ANAHEIM : KDOC-TV to End News Operations

Orange County’s only commercial television station, Anaheim-based KDOC, will eliminate its local news operation and shut down its production studio at the end of the month.

The decision, prompted in part by a downturn in advertising revenue, will result in layoffs for 11 full-time and 10 part-time employees, according to Station Manager Chuck Velona. In addition to the nightly half-hour news show, the cutbacks will end the one-hour afternoon music video program, “Request Video.”

The independently produced “Hot Seat,” Wally George’s nationally syndicated talk show, will continue to air on KDOC in its regular Saturday night slot but will be taped at another studio.

KDOC, which relies heavily on reruns such as “Combat,” “Hogan’s Heroes” and “Green Acres,” launched its nightly Monday through Friday newscast in 1989. The program, which now airs at 11 p.m., produces its own local stories, supplemented by foreign and national coverage from CNN. It will cease production Nov. 30.

“The current revenue situation that we find the industry in is not great,” Velona said. He said that to stay competitive, the station will upgrade the station’s transmission equipment at a cost of $2 million to $7 million over the next several years.

It was not possible to do that and maintain the relatively expensive production facilities, Velona said, leading to the cutback decision by the station’s board of directors.

“The station has made a decision to go ahead and stay in the television business,” he said.