‘Great Performances’ Loses Texaco Aid : Television: The company says the series is moving away from classical arts programming.

Texaco has decided to discontinue its underwriting of the PBS series “Great Performances” at the end of this season.

The company, which had been helping to support “Great Performances” for the past two seasons, said that it was withdrawing because the series had moved away from the kinds of traditional arts programming that Texaco wants to sponsor.

“We’ve been looking very carefully at the current and future direction of ‘Great Performances,’ which we feel is moving away from traditional and classical works,” Texaco spokeswoman Anita Larsen said in an interview. “The series is not meeting what we consider our niche of performing-arts programming.”

Texaco said that its other PBS funding would not be affected. The company is a longtime underwriter for the network’s Metropolitan Opera telecasts.

Texaco has provided about $1 million to the annual budget of “Great Performances,” with PBS contributing about $7 million.

“Texaco’s interest was in a particular kind of serious music, opera and ballet,” said William F. Baker, president of WNET-TV, which produces “Great Performances.” “PBS has asked us to put on more contemporary programming as well as the traditional programs.”

With more contemporary music and drama, he said, the series has increased its ratings by 50% over last season.

Baker said that he expects to be able to find other corporate support for “Great Performances” for next season, especially with the ratings being up. If not, he said, WNET will make up the difference.

Out in Film, an association of lesbian and gay professionals in the entertainment industry, charged that Texaco’s decision was related to “The Lost Language of Cranes,” a drama by David Leavitt with a homosexual theme that is scheduled for broadcast in June, after Texaco’s support ends.

“Texaco has clearly made a decision to distance itself from ‘Lost Language of Cranes,’ ” said Spence Halperin, an independent filmmaker who is a member of Out in Film. “I’m not charging that they’re withdrawing their funding solely because of ‘Lost Language of Cranes,’ but it clearly was a contributing factor. This is blatant homophobia.”

Halpern, who has produced for “Great Performances,” maintained that “The Lost Language of Cranes” originally had been planned to air under Texaco’s banner. He pointed to a WNET brochure that listed the program as one of the series’ coming presentations.

Texaco’s Larsen said that she hadn’t seen the brochure, but she and Baker denied any connection between the production and Texaco’s decision. “ ‘Lost Language of Cranes’ had nothing to do with our decision to withdraw from ‘Great Performances,’ ” Larsen said. “We were looking at the general direction of the series.”