KOCE could join TV station coalition

KOCE-TV, the public television station headquartered at Golden West College,

has been in talks with three other Southern California PBS stations to form a coalition that would share programming and join together in raising funds and promoting shows.

The project has no timeline, but is considered an official plan, President and Chief Executive Mel Rogers said. Representatives for KOCE, Los Angeles-based KCET, Inland Empire-based KVCR and the Los Angeles Unified School District’s KLCS most recently met Sept. 29.

The idea behind the collaboration is to allow all four stations to coordinate fundraising efforts and advertise each other’s programs on the air in hopes of increasing viewership of public television, lining up more donors and corporate sponsors and providing more money to produce local content.

“We’re in the process of figuring out what’s possible and what isn’t,” he said. “Once we do that, we’re going to look at how to structure ourselves organizationally.”

—Michael Miller