Religious Networks Bidding for KOCE

The proposed sale of financially strapped KOCE-TV Channel 50, Orange County’s only public television station, has attracted bids from 10 entities -- including Christian powerhouse Trinity Broadcasting Network -- setting the stage for a potentially heated debate over the future of the 30-year-old station.

Suitors include the KOCE-TV Foundation, which helps underwrite the station’s operations and has been trying to buy it for more than a year, as well as public television stations KCET-TV Channel 28 of Los Angeles and KPBS-TV Channel 15 of San Diego.

At least four religious broadcasters and two private entities, including Westminster developer Frank Jao, a former director of the KOCE-TV Foundation, also have submitted bids.

The identities of two bidders were unclear: a private investor represented by the Hunter Wise Financial Group and a group called the Orange County Public Television Foundation.

The buyer of KOCE’s noncommercial, educational license from Coast Community College District would have to be approved by the Federal Communications Commission.

The FCC must be satisfied that the new owner would “serve a primarily education function” and “demonstrate ... that they’re broadly representative of the community,” said Jim Brown, deputy chief of the FCC’s video division.

Brown said those requirements could be met by a religious broadcaster.

The public would have 30 days to comment on any sale before the FCC decides on a license transfer.

Bids by the religious broadcasters -- particularly TBN, through its subsidiary Community Educational Television Inc. -- are likely to spark soul-searching by the college district and KOCE supporters over what the station’s mission is and what it should be.

“One of the things in the debate that we need to start is: What happens to the educational aspect?” said Jerry Patterson, a director of the Coast Community College District. “For 30 years we’ve been a PBS station. Should that change?”

The bid by TBN, the world’s largest Christian broadcaster, with 27 full-power stations and assets exceeding $500 million, is likely to spark a public backlash. Last year, TBN sought to take over production of the Easter sunrise service at the Hollywood Bowl but backed down in the face of strong public opposition.

The nonprofit network, founded and operated by televangelists Paul and Jan Crouch, espouses the “prosperity gospel,” in which the faithful believe they will receive riches from God based on how generous they are to his causes. The network already owns KTBN-TV Channel 40 in Santa Ana.

Colby M. May, TBN’s attorney and spokesman in Washington, D.C., did not return a phone call seeking comment.

College district officials declined to provide details on specific bids, referring questions to Elliott Evers, managing director of Media Venture Partners of San Francisco, which is handling the sale.

Evers declined to discuss the bidding process, including a timeline for the sale and the scope of the offers.

Bidders were announced at a special board meeting Friday afternoon at which directors were scheduled to begin negotiations. However, one of the five directors was absent due to a family illness and the meeting was adjourned.

Directors will probably revisit the issue at the next scheduled board meeting on Aug, 20, Patterson said.

Robert Brown, chairman of the KOCE-TV Foundation, said the emergence of noneducational suitors could imperil public broadcasting in Orange County.

“There’s a half-million kids in Orange County that potentially could be impacted in a negative way if the KOCE as we know it today would go away,” Brown said. “Personally, I think that’s a crime.”

The other religious bidders include Daystar TV of Dallas, which describes itself as the nation’s second-largest Christian broadcaster; Almavision Hispanic Network, a Christian Spanish-language broadcaster; and LeSEA Broadcasting Corp., based in South Bend, Ind.

Coast Community College District, which provides $2 million of KOCE’s $8 million annual revenue, began seeking buyers in May when the station was caught in a cash squeeze to meet FCC requirements to convert to digital broadcasting.

Two bidders emerged: the KOCE-TV Foundation and Chapman University in Orange. Chapman dropped out, citing the cost of campus construction projects, and the district decided to broaden the search for buyers because of fears that the KOCE-TV Foundation could not afford to operate the station.

The college district’s financial problems have since worsened under the state’s budget crisis.

The digital conversion is costing about $8 million, about half of which has been raised by the KOCE-TV Foundation -- most of that in pledges. Brown said a decision by the college to sell to a religious broadcaster, discontinuing KOCE as a PBS affiliate, would probably lead longtime supporters to abandon the fundraising campaign.

“I would suspect those pledges would not be fulfilled,” Brown said.

“I can tell you that they won’t be getting my check.”