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KOCE-TV

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KOCE-TV is a member station of the Public Broadcasting Service with programming focused on the communities of Orange County, California. It airs Orange County's only nightly newscast, Real Orange, with a concentration on human interest and public service stories. It also broadcasts several college courses (telecourses) by the Coast Community College District, which was its original owner. The station's studios are located at the District's Golden West College in Huntington Beach, its city of license, though a move to new facilities in the South Coast Corporate Center south of the San Diego Freeway in nearby Costa Mesa will take place in spring of 2011 [1]. Its transmitter is located at the Southern California tower farm on Mount Wilson. KOCE has 4 digital subchannels including the OC Channel.[2] It is one of three PBS member stations serving Greater Los Angeles, the others being KVCR-DT, and KLCS, and is the network's primary affiliate for the market

History

KOCE began broadcasting on November 20, 1972 as the first television station located in Orange County, with 4 hours of airtime per day. It broadcast its first telecourse in 1973.[3]

KOCE was initially a "beta" or secondary PBS station, airing only 25 percent of the national PBS schedule. Despite this, it is the sixth most-watched PBS station in the country[citation needed]. The station became the Los Angeles area's primary PBS station on January 1, 2011, when the area's previous primary station, KCET, ended it's link to PBS after 40 years and became an independent public television station.[4]

On December 16, 2010, KOCE anounnced that, come January 1, 2011, it will rebrand itself as PBS SoCal, to reflect its expansion of its service to the communities of Southern California, as it becomes the new primary Los Angeles market PBS station, replacing KCET. As a consequence, on December 31, 2010 KOCE expanded its cable coverage into Santa Barbara, with Palm Springs soon to follow.[citation needed] Both San Luis Obispo and Santa Maria, however, were not included in the cable coverage, as those communities are now served by San Francisco PBS member KQED, which are only accessible via cable.[5] San Luis Obispo and Santa Maria were previously served by KCET. Bakersfield receives PBS over the air and on cable via KVPT Fresno.

KOCE vs. Daystar

In 2002, the District offered KOCE for sale in order to raise revenue for other programs. A bidding war ensued between Christian televangelist network Daystar and members of the community who wanted to continue membership with PBS.

In 2004, the sale was finalized to the KOCE-TV Foundation, an organization made up of civic and business leaders who wanted to keep KOCE an educational station, for a bid price of $25.5 million, reduced from an initial bid of $32 million ($8 million up front and the rest in 25 equal installments without interest beginning in 2009). Daystar's unsuccessful bid was $25 million, all cash.

Daystar sued in state court, stating that under the terms of the auction, its all-cash bid should have been accepted. A lower court ruled in favor of the college district and the foundation, but on June 23, 2005, the California Court of Appeals ruled that the sale of KOCE was illegal, since the offer was modified after the end of bidding and because the value of the bid was not expressed in net present value terms. Both sides appealed this decision. On November 22, 2005, a state appeals panel reheard arguments in the case following a petition from KOCE, the foundation, the district and Daystar[6]. On May 25, 2006, the appeals court reaffirmed its decision, again ruling the sale illegal.[7]

At the same time, Daystar also filed a federal lawsuit, alleging religious discrimination, civil rights violations and racketeering. On May 1, 2006, the District Court dismissed the racketeering, but not the civil rights, portion of the lawsuit.[8]

In June 2006, a state assembly bill that had previously been approved was changed to allow the Coast Community College District to sell KOCE below fair market value in order to keep it a PBS station[9]. The new bill was passed by the assembly, but Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger vetoed it citing concerns about serving the public interest in the sale of public property and the unresolved legal challenges to the type of sale that the bill would have authorized[10].

In June 2007, an agreement was reached in which the KOCE-TV Foundation will keep the station, provided that Daystar would be allowed to broadcast over one of KOCE's digital services. Thus, KOCE-DT3 is reserved to air Daystar's national schedule without local deviation..[11][12]

Digital television

KOCE multi-casts three digital subchannels with their main signal on digital television channel 48:

Digital channels
Channels (virtual/physical) Programming
50.1/48.1 KOCE HD/PBS main schedule
50.2/48.2 OC Channel (channel programmed by KOCE and Chapman University)
50.3/48.3 Daystar Television Network (network's master schedule via satellite)
50.4/48.4 PBS World

Analog-to-digital conversion

KOCE-TV shut down its analog signal on June 12, 2009 at 11:30 PM, as part of the DTV transition in the United States. The station remained on its pre-transition channel 48 [13] using PSIP to display its virtual channel as 50.

On January 1, 2011, PBS World moved from KCET-DT4 to KOCE-DT4.

KOCE Weather Center

KOCE employs a Weather Center stationed in La Habra Heights, CA, about 20 miles north of the KOCE's broadcasting center in Huntington Beach. It is also located in the same area as the KOCE's transmitter site for the Orange County area. This Weather Station, which only consists of a weather camera, is shown live only on Real Orange broadcasts on Mondays, Wednesdays, and Fridays during the weather reports. The weather radar image and other data are gathered from other weather sources as KOCE does not employ its own weather radar.

Trivia

See also

References

  1. ^ http://www.hbindependent.com/news/tn-hbi-1202-koce-20101201,0,1242637.story
  2. ^ OC Channel
  3. ^ "A Nostalgic Look at the Milestone Events Which Have Formed the Rich History Of KOCE-TV". The KOCE-TV Foundation. September 15, 2005. Retrieved May 20, 2006.
  4. ^ Larsen, Peter (October 8, 2010). "KOCE takes over as top PBS station after KCET cuts ties with network". The Orange County Register. Retrieved October 10, 2010.
  5. ^ KQED Public Television Provides Service in San Luis Obispo and Santa Maria(PDF)
  6. ^ Fisher, Marla Jo (November 23, 2005). "Appellate court hears KOCE sale dispute". The Orange County Register. Retrieved March 8, 2006.
  7. ^ Campbell, Ron (May 27, 2006). "State court strikes down sale of KOCE-TV". The Orange County Register. Retrieved June 6, 2006.
  8. ^ Fisher, Marla Jo (May 1, 2006). "KOCE lawsuit can continue, judge rules". The Orange County Register. Retrieved June 6, 2006.
  9. ^ Fisher, Marla Jo (August 10, 2006). "Lawmakers take up KOCE bill". The Orange County Register. Retrieved December 22, 2006.
  10. ^ Schwarzenegger, Arnold (September 30, 2006). "AB 523 Assembly Bill - Veto". Legislative Council of California. Retrieved December 22, 2006.
  11. ^ Powers, Ashley (October 10, 2010). "KOCE stays with PBS in settlement". Los Angeles Times. Retrieved July 7, 2007.
  12. ^ Fisher, Marla Jo (June 21, 2007). "KOCE-TV will stay with PBS". The Orange County Register. Retrieved July 7, 2007.
  13. ^ YouTube video of analog TV shutoffs in Los Angeles

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