KOCE sale officially over, finally

Marisa O’Neil and Jeff Benson

The KOCE-TV Foundation officially takes over Orange County’s only

public broadcasting channel today, after more than a year of

fundraising, legal wrangling and nail-biting.

Coast Community College District trustees voted 4-0 Wednesday to

give the final OK for the foundation to take over the station after

having placed the winning bid more than a year ago. Since then, the

sale faced a legal challenge from a spurned bidder, financing

difficulty and FCC approval.

Trustee Armando Ruiz was not at Wednesday’s meeting. Because of

his retirement Sunday and subsequent reelection Tuesday, his new term

does not begin until December.

The trustees’ vote, coupled with the FCC’s recent approval of the

sale, clears the way for the KOCE-TV Foundation to start revamping

the station and its programming. Among those plans are more local

programming, including an expansion of its “Real Orange” news show.

The station will continue to televise college courses for the

district’s three colleges.

“Over the coming months, you’ll see more live stuff and more local

stuff,” KOCE-TV President Mel Rogers said. “Some of the best local

election coverage ever done was done [Tuesday night]. You’ll see a

lot more of that as time goes on.”

Rogers said new programming will be fused in over the coming

months, though he had no timetable for any specific programs.

After three deadline extensions granted by the Coast Community

College District, the foundation made the $8-million down payment to

the district last month. The final $28 million purchase price of the

station includes $17.5 million on a long-term note and another $2.5

million worth of programming.

KOCE-TV Foundation chairman Bob Brown and other foundation

representatives Wednesday presented district officials with an

oversized check for $8 million.

“This team really dedicated a lot of hours to make this happen,”

Brown said. “Mel Rogers has been a strong contributor in helping us

raise funds. He’s the best salesman around.”

Trustees George Brown, Jerry Patterson and Walt Howald spoke on

behalf of the district.

“I was certainly pleased and tickled by this,” trustee George

Brown said. “We worked long and hard, and there were many times when

we wondered if it was ever going to happen. But now Orange County has

its own broadcast station.”

The trustees voted to spend $1 million of the proceeds for

additional courses. Orange Coast College, the largest of the

district’s colleges, was forced to cut 1,500 classes from its

schedule last year because of budget constraints.

The $1 million will provide about 324 new classes for the three

campuses -- OCC, Coastline Community College and Golden West College

-- district spokeswoman Erin Cohn said. The district spent about $1

million in closing costs, broker fees and legal fees for the sale.

Dean Mancina, president of the Coast Federation of Educators, said

he’d like the district to use proceeds to pay for faculty retiree

benefits.

Daystar Television Network, the nation’s second-largest religious

broadcaster, earlier this year sued the district and the foundation

for the right to buy the station. Network officials claimed its

$40-million cash bid, received after the deadline, should have been

the highest, but Daystar lost the case in Orange County Superior

Court.

An attempt by Daystar to block the broadcast license transfer also

failed. But attorneys for Daystar are still appealing the case in

court and have threatened to sue each trustee of the district for

their decision to sell to the foundation.

“If the court finds the sale was improperly done, it’ll all be

undone,” said Daystar attorney Richard Sherman. “It’ll be a big mess.

I assume they think they’re going to win, but if they don’t, it’ll be

a problem.”