Loss of TV Channel Cuts Immigrants’ Link to Home

Monica Lee knew that when her Korean-born parents came over to her Agoura home for dinner, she had better have it done early. Her parents, particularly her 80-year-old father, insisted on being home by 8:30 p.m.--the time the Korean-language news and soap operas began on KSCI-TV.

For Lee’s father, the Rev. Kwang Woo Kim, the evening broadcast was a lifeline to his heritage. “The shows are the only way they can feel close to our native country,” said Lee, a 42-year-old naturalized citizen.

But the family’s routine was disrupted earlier this month when executives of Ventura County Cablevision removed KSCI-TV from their 31-channel cable television lineup.

The San Bernardino television station--which broadcasts shows in 16 different languages including Japanese, Hebrew, Farsi, Russian and Vietnamese--does not have enough viewers to draw a Nielsen rating. Those who do watch, however, are passionate viewers.

Its abrupt cancellation in the Conejo Valley and Las Virgenes area has drawn protests from hundreds of local viewers, prompted a petition drive and a city hall rally that has caught the attention of local and cable company officials.

Provided Cultural Link

As it did for the Kims, the station served as a vital cultural link for the estimated thousands of recent and long-time immigrant families in the area, say those protesting KSCI-TV’s cancellation by the cable company. In the cities of Agoura, Thousand Oaks, Moorpark, Westlake Village and Camarillo, the cable firm has 57,000 subscribers, company officials said.

“This is the only channel that provides broadcasts for the ethnic communities of our area,” said Dr. Farr Ajir, a neurosurgeon who lives in Westlake Village after moving to the United States from Iran 11 years ago.

The city hall protest brought more than 200 people to the Thousand Oaks City Council meeting on Tuesday, including many who had never before participated in American politics. Their unexpected outcry has caused both Cablevision and its parent company, Western Communications of Walnut Creek, to consider returning KSCI to its cable subscribers, company officials said.

“We had no previous knowledge of the strong interest in the channel,” said Christopher Lammers, vice president of Western Communications.

Sparked Reaction

Una Kuan, president of the Conejo Valley Chinese Cultural Assn., said the issue has sparked the normally quiet Chinese community in the area. She estimates that the programming change affects about 4,000 Chinese-Americans in Los Angeles and Ventura counties.

“For our children who are born here, the channel is one of our most important educational tools for language and culture,” said Kuan, a Westlake Village resident.

In addition to keeping cultural traditions alive for the U.S.-born children of immigrants, the station provided elderly foreign-born viewers with their last, regular glimpses of their native lands and people, Kuan said. “The senior citizens who suddenly found their favorite programs discontinued are very upset,” she said.

Viewers of KSCI tuned in to a wide range of foreign-language programs, which included ethnic cooking classes, overseas news broadcasts, foreign films, movies and variety shows. Some of the most popular programs were the foreign-language serials that captured the attention of KSCI viewers in the same way prime-time shows such as “Dallas” have captivated English-speaking audiences, station officials said.

Can’t Follow Serial

Lee’s Korean-born parents, for example, are especially upset because they haven’t been able to follow one of their favorite serials, “Sei-Wol,” which roughly translates to “Time After Time.”

In the running drama, which is set during the Korean War, a soldier is captured by the North Koreans and is separated from his fiancee, who discovers she is pregnant with his baby. To prevent shaming her family, the woman marries a man she does not love because her fiance is believed dead.

Just before the station was pulled from the air, the plot featured the woman’s fiance returning from captivity, forcing her to choose between the two men. “My parents haven’t been able to find out what she decides,” Lee said.

Western Communications, which bought the Cablevision system from Storer Cable in December, decided to drop KSCI, as well as KWHY, a Los Angeles-based financial news channel, and KLCS, the Los Angeles Unified School District channel, because surveys showed the channels had few viewers, Lammers said.

Alternative Offerings

In their place, the cable company expanded offerings of the Arts and Entertainment channel, Nickelodeon channel and the Thousand Oaks city channel, Cablevision President Michael K. Kemph said.

“Based on a review of ratings and our surveys, the viewing of KSCI was low or non-existent,” Kemph said. “But the ethnic community has made their presence known, and they have shown that there is a following.”

Kemph said he will be meeting with both KSCI station officials and representatives of local ethnic groups over the next few weeks. A decision on whether to resume broadcasting KSCI is expected in 90 days, he said.

“We will sit down, meet with citizens and evaluate what the options are,” Kemph said. “But we only have 31 channels and so to reinstate one, some other channel would have to go.”

KSCI station officials say they are hopeful the channel will return to Cablevision subscribers. More than 1.5 million viewers watch the 24-hour-a-day station in six counties between Ventura and the Mexican border, company spokesman Michael Draznin said.

Continue Petition Drive

In the meantime, local KSCI supporters say they will continue to add to the approximately 700 signatures they have collected so far to advocate the return of the station to Conejo Valley and Las Virgenes area residents.

Because the station offers such a variety of foreign-language programming, its absence is felt by a wide range of Conejo Valley and Las Virgenes area ethnic residents, from Asian to Middle Eastern.

Moustafa Elgamiel, owner of the Apadana Market & Deli in Westlake Village, said the Egyptian programs on Saturdays provide a bit of homeland for both his 75-year-old Egyptian-born mother and his three American-born children.

“My mother is not willing or not able to learn English at her age; she doesn’t drive so it is her only entertainment,” Elgamiel said.

The loss of KSCI has caused strong feelings among the customers of Elgamiel’s market, which specializes in Mediterranean and Middle Eastern foods.

“If the cable company continues to cut us off, we will cut them off,” Elgamiel said. “We will consider a boycott.”