Months after Congress stripped it of more than $1 billion in funding, the Corporation for Public Broadcasting, who was behind funding NPR, PBS and many other local radio and TV stations, is officially shutting down. CPB’s board of directors voted to dissolve the private, nonprofit corporation after over half a century of operation.

CPB was originally a congress-created organization in 1967 and went on to help support more than 1,500 local radio and television stations nationwide. It was also behind the PBS catalogue, which held more recognizable IPs such as Sesame Street, which is not ending; instead, the PBS and NPR catalogues currently remain on air due to other sources of funding. Still, smaller stations are now lacking support, and the future for TV and radio looks quite uncertain at the moment.

The shutdown did not come as a surprise to many, as in August of last year the CPB had already organized that it would begin shutting down due to the budget cuts. However, as of January 5th, they have officially, completely shut down and dissolved as a company. In its statement on the 5th, it announced it would be distributing all of its remaining funds between public radio and television statement, including PBS and NPR, to hopefully ensure educational and cultural values.

The reason behind the cuts, rests within President Trump accusing the organization of failing to present a “fair, accurate, or unbiased portrayal of current events to taxpaying citizens.”  This resulted in a long discussion of what to do with the company. Executives of the corporation originally discussed putting it into hibernation, keeping it alive in case Congress decided to restore its funding in the future. However, in its final statement, it was concluded that letting the organization lie dormant could have led to “political manipulation or misuse,” so instead the shutdown was chosen.