President Joe Biden has nominated Tom Rothman, the CEO of Sony Pictures Entertainment’s motion pictures group, to serve on the board of the Corporation for Public Broadcasting, which promotes and supports public broadcasters, most notably PBS and NPR member stations.
Rothman signed a new contract extension with Sony just a few weeks ago, keeping him at the helm of the studio. He was also one of Biden’s biggest fundraisers during the 2020 campaign, and was cited as a “volunteer fundraiser” (or a “bundler”) for Biden’s campaign.
If confirmed by the U.S. Senate, Rothman will join a board led by attorney Bruce Ramer, who is its chair.
The CPB distributes the funding appropriated to it by Congress to local radio and TV stations through grants. In 2020, the CPB had a budget of about $450 million, of which about $400 million was distributed through grants. Biden’s fiscal 2021 budget includes a budget of $475 million for the CPB.
Biden also nominated two other nominees for the CPB’s board Wednesday (there are currently 4 vacant board seats): Kathy Im, currently the director of journalism and media at the John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation, and educator and school administrator Elizabeth Sembler, who previously served as chair of the CPB’s board from 2014-2016.
