Quick Takes: PBS boosts KOCE ratings

KOCE-TV Channel 50, the Orange County-based public broadcasting outlet, has seen its ratings soar 150% since it took on the full PBS schedule on Jan. 1, according to the Nielsen Co.

A year ago, KOCE was delivering a 0.2 household rating for its programming day. Now, with PBS signatures such as “American Experience” and “Charlie Rose” added to the lineup, that rating has jumped to a 0.5 for the month of January.

That is the same number KCET-TV Channel 28 was doing with the PBS schedule during the same period last year. KCET left PBS following months of dues and other disputes and is now the nation’s largest independent public broadcasting station. However, the station has seen ratings plummet since it dropped the familiar network lineup.

—Scott Collins

Mars to plead guilty in Vegas

Pop star Bruno Mars told a Las Vegas judge on Friday that he’ll plead guilty in state court on Feb. 14 to a felony cocaine charge that would be wiped from his record if he stays out of trouble for a year.

Mars, whose real name is Peter Hernandez, and a trio of defense lawyers agreed not to contest police accounts that he possessed 2.6 grams of cocaine when he was arrested early Sept. 19 after a Las Vegas nightclub performance.

Las Vegas Justice of the Peace Joseph Sciscento set the Feb. 14 date for his plea — the day after the 53rd Grammy Awards show in Los Angeles. The 25-year-old singer-songwriter is nominated for seven Grammy awards, including male pop vocal.

—Associated Press

Paltrow, Levi to sing at Oscars

Gwyneth Paltrow, Mandy Moore, Randy Newman, Zachary Levi and Florence Welch of Florence + the Machine will sing on the Oscar stage.

Academy Awards producers Bruce Cohen and Don Mischer say the entertainers will perform the year’s nominated songs during the Oscar ceremony Feb. 27, along with nominated composers A.R. Rahman and Alan Menken.

Paltrow will sing “Coming Home” from the film “Country Strong.” Newman will perform his “Toy Story 3” song, “We Belong Together.” Welch and Rahman will perform “If I Rise” from “127 Hours.” Moore, Levi and Menken are to perform “I See the Light,” the nominated song from “Tangled.”

—Associated Press

Colbert’s infine (art) form

Stephen Colbert is trying a new role: art dealer.

Comedy Central announced Friday that the host of “The Colbert Report” is putting one of his portraits up for auction. Colbert has repeatedly had himself painted in comically self-aggrandizing style. This one is referred to as “Portrait 5, Stephen(s).”

But it’s potentially the most valuable: Artists Frank Stella, Shepard Fairey and Andres Serrano each added their touch to the work in December.

It will be sold March 8 by auction house Phillips de Pury & Company, with proceeds going to https://www.donor

schoose.org, which helps classroom projects.

—Associated Press

N.Y. Phil starts digital archive

The New York Philharmonic has started placing its vast archives on the Internet. It’s a multi-year undertaking that will total 8 million pages.

The orchestra launched the digital archive on Thursday at https://www.nyphil.org/ar

chives with 300,000 pages from the Leonard Bernstein years, from 1943 to 1970.

They include more than 1,000 conducting scores marked by Bernstein, Andre Kostelanetz, Dimitri Mitropoulos and Gustav Mahler. There’s also more than 3,200 printed programs, 4,500 lantern slides and selected business records, including Bernstein’s programming proposals and correspondence. By 2012, 1.3 million pages from the Bernstein years will be online. They will be followed by documents from 1842, the year the Philharmonic was founded, to 1908, and from 1909 to 1943.

—Associated Press