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History of PBS

The early years of public television in the United States were dominated by National Educational Television (NET; founded in 1952 as the Educational Television and Radio Center).

Following the creation of the Public Broadcasting Act (1967), the government-funded Corporation for Public Broadcasting (CPB) was established, and in 1969 it founded the Public Broadcasting Service as a successor to NET. The PBS broadcast network debuted in 1970. In its initial years, PBS featured such acclaimed programming as the children’s shows Sesame Street (begun 1969) and Mister Rogers’ Neighborhood (1968–2001; with Fred Rogers), the performing-arts series Evening at Pops (1970–2005) and Great Performances (begun 1972), the science-oriented Nova (begun 1974), and the current-affairs show Washington Week in Review (begun 1967; later titled Washington Week). Viewers were also drawn to the instructional The French Chef (1963–73), with Julia Child; the political talk show Firing Line (1966–99), hosted by William F. Buckley, Jr.; and the drama anthology Masterpiece Theatre (begun 1971; later Masterpiece), presided over for many years by Alistair Cooke.