Court Auction Date Is Set for KADY-TV

A court-supervised bankruptcy auction will be held in September to place Oxnard’s KADY-TV Channel 63 into new hands.

The auction comes 14 months after U.S. Bankruptcy Court Judge Robin Riblet appointed a trustee to bring the troubled station back from the brink of economic collapse.

During the auction, companies and individuals will be attempting to outbid Paxson Communications Corp., a Florida-based infomercial television carrier that in July announced it had submitted an $8-million, all-cash bid to buy KADY.

The auction will be Sept. 23 in Riblet’s Santa Barbara courtroom.

“We are actively working with other bidders through the auction date to assure the highest and best price will be obtained for the station,” said trustee John W. Hyde of Crossroads V Communications, who took control of the station from John and Erica Huddy last year. “The auction completes our efforts to return KADY to a prominent position in the community.”

After the auction, the winning bidder will seek license and transfer approval from the Federal Communications Commission.

Payments to the Huddys’ creditors with claims totaling between $9 million and $15 million will follow.

Since 1995, Paxson has been buying low-power UHF stations facing bankruptcy or mismanagement in an effort to become the nation’s seventh major television network.

Should no one outbid the company during the KADY auction, company officials say they initially will turn the station into an infomercial network.