Foundation’s bid should win

After months of debate and discussion, after years of threatening to

sell, Coast Community College District’s board of trustees must make

a decision on Wednesday -- who will it sell KOCE-TV to. Five bidders

are poised to take over Orange County’s only public television

station, although only one prospective buyer would leave the

programming as is.

The board faces a tough decision. Of the five prospective buyers,

four are religious stations that offer sizable bids but will put an

end to KOCE’s local news and educational programming. The fifth

bidder, the KOCE Foundation, offers the weakest bid financially, but

the most attractive to those who hold the station dear.

Since a group of six big-business CEOs have announced they will

support the foundation -- keeping its bid at the dollar amount it

offered while affiliated with the L.A.-based KCET-TV -- we are

dismayed that its bid is still the lowest.

During its last week of deliberation the board’s members should

consider the pleas and polls of Orange County residents. Granted

those sentiments don’t pay the bills, but they should be taken into

consideration.

A phone survey, done by Cal State Fullerton’s Center for Public

Policy, found that more than 80% of Orange County residents favored

keeping KOCE-TV as a PBS affiliate, airing local programs rather then

selling to a religious broadcaster for a higher price.

KOCE has never been in it for the money. The Coast Community

College District could use the extra cash, sure, but is also not

about making money.

The first priority of both the district and the station has always

been education. Therefore there is one clear choice. KOCE should be

sold to the foundation to be preserved as a local news and

educational resource for the county. No viable offer from the

station’s own foundation should be turned down.

In a county as well off as Orange County, saving the sole local

television station, the only source of local news programming, should

not be so difficult.

Once the station is saved, its foundation should begin a

fund-raising drive to raise money for an endowment fund to safeguard

against as such threats in the future.