It's official: PBS lineup moves to KOCE-TV starting Jan. 1

Los Angeles fans of PBS will soon have to get “Sesame Street,” “Nova” and other iconic shows from a station in Orange County.

Starting Jan. 1, KOCE-TV Channel 48, the Huntington Beach outlet that currently airs only one-quarter of the PBS lineup, will begin beaming the full network schedule to a huge swath of Southern California that will encompass Los Angeles, Riverside, San Bernadino and Ventura counties as well as Santa Barbara.

“We’re very excited that KOCE will be the full-service PBS station in the market, taking the wonderful opportunity of providing all the great core PBS content throughout Southern California,” Mel Rogers, the station’s president, said in an interview Tuesday.

KOCE’s broadcast signal already reaches most of that area, Rogers said. The station is also negotiating with cable operators in the few communities in the region that do not currently carry it. That includes cable systems serving about 200,000 Time Warner customers in the Inland Empire, Rogers said. The station is pushing for coverage in the Palm Springs and Victorville areas and has a pending deal with Cox Cable that would cover Santa Barbara, Rogers said.

The move had been expected since KCET-TV Channel 28 announced in October that it would exit PBS following a months-long dispute over dues and other issues. KCET will become an independent public broadcaster and is pursuing a schedule based on local programs, BBC repeats and news and documentary shows produced in Canada, Japan and elsewhere. A KCET spokeswoman said the station did not yet have precise scheduling information.

Meanwhile, the impact on KOCE’s schedule will be dramatic. Though the station already carries iconic programs such as “Antiques Roadshow,” it will gain some daily shows with devoted fan bases, such as “NewsHour” and “Charlie Rose.” The station will also carry seven hours of PBS Kids programming each day –- some of which it already airs -- including “Sesame Street,” “Curious George” and “Arthur.”

PBS viewers should notice little difference between what KCET broadcasted and the new KOCE lineup. “There might be one or two little exceptions,” Rogers said. “But it’s certainly 99%, largely everything that KCET took before … It will look a lot like the PBS schedule that was on KCET.”

However, some legacies of the old KOCE will remain. The station will continue airing “Real Orange” and “Inside OC,” news and public affairs shows devoted to Orange County, although they will not be repeated as often. And the station will still carry Lawrence Welk reruns on Saturday nights.

“I don’t think viewers are going to notice much loss,” Rogers said.

Rogers said he was confident that KOCE was financially prepared to move up to full-service PBS status.

“We are operating with pretty low overhead here,” he said. “We’re not spending money that we don’t have.”

The new arrangement means a hefty dues increase for KOCE, since primary PBS stations pay much more to the national organization than secondary stations do. But Rogers said: “We know the PBS dues will increase for us. But it doesn’t appear that’s going to be problematic at all in light of the revenue that we anticipate from this full-service circumstance.” He added that the network’s new schedule should lure increased support from corporations and individual donors.

Still unclear is what role will be played by the two other PBS stations in the area, KLCS-TV, which is licensed to the Los Angeles Unified School District, and KVCR-TV based in San Bernadino. PBS is likely to use the stations increasingly to help promote the main lineup on KOCE, but the precise details still aren’t worked out.

“We are talking to all three stations about how to expand services in Los Angeles over the next month,” PBS Chief Executive Paula Kerger said in an interview.

“Our primary goal has been to make sure that we got the core content up as of Jan. 1.” 

-- Scott Collins

Photo: Charlie Rose. Credit: Harry Benson / PBS

Comments

[Crystal]

...and that was when I never watched KCET again. WHAT were they thinking?!

[Hank]

KOCE is channel 50, not 48.

[Peter]

Correction: It's KOCE channel 50

[Eric]

The PBS I make an effort to watch is the PBS of "Frontline" and "NOVA" and "Masterpiece Mystery", etc. I couldn't care less about "Antiques Roadshow" or another one of those interminably long concerts of 1940s/50s pop groups reunited to sing their 1 hit in front of a geriatric audience. PBS challenges its viewers; that's what sets it apart from so much of the dreck on the airwaves.

[Robert]

KOCE doesn't have to push to get into Palm Springs as we already get KVCR on our cable system. Glad KCET is leaving PBS because it's been silly having two PBS stations on our cable lineup broadcasting much of the same stuff.

