The first public television station in the United States officially begins broadcasting as KUHT from the campus of the University of Houston.
KUHT (channel 8) is a PBS member television station in Houston, Texas, United States. Owned by the University of Houston System, it is sister to NPR member station KUHF (88.7 FM). The two stations share studios and offices in the Melcher Center for Public Broadcasting on the campus of the University of Houston. KUHT's transmitter is located near Missouri City, in unincorporated northeastern Fort Bend County. In addition, the station leased some of its studio operations to Tegna-owned CBS affiliate KHOU (channel 11) from August 2017 to February 2019 when the latter's original studios were inundated by Hurricane Harvey.
KUHT also serves as the default PBS member station to the neighboring BeaumontPort Arthur and Victoria markets (the latter along with KLRN in San Antonio) as they do not have their own PBS station. It is available on cable and satellite providers in both markets, although Lake Charles member station and Louisiana Public Broadcasting outlet KLTL-TV is carried by some cable providers in the extreme eastern areas of the BeaumontPort Arthur market.
KUHT is notable as the first public television station in the United States.
Public broadcasting involves radio, television and other electronic media outlets whose primary mission is public service. In many countries of the world, funding comes from governments, especially via annual fees charged on receivers.
Public broadcasting may be nationally or locally operated, depending on the country and the station. In some countries a single organization runs public broadcasting. Other countries have multiple public-broadcasting organizations operating regionally or in different languages. Historically, public broadcasting was once the dominant or only form of broadcasting in many countries (with the notable exceptions of the United States, Mexico and Brazil). Commercial broadcasting now also exists in most of these countries; the number of countries with only public broadcasting declined substantially during the latter part of the 20th century.Public-sector media (state-funded) is not to be confused with state media (state-controlled), which is "controlled financially and editorially by the state."