U-A Making Deep Budget Cuts To Arizona Public Media

The University of Arizona has announced plans to cut its support of Arizone Public Media by $2M during the next five years.

Arizona Public Media (AZPM) operates KUAT TV and KUAZ radio on the University of Arizona campus with an annual budget of $11.7 million. The UA currently provides about a quarter of that.

The cash contribution to AZPM eventually will drop from the current $2.6 million a year, to $600,000 a year, according to tucsonnewsnow.com.

It's a budget decision that has supporters of the public TV and radio stations using words like "outrage" and "betrayal."

The UA administration says cuts to AZPM are necessary to deal with budget issues.

The university has endured nearly $200 million in state funding cuts in the past seven or so years.

"We need to protect the academic mission, the scholarship and the research. So auxiliary enterprises, including AZPM, are being asked to pick up more of the overhead," says UA spokesperson Chris Sigurdson.