Foundation faces looming deadline

Marisa O’Neil

Members of the KOCE-TV Foundation are confident they will come up

with the millions necessary to buy the station’s license from Coast

Community College District.

The district’s board of trustees has set a March 10 deadline for

the foundation to agree to the terms of the sale before they reassess

what they will do with the station.

The foundation’s chairman, Bob Brown, said its members still are

raising the $8-million down payment and aren’t worried they will miss

its due date.

“We are proceeding,” Brown said. “We are still trying to raise

pledges and guarantors. I can’t tell you where we stand, but we are

confident we will have the money.”

The foundation made a winning bid in October of $8 million in cash

and $24 million on a long-term note. That first payment, Brown said,

is being collected through pledges, guarantors, donations and,

likely, a bank loan.

“That has been the case from the start,” he said. “We always knew

we would have to do that.”

A $100,000 payment, which Brown said the foundation does have, is

due March 10. The rest is not due until the end of June.

“I think they will come up with the money,” said district trustee

George Brown, who is not related to the foundation’s chairman. “It’s

not the money that’s the problem, it’s the terms they’re haggling

with.”

A bigger concern to both parties is the threatened lawsuit from

Daystar Television Network, which believes it should have been named

the highest responsible bidder with its $25-million cash offer. In

numerous letters sent to the district, network officials have

promised to sue the district and its trustees if they don’t break off

talks with the KOCE-TV Foundation and sell the station to Daystar.

After a closed session discussion at Wednesday night’s board

meeting, attorney Milford Dahl announced the district intended to

stick by the decision and give the foundation until March 10 to sign

the agreement.

If that agreement fails, he said, board members will decide

whether to sell to another bidder or simply keep the station.

Dahl sent a letter to Daystar’s attorney, Richard Lloyd Sherman,

the next day informing him of the decision. Dahl said he expected

them to file the suit shortly.

Meg Waters, spokeswoman for Daystar, said Monday there would be

“some litigation in the next few days.”

The latest snag comes after a series of problems that has plagued

the sale, which was intended to shore up the community college

district’s budget.

KOCE-TV’s initial attempt to enter a bid with Los Angeles public

broadcasting channel KCET fell apart due to time constraints. A host

of other bids from Christian broadcasters, including Daystar, raised

community concern that Orange County would lose its only PBS

affiliate.

The foundation then sweetened its bid with the support of local

leaders in business and education, including former baseball

commissioner Peter Ueberroth and Broadcom Chairman Henry Samueli.

Since then, the terms of the sale have been amended from the

original bid of $24 million over an extended period of time to $17.5

million and $2.5 million in services and programming, including

televised college courses. The price change, according to the

foundation and district, takes into account money that would be lost

if the station’s format changed.

“What the district and the foundation are doing is right for the

community,” Bob Brown said. “We are dedicated to making that happen.

There’s no question we need support from the community. We don’t have

everything in the bag and any help we can get is certainly welcome.”

He said he did not know if any of the station’s deep-pocketed

supporters would make up the difference if they came up short on the

$8 million.

Foundation member Joel Slutzky, who is working on the station’s

strategic planning, said that he’s looking forward to the negotiation

team getting everything finalized.

“I’m very anxious for us to finish negotiations so we can get on

with life,” he said.

* MARISA O’NEIL covers education. She may be reached at (949)

574-4268 or by e-mail at marisa.oneil@latimes.com.