With NJ PBS ceasing operations, a lawmaker pushes for a possible rescue plan for public television in the Garden State

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New Jersey PBS, the Garden State’s only public television station, announced Tuesday it will cease operations next summer because of financial struggles, but  South Jersey state Sen. John Burzichelli is calling for a top-to-bottom analysis of the NJ PBS situation.

“This is another destabilizing setback to a news sector that has experienced recurring obstacles to its ability to keep the public knowledgeably informed,” he said. “For NJ PBS, the federal government’s decision to cancel funding for the Corporation for Public Broadcasting was the devastating blow.”

Burzichelli, D-Gloucester, said that moving forward, having public television coverage of New Jersey might mean morphing into something new and different.

“I don’t see a traditional broadcast operation akin to ABC Philadelphia Action News, you know those days of delivering those programs that way are changing,” he said. “But the one thing that hasn’t changed is people needing to know what’s going on with their government.”

Late Tuesday, Burzichelli and state Sen. Andrew Zwicker, D-Somerset, issued a statement, which said, “The shutdown of public TV in New Jersey will have real-life consequences, depriving the state’s residents of invaluable news and educational programming. The television network has played a pivotal role in New Jersey, bridging the divide between New York and Philadelphia with trusted information relevant to the lives and civic activities of the state’s residents.”

He suggested that news coverage from the State House could resemble a C-SPAN-type format, with human interest stories added to the mix on occasion.

“Real information, and it’s a backbone of news gathering out of the State House in the sense of NJ TV, I think is essential, and we just have to figure out what it looks like,” he noted.

Burzichelli, who was also the mayor of Paulsboro and served in the Assembly, said he’s not a television expert, which is why he wants to assemble the right people to review what’s taking place and make recommendations about what could or should happen next.

A statement by NJ PBS indicated that starting on July 1, 2026, its nightly news program would continue to air, but will only air on digital platforms, and on THIRTEEN, the public television channel in New York.