U.S. taxpayers are only paying for the airing of it, not the whole production, since it was originally produced in England. It's likely that if PBS wasn't around, A&E, BBC America, or some other channel would have showed it.
Yeah, I think so too. So, I can't see why we need a socialized outlet to compete with these others.
That said, the show does sound interesting. I'll have to check it out.