we ever hope to cut spending.
.....
aim.org
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MOVE ON, BIG BIRD
Publication: The New York Post
Date: Sunday, June 20 2010
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When will Congress take the "public" out of the Public Broadcasting System?
A subsidiary of New York City's PBS station, Channel 13, has agreed to pay back nearly $1 million after the US attorney filed a civil grant-fraud lawsuit.
Prosecutors charged that the Educational Broadcasting Corp., which produces programming for Channel 13, "made false or fraudulent claims" and "submitted false statements" regarding $1.2 million in federal grants between 2001 and 2008.
As a result, the suit alleged, EBC (which was not forced to admit wrongdoing) "received monies to which it is not entitled" - whatever that means.
And taxpayers won't learn what it means - under terms of the settlement.
None of the publicly available documents spells out the nature of the fraud - and the US Attorney's Office won't explain why Channel 13 was spared the public embarrassment of detailing the fraud.
How ironic: It's a public network, meant for and funded by the public, but it won't make its documents public.
Which raises these questions: Why the hell is government still in the TV business, anyway? And on such a grand scale?
There are nine PBS stations within New York state, and another seven out of state that serve New York viewers.
And that doesn't even count the numerous PBS stations available via cable TV.
Yes, the bulk of these stations' income comes from "the support of viewers like you" - but not in the way of charitable contributions, as they like to imply, but from the federal budget.
Not to mention state and regional governments that fund local affiliates, here and in every other state. Even viewer pledges - which are tax-deductible - impose a cost on the public fisc.
But why is PBS even necessary?
Once upon a time, the network's slogan was: "If PBS doesn't do it, who will?"
These days, the answer's obvious: CNN, Fox, A&E, Ovation, the History Channel, the Discovery Channel, the Learning Channel, Nickelodeon, Disney, Animal Planet, TruTV, Spike, Lifetime, Oxygen, etc., etc.
Today's communications universe numbers hundreds and hundreds of cable networks in every conceivable niche and genre. And the list grows daily.
As for PBS, its superstars - Clifford the Big Red Dog, Barney, Big Bird and Ken Burns, among others - have generated so much cash through merchandising that they could easily move elsewhere and still be seen by millions.
Public broadcasting is an anachronism.
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