KOCE Sale Moves a Step Closer

With less than two weeks to spare, the KOCE-TV Foundation announced Wednesday that it had secured the $7.9-million down payment to buy and preserve Orange County’s public television station.

The announcement marks a milestone in the saga of Coast Community College District’s efforts to sell KOCE-TV. It also puts to rest, at least for now, the nagging question of whether the foundation, a group of Orange County’s wealthiest and most influential civic and business leaders, would be able to raise the cash to fulfill its end of the deal. The next payment toward the $28-million purchase price is not due for five years.

“Reports of our death were greatly exaggerated,” KOCE-TV President Mel Rogers said. “But we knew, when others were saying it wasn’t going to happen, that it was.”

The Federal Communications Commission has granted tentative approval of the license transfer, with a final decision expected Oct. 25, by which time the foundation will have needed to pay up. With the license transfer, money can exchange hands and the district will turn over ownership -- office keys, video prompters and all -- by Nov. 1.

“This can be a congratulations story, a happy-ending story,” said George Brown, president of the college district’s board of trustees.

“Money has been a huge factor and, bless their lovin’ hearts, they worked real hard to raise this,” he said. “I can’t think of anything that’s going to stand in our way at this point.”

Daystar Television Network, the second-largest Christian broadcaster in the world, is challenging the sale. In May, the network appealed a Superior Court ruling that approved the sale of the Huntington Beach station to the foundation, alleging that the network was the highest responsible bidder with its $25.1-million cash offer. Daystar later offered $40 million, a day past the deadline.

The district accepted the foundation’s offer of $8 million down with the remainder to be paid over 30 years with no interest. No payments will be made for the first five years. It had already made a $100,000 deposit.

The foundation’s offer, valued by some experts at $12 million to $19 million in current dollars, included preservation the station’s PBS affiliation. That was not the case with Daystar.

“This has been a political fiasco,” said Daystar attorney Richard Sherman.

“We have an appeal pending. I don’t know why they would think they’re in the clear. The Court of Appeals has the power to overturn a lower court, and if that happens, [the sale] will be undone -- as it should be undone.”

Lawyers have advised the district and the foundation that Daystar’s chances were slim. Said Brown: “We’re not going to wait.”

Bob Brown -- no relation to George Brown -- chairman of the foundation and retired president of Toshiba America, agreed that the process should keep rolling. Fundraising, he said, must also continue.

Despite many pledges, Bob Brown said the KOCE-TV Foundation, which serves as the station’s fundraising arm, needed to secure a $10-million bank loan to provide funds for the down payment and initial operating costs. He did not reveal how much cash the foundation had raised. The pledges included $1 million from the Samueli Foundation.

The KOCE-TV Foundation relied on a donor base of fewer than 75 people to raise the down payment and now plans to expand its fundraising effort, he said. “We need to move to a broader base. This is not stopping.”

The foundation has said it will continue KOCE’s commitment to arts and culture. More local programs are also in store.

People complain that there’s no unifying force in Orange County, no downtown, Rogers said.

“We’re going to be the virtual ‘there there’ for Orange County, where everybody can connect,” he said. “There’s this huge media void down here in the electronic area. Unless a police chase strays to the south, we don’t see them. We’ve got a lot to do to fill that void.”