PBS

In December 2009, PBS signed up for the Nielsen ratings audience measurement reports, and began to be included in its primetime and daily "Television Index" reports, alongside the major commercial broadcast networks.

In May 2011, PBS announced that it would incorporate breaks containing underwriter spots for corporate and foundation sponsors, program promotions and identification spots within four breaks placed within episodes of Nature and NOVA, airing episodes broken up into segments of up to 15 minutes, rather than airing them as straight 50- to 55-minute episodes. The strategy began that fall, with the intent to expand the in-program breaks to the remainder of the schedule if successful.

In 2011, PBS released apps for iOS and Android to allow viewing of full-length videos on mobile devices.

"PBS UK" was launched as a paid subscription channel in the United Kingdom on November 1, 2011, featuring American documentary programming sourced from PBS. Better identifying its subject matter, this channel was renamed "PBS America" on July 4, 2012. The channel has subsequently become available in other parts of Europe and Australia.

On February 28, 2012, PBS partnered with AOL to launch Makers: Women Who Make America, a digital documentary series focusing on high-achieving women in male-dominated industries such as war, comedy, space, business, Hollywood and politics.

PBS initially struggled to compete with online media such as YouTube for market share. In a 2012 speech to 850 top executives from PBS stations, Senior Vice President of Digital Jason Seiken warned that PBS was in danger of being disrupted by YouTube studios such as Maker Studios. In the speech, later described as a "seminal moment" for public television, he laid out his vision for a new style of PBS digital video production. Station leadership rallied around his vision and Seiken formed PBS Digital Studios, which began producing educational but edgy videos, something Seiken called "PBS-quality with a YouTube sensibility". The studio's first hit, an auto-tuned version of the theme from one of their most famous television programs, Mister Rogers' Neighborhood, was one of YouTube's 10 most viral videos of 2012. By 2013, monthly video views on PBS.org had risen from 2 million to a quarter-billion, PBS.org traffic had surpassed that of the CBS, NBC, and ABC web sites, PBSKids.org had become the dominant US children's site for video, and PBS had won more 2013 Webby Awards than any other media company in the world.

On May 8, 2013, full-length episodes of PBS' prime time, news and children's programs were made available through the Roku streaming player; programming is available on Roku as separate streaming channels for "PBS" and "PBS Kids" content. Some content is only available with a PBS Passport member benefit subscription.

On July 1, 2016, Amazon Prime Video and PBS Distribution entered into a multi-year agreement which saw several PBS Kids series on other streaming services move to Amazon Prime Video.

PBS Distribution partnered with MultiChoice to launch PBS Kids on May 22, 2019, on DStv and GOtv subscription platforms across its Sub-Saharan Africa footprint. In mid-2021, the channel was added to Australia's Foxtel subscription platform.

At the summer 2019 Television Critics Association press tour day for PBS on July 29, 2019, it was announced that MVPD YouTube TV would begin to carry PBS programming and member stations in the fall of 2019. Member stations have the choice of having their traditional channel on the service with its full programming schedule received by Google over-the-air and uploaded to the service, a YouTube TV-only feed provided by the station with some programming substitutions due to lack of digital rights, or a PBS-provided feed with limited localization, though with no local programming or pledge drive programming.

In 2019, PBS announced plans to move its headquarters to another building in the Crystal Gateway complex, while remaining in Crystal City, Virginia, and did so in 2020, which included a top building sign visible off the Richmond Highway.

On August 4, 2020, the Amazon Prime Video platform added a "PBS Documentaries" package. As of that time it offered four separately-subscribable selections of PBS programming in the United States, "PBS Documentaries", "PBS Living" (also on Apple TV), "PBS Masterpiece" (also in Canada) and "PBS KIDS". In the UK, a "PBS America" documentaries package became available on Amazon Prime Video.

On September 3, 2020, PBS began to offer a livestream of its member stations for free via its website (as well as the websites of the member stations), on smart TVs, and on its mobile apps. However, only a small handful of stations currently do not have a livestream of their stations set up. Jefferson Graham of USA Today called it "arguably the best bargain in streaming".

On July 1, 2021, a PBS Julia Child channel was added to Pluto TV and Tubi in the United States.

The channels "PBS Antiques Roadshow", "Julia Child", "Antiques Road Trip" and "PBS Nature" were added to a number of American FAST platforms in January 2023. Antiques Road Trip later became available in Australia. The channels "PBS Food" (in the United States) and "PBS History" (in the UK and Australia) launched on certain FAST platforms in late 2023.

