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MPBC is turning its back on donors

As a longtime supporter of the Maine Public Broadcasting Corporation, I must speak out to protest recent decisions made with regard to its programming.

Those of us who support Maine Public Television do so in order to help to fund valuable programs for which sponsors are not readily available -programs on the arts, public affairs, nature, history, etc.

Maine Public Broadcasting Corporation recently announced that is has decided to spend $206,920 to fund the airing of 56 basketball tournament games. Most of these games will pre-empt some of the station’s most highly valued public service programs.

It follows that contributions such as ours are being used to fund the production of sports events which local sponsors clamor to support, and which WABI-TV has produced with exceptional quality for 50 years.

It seems that MPBC has turned its back on its donors. By using donor dollars to fund high school basketball MPBC has hurt the local economy (the sponsors) and it has violated the trust of its donors. That is a trust that should never be broken.

Ansley Coe Throckmorton

Bangor

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