from The Pittsburgh Post-Gazette
PBS cuts back on ‘Mister Rogers’ again
PBS has told member stations that “Mister Rogers’ Neighborhood” will only be available to air one episode weekly beginning in the fall. This past season, stations that wanted to air the “Neighborhood” daily had that option. Not anymore.
“PBS is operating under very tight budget constraints and it already has a full program lineup to support Monday through Friday,” said Kevin Morrison, chief operating officer for Rogers’ Oakland-based Family Communications Inc. “If it was offering ‘Mister Rogers’ Neighborhood’ on a daily basis it would only be as an option to the existing full lineup of programs, and that option is an expensive option for them and the financial situation prevents them from making that an option.”
Presumably that means WQED will also air the show just once a week, although I haven’t gotten definitive clarification on that yet.