This study comprises a capsule history of American public television broadcasting, an inside account of recent developments, and consideration of how public broadcasting might be supported without partisan political control. The book is an expanded version of the Gaither Lectures given for the Center for Research in Management Science, University of California, Berkeley. A set of 12 appendixes includes a glossary, membership lists of the Carnegie Corporation and the board of directors of the Corporation for Public Broadcasting, and other background information on public television. (Author/WCM)