If the US government paid $1 in total to PBS, would you be surprised that PBS couldn't provide its service for free? The US pays about 4% of what the UK pays per capita for public broadcasting.

https://site-cbc.radio-canada.ca/documents/impact-and-accoun...

Members, corporate underwriting, and distribution fees each provide a bigger percentage of its revenue than the federal government https://publiceditor.bento-live.pbs.org/publiceditor/blogs/p...