Originally Posted By mawnck Well THIS will be interesting. >>KCET announced today that it will become the largest independent public television station in the United States effective January 1, 2011. This decision is the result of KCET and PBS' inability to reach an agreement on a reduction in PBS fees and greater programming flexibility. KCET will continue to carry the full PBS line-up through December 31, 2010.<< <a href="http://www.kcet.org/about/pressroom/press-releases/kcet-to-go-independent-effective-january-1-2011.html" target="_blank">http://www.kcet.org/about/pres...011.html</a> More at the link. For those of you who ain't here, LA has 4, count 'em 4 PBS affiliates, although one of them (KVCR San Bernardino) can't be received in a lot of areas including mine. The three smaller ones carry only limited PBS programming, and certainly aren't going to be able to afford even a fraction of what KCET was paying PBS for the whole magilla. KCET will continue to carry their non-PBS programming (Huell Howser fans can breathe easy, all six of you) and they plan to do more local programming, movies, international stuff, and lord knows what all else. There's lots of air time that suddenly needs filling, and they've got a non-commercial FCC license so no advertiser-supported programming is allowed.
Originally Posted By JeffG That is strange. It means that the people of L.A. are going to have to learn to not watch PBS on a different station... -Jeff
Originally Posted By Ursula I'm not happy about this. I LIKE watching KCET. I DO watch Huell. Plus, all of the other great programming from PBS. The other PBS stations don't work well for me.
Originally Posted By mawnck >>The other PBS stations don't work well for me.<< Yeah, that's really the thing. KLCS is run by the Los Angeles City Schools. No budget, poor management, spends inordinate amounts of airtime showing amateurish-looking tapes of school board meetings. And no HD capability. With their mandate to run so much school-related programming, I doubt they'd even have time to run the complete PBS schedule. KVCR is in San Bernardino. It's the one major TV station in the market that doesn't transmit from the Mt. Wilson antenna farm, and as a result a lot of folks in the market can't get it. It also isn't available on a lot of the cable and satellite systems. I can't get them either, but it's my understanding that they are really hurting for funds (they're in one of the worst cities for unemployment in the country) and also carry very little in the way of genuine PBS programming. I can see them perhaps sticking a translator (relay) station on Mt. Wilson, but (1) who's going to pay for it, and (2) where are they gonna find a vacant channel to put it on? Then there's KOCE, the Station Most Likely To Succeed. (See what I did there?) Based in Orange County, their audience skews way older and more conservative, and they run a hella lot of those "doo-wop groups from 55 years ago reunite to croak out their hit one last time" specials. They run quite a bit of Orange-county-centric programming, including a newscast, so a change to concentrating on LA proper would be a bit odd. And yep, you guessed it, budget problems. AND they are contractually obligated to run a Christian network on one of their digital subchannels (long story) so that's one less place for one of the lost KCET PBS subchannels to relocate. It seems odd that a market with three other public broadcasters wouldn't have at least one that's a good home for full PBS affiliation, but here we are. KCET has management issues of its own (there are constant complaints that they overpay themselves for one thing), but the rates PBS wanted really were nuts given the circumstances. PBS shot themselves in the foot with this one, and if KCET manages to make a go of it, a lot of other affiliates around the country are going to start pondering a possibility of Life After PBS as well.
Originally Posted By fkurucz We have 2 PBS affiliates in metro Denver. Channel 6 (KRMA) is the bigger of the two. Both are always begging for money and I wonder how channel 12 (I forget its call letters) stays afloat.
Originally Posted By SFH "That is strange. It means that the people of L.A. are going to have to learn to not watch PBS on a different station..." (snicker)
Originally Posted By mawnck ... and the "different station" has now stepped forward. No surprises here: <a href="http://www.koce.org/koceLeads.htm" target="_blank">http://www.koce.org/koceLeads.htm</a> >>"At KOCE we are saddened to learn of the departure of KCET from the PBS family effective January 1st. The good news for all of us who live in this region is that thanks to KOCE, as well as our partner PBS stations, KLCS and KVCR, quality PBS shows will continue to be available, without interruption, throughout the LA television market,” according to KOCE CEO, Mel Rogers. “KOCE will assume the PBS common carriage obligations and work with our partner stations to ensure that PBS shows are not only available, but are easy to find for our viewers.<< And here's my favorite part: >>Rogers said KOCE’s service to Orange County will remain unchanged.<< Uh huh ... pull the other one.
Originally Posted By mawnck KLCS has an announcement on their website as well: >>Thank you for your patience during our recent technical difficulty. The main channel is broadcasting, however the digital channels remain off the air.<< <a href="http://www.klcs.org/" target="_blank">http://www.klcs.org/</a> Yeah, this'll work.
Originally Posted By x Pirate_Princess x I've met Huell Howser. He was in Borrego Springs last year. Anyone see that episode? I watch KCET when I'm at my grandma's. Glad it's not the San Diego PBS station, though... we would go crazy without Sesame Street!