The channel "PBS Retro" was added to Roku's live TV channel lineup in the United States on April 23, 2024, airing PBS Kids shows from the 70s, 80s and 90s. The "PBS Science" channel became available in Australia in 2024. It is also available in the UK and Ireland.

On August 1, 2025, the Corporation for Public Broadcasting, from which PBS gets much of its funding, announced they were going to end operations due to being entirely defunded by the Rescissions Act of 2025.

In September 2025, PBS announced a 15% staff reduction, cutting about 100 jobs, including 34 immediate layoffs, in response to a $1.1 billion decrease in federal funding for public broadcasting over 2026 and 2027. The cuts, which came after the elimination of CPB funding starting October 1, 2025, and the loss of an educational grant earlier that year, led to a 21% drop in PBS's revenue.

PBS has also restructured its satellite feed system, simplifying HD02 (PBS West) into a timeshift feed for the Pacific Time Zone, rather than a high-definition complement to its formerly primary SD feed. PBS Kids Go! was proposed as a replacement broadcast network for the original 1999–2005 version of the PBS Kids Channel; however, plans to launch the network were folded in 2006. Programming from the PBS Satellite Service has also been carried by certain member stations or regional member networks to fill their overnight schedules (particularly those that have transitioned to a 24-hour schedule since the late 1990s), in lieu of providing programming sourced from outside public television distributors or repeats of local programming (program promotions shown on the satellite feed advertise upcoming programs as being aired on PBS during the timeslot card normally used as a placeholder for member outlets to insert local airtime information).

Some or all of these services are available on a digital cable tier of many cable providers, on a free-to-air (FTA) satellite receiver receiving from PBS Satellite Service, as well as via subscription-based direct broadcast satellite providers. With the exception of Sprout, some of these services, including those from PBS member stations and networks, have not made contracts with Internet-distributed over-the-top MVPD services such as Sling TV and the now defunct PlayStation Vue. With the transition to over-the-air digital television broadcasts, many of the services are also often now available as standard-definition multicast channels on the digital signals of some member stations, while HD02 (PBS West) serves as a secondary HD feed. With the absence of advertising, network identification on these PBS networks was limited to use at the end of the program, which includes the standard series of bumpers from the "Be More" campaign.

Independent networks

While not operated or controlled by PBS proper, additional public broadcasting networks are available and carried by PBS member stations. The following three are also distributed by PBS via satellite.

From 2002 to 2011, Buffalo, New York member station WNED-TV operated ThinkBright TV, a service that was carried on several stations in upstate New York. Several state networks also offer a public affairs subchannel network offering full-time coverage of state government events and legislative/judicial proceedings in the same vein as C-SPAN's coverage of the federal government. Many PBS stations also carried MHz Worldview from the MHz Networks until 2020 when MHz Networks announced its discontinuation of the network on March 1, 2020. Since then, many stations has switched to World Channel as well as First Nations Experience.

A separate but related concept is the state network, where a group of stations across a state simulcast a single programming schedule from a central facility, which may include specialty subchannels unique to that broadcaster.

Warning, Alert and Response Network (WARN)

PBS provides an alternative path for Wireless Emergency Alerts to wireless carriers through its Warning, Alert and Response Network (WARN). The alerts are transmitted through the PBS satellite network on the AMC-21 satellite to PBS stations, who then broadcast the messages over their transmitters for reception by wireless carriers at their cell sites.

The WARN network is funded by a grant through National Telecommunications and Information Administration (NTIA).

Similar public broadcasting services

The following public broadcasters and channel have a similar focus on educational programming like PBS:

TVO (formerly TVOntario), Knowledge Network

China Education Television

Arte

France 5

ARD-alpha

Educational Broadcasting System

Swedish Educational Broadcasting Company (UR)

FCC underwriting investigation

In January 2025, Federal Communications Commission (FCC) Chair Brendan Carr ordered an investigation of the corporate underwriting sponsorships of PBS and NPR member stations for possible violations of FCC regulations prohibiting noncommercial broadcasters from airing advertisements. The following March, the Senate Permanent Subcommittee on Investigations opened an inquiry into the investigation ordered by Carr. In 1981, Congress amended the Communications Act of 1934 to authorize noncommercial station licensees to offer services and facilities in exchange for remuneration on the condition that it not interfere with their provision of public telecommunications services. In 1984, the FCC adopted a policy under the amendment allowing noncommercial stations to broadcast underwriting spots from for-profit entities that provided donations or underwriting.

