Live Coverage of Trial of Officers in King Beating

KTLA Channel 5, KTTV Channel 11, KCOP Channel 13 and several cable systems will provide live coverage of today’s opening arguments in the trial of the four Los Angeles police officers accused in the beating of motorist Rodney G. King.

Among broadcasters, KCOP has made the largest initial commitment to the trial, which is scheduled to begin with opening statements at 9 a.m. in the Simi Valley courtroom of Superior Court Judge Stanley M. Weisberg.

The station will air live gavel-to-gavel coverage today and Friday. Coverage beyond Friday will depend on the ratings for the first two days, KCOP said.

Court TV, previously shunned by most Southern California cable system operators, has reached agreements with four additional systems to carry its gavel-to-gavel coverage, uninterrupted by commercials: Chino Valley Cablevision (which will air the service on Channel 59), Simmons Cable in Long Beach (Channel 56 or 64), United Artists Cable in the East San Fernando Valley (Channel 47) and Liberty Cable in South Gate and El Monte (Channel 37).

Systems already carrying Court TV are Simmons Cable in Rancho Cucamonga (Channel 23), American Cablevision in South Pasadena (Channel 39), Southwestern Cable in San Diego (Channel 15) and ATC in Canyon Country (Channel 24).

Century Southwest Cable will air the pool feed on Channel 41 for most of its 70,000 subscribers and on Channel 60 in Beverly Hills and West Hollywood.

KCBS Channel 2, KABC Channel 7 and KCAL Channel 9 are not planning live coverage today.