Deadline met, but KOCE deal not set

Marisa O’Neil

The KOCE-TV Foundation met its deadline on Wednesday to agree to

terms of the sale of the television station, but the Coast Community

College District was not yet sure they had a deal.

“The foundation’s done its deal,” KOCE-TV Foundation President Bob

Brown said Wednesday. “The ball is clearly in the district’s court.”

As of press time, foundation members were confident their purchase

would go ahead, but Coast Community College District attorneys were

still going over the deal.

Coast Community College District had set the March 10 deadline for

both sides to agree on terms after the district missed two previous

ones. The trustees will have to vote on any agreements at their

meeting next Wednesday before the deal is finalized.

If they vote to go ahead, the foundation will then have to pay

$100,000 of the $8 million down payment, with the rest due after

Federal Communications Commission approval, Brown said. The

foundation has the $100,000, Brown said, but is still raising the

rest of the initial payment.

The KOCE-TV Foundation also filed a response on Wednesday to a

lawsuit filed by spurned bidder Daystar Television Network, which

claimed it should have been allowed to buy the station.

Attorneys for Dallas-based Daystar filed a petition for writ of

mandate against the district and the foundation on Feb. 25. The suit

asks the court to stop the district from selling to the foundation

and instead sell to Word of God Fellowship Inc., doing business as

Daystar Television Network, a Christian broadcaster, claiming the

company was the highest responsible bidder.

The California Education Code states that community college

districts may sell property “for cash” and must sell to the highest

responsible bidder. Daystar said its $25.1-million cash bid had a

higher value than the foundation’s, which was for $32 million -- $8

million down and the rest on a long-term note.

The district filed a cross-complaint on March 3, asking the court

to decide who, if anybody, should be allowed to buy the station.

“Daystar’s lawsuit is bogus and should be dismissed,” Brown said

Wednesday in a written statement. “It is nothing more than an attempt

to delay the process, and we fully expect the district to prevail and

to complete the sale of KOCE-TV to our foundation in a timely

manner.”

Wednesday’s legal response from the foundation questioned the

veracity of Daystar’s bid, saying it was offered under the “sham

entity” Community Television Educators of Orange County, not by

Daystar.

A copy of that original bid, included in court documents, is

written on Daystar letterhead with the buyer listed as Community

Television Educators of Orange County, “A California nonprofit

corporation with an educational Purpose. A majority of the board

members from Orange County.”

The foundation’s response also claims that its bid has an

additional value of $34.6 million in equipment and assets. It cites

the Corporation for Public Broadcasting, individual donors and the

U.S. Department of Commerce Public Television Foundation as entities

that could demand return of money or equipment if the station’s

format changes.

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

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