After study of the methods and level of financing of public television today, the authors conclude that the political and economic problems of public television are tied together. They note that public television receives far less support per capita in the United States than in other leading countries, and efforts to increase the amount and quality of local programing at the present level of funding are academic -- parceling all the Federal revenues out to local stations would purchase only a few minutes weekly of low-cost programs. An adequate schedule of local, regional, and national programs, they suggest, would cost over two and a half times the system's existing budget, and the situation is likely to grow worse unless planning to prevent duplicative new stations is introduced. An examination of potential sources of funding did not provide grounds for any optimism -- it appears that the Federal Government cannot abdicate its responsibility for this system. (An appendix contains some recommendations made by participants at a conference convened by the Aspen program to discuss this report.) (RH)