While the FCC prohibited underwriting spots from including certain specific content (e.g. promotion of the contributor's products, services, or business, comparative or qualitative descriptions of products, price information, calls to action, or inducements to buy, sell, or lease products), the FCC has generally given noncommercial broadcasters deference in determining compliance with its underwriting rules, placed no specific limit on the length of the underwriting spots, and permitted the use of logos and slogans for the purpose of identifying the contributor, business location information and phone numbers, value-neutral descriptions of product or service lines, brand and trade names, and product and service listings. Also, the FCC's underwriting rules and prohibition on noncommercial broadcasters receiving advertising only apply to underwriting spots that are broadcast and do not apply to the websites of noncommercial broadcasters. The 1981 amendment to the Communications Act also established a temporary commission to identify alternative sources of funding for public broadcasting and study the potential for advertising revenue using limited demonstrations, but in its final report released in 1983, the commission found that the prospect of significant advertising revenue was limited and instead recommended that Congress continue providing the appropriation to Corporation for Public Broadcasting (CPB).

In 2012, the CPB issued a report commissioned by Congress and that included market analysis conducted by Booz & Company which noted that corporate underwriting accounted for less than one-fifth of the revenue for public television and radio stations and had declined substantially due to the Great Recession. Along with the 1983 report and a 2007 Government Accountability Office report about public television specifically, the CPB report concluded that growth in such underwriting revenue was unlikely, that allowing public broadcasters to air advertisements would not offset a decline in federal funding while likely contributing to a decline in support from other sources, and that there was no alternative source of funding to the federal CPB appropriation that could sustain public broadcasting service at the same level. Analysis of CPB data published by the Pew Research Center in August 2023 found that underwriting revenue for NPR member stations from 2008 through 2021 was mostly flat and fell below 2009 levels in 2021 following the COVID-19 recession, while corporate funding for the PBS News Hour ranged from 17% to 23% of total revenue from 2015 through 2022.

Lawsuit with Pacific Arts

In the 1990s, PBS became involved in a dispute over home video licensing rights with Pacific Arts Corporation, a multimedia company owned and operated by former The Monkees guitarist Michael Nesmith.

In 1990, Pacific Arts secured a contract with PBS to distribute their back catalog of programming on VHS under the PBS Home Video banner. However, in the early 1990s, Pacific Arts and PBS went through a series of serious disagreements. Lawsuits were filed: by Nesmith and Pacific Arts against PBS for breach of contract, intentional misrepresentation, intentional concealment, negligent misrepresentation, and interference with contract; and by PBS against Nesmith and Pacific Arts for lost royalties. The lawsuits escalated in 1994 and 1995 into major litigation between the parties over these rights and payments. PBS and Nesmith and Pacific Arts vigorously prosecuted these multimillion-dollar counter-suits.

The six plaintiffs included PBS, WGBH-TV, WNET, the Ken Burns-owned American Documentaries and Radio Pioneers Film Project and the Children's Television Workshop. They sought approximately $5 million in disputed royalties, advances, guarantees and license fees for programs and the use of the PBS logo from the defendants Pacific Arts and Nesmith.

Due to the cost of the litigation, Pacific Arts was forced to cease distribution operations and suspended the use of the PBS logo on the Pacific Arts videos. Though Pacific Arts distribution system had ceased operating, the various plaintiffs were counting on capturing a personal financial guarantee Nesmith had made to PBS in the original PBS deal in 1990.

The cases went to jury trial in Federal Court in Los Angeles in February 1999. After three days of deliberation, the jury unanimously sided with Nesmith. The court awarded Pacific Arts $14,625,000 for loss of its rights library, plus $29,250,000 in punitive damages. The jury awarded $3 million to Nesmith personally, including $2 million in punitive damages for a total award to Nesmith and Pacific Arts of $48,875,000. The jury resolved the outstanding license fee issues by ordering Pacific Arts and Nesmith to pay approximately $1.2 million to American Documentaries for The Civil War, about $230,000 to WGBH-TV, and $150,000 to WNET.

Following the ruling, Nesmith expressed his personal disappointment with PBS and was quoted by BBC News as stating "It's like finding your grandmother stealing your stereo. You're happy to get your stereo back, but it's sad to find out your grandmother is a thief." The decision never went to an appeals court and the final amount paid to Pacific Arts and Nesmith was an undisclosed sum agreed to in an out-of-court settlement.