The Public Broadcasting System (PBS), is a nationwide network of television (see entry under 1940s—TV and Radio in volume 3) stations producing television programs dedicated to education, the arts, and culture. PBS accepts no advertising, receiving all its funding from the government and from the voluntary contributions of its viewers. Without having to appeal to advertisers, PBS offers a different kind of programming than the major, commercial networks do. Because of this, PBS has long been an alternative to commercial television.

As television began in the late 1930s, and as it developed in the 1940s and 1950s, there was tension between the commercial stations, owned by big corporations intent on making money, and the desire to keep some channels open for public use. Public television began with local educational broadcasts in the early 1950s. When National Education Television was formed in 1958, it broadened the...