KOCE Execs Talk Sale--a Surprise to College Trustees

Trustees at Orange Coast Community College District were surprised to learn Wednesday night that KOCE-TV executives have continued discussing the sale of the public broadcasting station to other universities.

The board had said in August it didn’t want to sell Orange County’s PBS affiliate and had asked the station’s staff to review options that would let the district keep the operation.

But the five options the station released at the board meeting included proposals to sell the station and to transfer it outside the district’s complete control.

The district owns the license to operate the station.

In discussing the options, KOCE’s general manager, Mel Rogers, told the board that the station has continued to discuss a possible sale with officials at Chapman University in Orange and USC in Los Angeles.

“Maybe we should call UCI and see if they’re interested,” Trustee Jerry Patterson said with sarcasm. “Maybe they thought we meant what we said when we stated we weren’t interested in selling.”

KOCE has to come up with $8.5 million to convert to a digital broadcasting format by 2003, as mandated by the Federal Communications Commission. The station so far has raised $750,000.

A major fund-raising effort is scheduled to begin next year, but Rogers acknowledged it will be difficult to reach that goal.

“It is a plan we will approach with enthusiasm and every expectation of success. It is by no means a sure thing,” he said.

Officials at Cal Poly Pomona have also talked with KOCE operators about purchasing the PBS affiliate.

The station, valued at $26 million to $39 million in a recent district-commissioned appraisal, would enhance any university’s image and allow it to offer hands-on training for film and television students.

A new owner at the helm would raise the prospect of additional money both to produce more original programming and to buy new shows from PBS and other sources. Shows broadcast on KOCE include “Real Orange” and “Masterpiece Theater.” Since its founding in 1972, KOCE has broadcast largely in the shadow of KCET-TV, the Los Angeles station with greater resources and many more viewers.

The college district provides about $1.5 million of KOCE’s $5.5-million annual budget, with individual, corporate and other donors filling out the balance. Operating costs will rise after the conversion partly because more technical support is required for digital transmission than analog.

The station cannot be sold without approval of both the five-member college district board and the FCC.

Digital broadcasting allows stations to compress information and provide more channels and higher-quality program signals. KOCE officials, for instance, have discussed the possibility of airing programming on four educational channels during the day, including telecourses for area students. At night, KOCE would probably air shows on two stations, including one broadcasting PBS network shows.

Situated on the Golden West College campus in Huntington Beach, KOCE is the 15th most watched among the nation’s 348 public TV stations, with 2.5 million viewers per week. The station has won 27 local Emmy Awards. Its signal reaches as far south as San Clemente, as far north as as Van Nuys and as far east as Corona.