PBS: Public Broadcasting Service (2024)

FAQs

PBS: Public Broadcasting Service? ›

Many videos on the PBS website and app can be watched without a fee or account with PBS. * You can enjoy episodes of popular programs like PBS NewsHour and Frontline on the PBS website and app without needing to pay.

Many videos on the PBS website and app can be watched without a fee or account with PBS. * You can enjoy episodes of popular programs like PBS NewsHour and Frontline on the PBS website and app without needing to pay.

Contact Us by Phone

You can call the PBS technical support team at our phone number 844.325. 8828 for help with streaming PBS or the PBS Passport benefit. Our hours are 10 AM to 11 PM ET, Monday through Friday.

You can still watch hundreds of hours of quality public television shows on your computer, smartphone and tablet without Passport. PBS Passport is simply an additional member benefit that offers eligible station donors extended on-demand access to a library of videos.

Go to PBS.org and in the upper left corner of the page, click Sign In (Figure 1).

Current Amazon Prime subscribers can purchase a subscription to any of the PBS-branded on-demand channels directly on Amazon.com or their Amazon device (Fire tablet and Fire TV). PBS Living is also available for subscription directly from Apple TV Channels in the Apple TV app.

To receive any local broadcast channel, including PBS, a digital over-the-air antenna can get you plenty of free TV with no subscription fees beyond the one-time purchase price of the unit.

Each station can set their own qualifications for Passport, but most stations give the benefit to members who donate at least $60 a year, or $5 Sustainer/Ongoing-monthly gifts.

Once your benefit is ready for activation, your PBS station will send you a four-word activation code or an activation link to click on. These codes are unique for each member, but each will follow the same format, such as apple-house-river-sleep or lion-coyote-ostrich-badger.

PBS Passport is an added benefit available to eligible donors of participating PBS stations (i.e.: you must make a donation to your station to receive this benefit). Typically, the PBS Passport member benefit requires a station donation of at least $60 a year, or $5 Sustainer/Ongoing-monthly gifts.

How much is a PBS subscription? ›

At the $60 membership level, you have access to Nine PBS Passport, the member benefit that provides you with extended access to an on-demand library of quality public television programming.

Passport Lookup Tool

Simply enter your membership email address you provided to your station when you became a member and click the Look Up My Account button to search for your Passport benefit.

Yes, if you want to see the best of PBS, you need to become a Passport member. I was given the option of recurring $5/monthly or 1-time donation. I opted to make it monthly. As for the quality of streaming, it has more to do with your WiFi and/or device.

Your email address will act as the "username" for your PBS account, so we recommend using a real email address you are still able to access. In the Password field, enter a personal password including at least 8 characters made up of both letters and numbers.

PBS Passport, at $5 per month, is cheaper than most mainstream video streaming services, but its price is in line with many documentary streaming services. For comparison, Netflix starts at $8.99 per month and Disney+ is $7.99 per month.

PBS Member Stations Live on Hulu + Live TV.

PBS Passport is an added benefit available to eligible donors of participating PBS stations (i.e.: you must make a donation to your station to receive this benefit). Typically, the PBS Passport member benefit requires a station donation of at least $60 a year, or $5 Sustainer/Ongoing-monthly gifts.

The PBS app is available for free download on Roku devices. To download the PBS app to your Roku device, follow the steps below. If playback doesn't begin shortly, try restarting your device.