Daystar appeals KOCE sale

Marisa O’Neil

Attorneys for the spurned bidder of a local public TV station are

appealing a Superior Court judge’s decision that the sale of the

channel can go ahead.

While the sale of KOCE-TV to its fundraising arm is proceeding as

planned, Christian broadcaster Daystar Television Network filed its

appeal on Monday, attorney Richard Sherman said. He said he also

plans to file a motion that would temporarily stop the sale by

current owners Coast Community College District until the appeals

court makes its ruling.

“Then we’ll see what happens,” Sherman said. “I hope they do the

justice nobody else seems to want to do.”

Waiting for an appeal could delay the station’s sale for one or

two years, said Milford Dahl, an attorney who represents the

district.

District officials, who are selling the station to help prop up

the colleges’ ailing budgets, said they were not worried by Daystar’s

appeal.

“I don’t see any basis for a successful appeal,” board trustee

Jerry Patterson said. “We’re going forward with the [Federal

Communications Commission] process.”

Without intervention from the courts, the KOCE-TV Foundation could

take ownership of the station from the district as soon as July 1.

The station’s application for transfer is with the FCC. The 30-day

public-notice period is due to end in a little more than a week, Dahl

said, and the rest of the process could conclude by the end of June.

The foundation’s remaining down payment of $7.9 million will be

due when the transfer is approved and completed. They are close to

signing a loan for the money, possibly as early as this week, said

their attorney, Ardell St. George.

Daystar took the district to court last month, asking Judge Corey

S. Cramin to rule that it, not the district, was the highest

responsible bidder for the station. Attorneys for the religious

broadcaster argued that their $20-million cash offer had a greater

value than the foundation’s purchase price of $28 million, which is

being financed.

Cramin ruled that the district was within its rights when it chose

to sell the station to the foundation.

The foundation has promised to preserve the station’s public

broadcasting format and expand its Orange County-focused programming.

Daystar said it would keep some of the current programming and would

provide instant relief to the district with its all-cash offer.

Dallas-based Daystar is the nation’s second-largest Christian

broadcaster, behind Costa Mesa’s Trinity Broadcasting. Public support

has been behind the plan to keep KOCE-TV a public channel.

“Daystar been desperate to get in the Southern California market

and viewed this as their prime way to do that,” Patterson said.

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

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