[bkl]

How much is PBS getting from KOCE in dues? Remember, the dues amount is what lead to the breakup with KCET. PBS wouldn't give KCET a break in dues, yet I doubt they are getting as much from KOCE.

I guess I have to wait for the story in the business section to get the facts.

[John vasi]

KCET has done a miserable job of explaining why they split frm PBS. It's hard to imagine KCET will keep the level of support it must hope for. I live in Santa Barbara and have donated to KCET in the past. Why would I do so now?

I'd say their PR on this was really bad, but I don't think there was any PR.

[Paul]

Many PBS stations around the country still air Lawrence Welk and they wonder why they continue to have problems?

[Carl R.]

I hope the San Bernadino station can broadcast the full PBS schedule, so everyone in the LA/IE/OC/SanGabriel area can get all the programs easily. Also, the new plans for KCET sound pretty interesting, despite the dismissive description written in the Times here. I wish I could get all that where I live.

As a thought, KCET could carry various English-language half-hour news programs from foreign countries: like France 24, Deutsche Welle, NHK Japan, BBC News, Al Jazeera, EuroNews, Russia Today, Radio Nederland, Taiwan, PR of China, and others.

I wish both stations, KOCE and KCET good luck in doing what they feel comfortable with; it can only provide more and better viewing choices, no matter what others say about it. If KOCE had been the alternative outlet and KCET had remained PBS, there'd be no controversy, but it happened to fall this way, and everyone is doing what they think is best for their own business, so fine with me. In this most cabled part of the US, it makes no difference, anyway.

[bleed_dodger_blue]

"...and that was when I never watched KCET again. WHAT were they thinking?!"

a few weeks ago, the LAT had a write detailing what happened between PBS and KCET. to summarize, KCET accepted a grant from BP to produce a new show. one of the terms of the grant explicitly said that the grant could not be used in any part to pay for dues to PBS. no problem: KCET budgeted a portion of future contributions to pay to PBS for accepting the grant. problem: the Great Recession caused a huge drop in contributions and KCET couldn't pay its inflated dues. PBS refused to budge and KCET was forced to leave. you really can't fault KCET: maybe they should have been on the lookout at "Antiques Roadshow" for a crystal ball ;-)

[Claude Ponti]

So KCET will fill its schedule with "local programs, BBC repeats and news and documentary shows produced in Canada, Japan and elsewhere"??? Wow! What a brilliant programming plan. That's sure to bring in an audience of dozens.

Sounds like someone on the KCET Board wants the station to go bankrupt so they can buy the real estate and build a strip shopping center. Wait...that can't be right. Maybe they're just clueless and out of touch. Yeah! That's it.

[michael g]

We're all looking forward to the day when PBS won't be just another tool for the Left/Progressives or the gay agenda. It's sad that they don't have the integrity to rise above their liberal bias nor their myopic worldview and hence continue to lose viewership...

[Ken]

Hurray for the Lawrence Welk reruns on Staurday nights!

[Claude Ponti]

Why did no one think of this before? KCET plans to pursue a schedule consisting of "local programs, BBC repeats and news and documentary shows produced in Canada, Japan and elsewhere". WOW!! This should bring in an audience of dozens.

This is the strategic plan the Board of Directors embraced? Someone on the Board must want the station to fail so they can build a strip mall on the real estate -- with the carcass of KCET buried in a corner under a memorial plaque.

[RatzoRizzo]

"And the station will still carry Lawrence Welk reruns on Saturday nights"

Espero que está disponible en español...para el mercado de Los Ángeles!

[eahostudio]

This is good news for those of us who prefer to get our 'news' unfiltered by cable cacophony or local bimbo readers. Newshour and Frontline will continue from just behind that orange curtain.

[John]

PLEASE, KCOE, don't even THINK of showing 'California's Gold,' the self-produced show where conservative right-wing Republican Huell Howser puts on his best (and loudest) phony accent to perpetuate the folky charm he thinks endears him to viewers. If I never hear him say "AMAZING!" again I will be eternallyly grateful.

[ArchtMig]

Where does Huell Howser go? Will his shows remain on KCET, or migrate over to KOCE?

[Jack Briggs]

John: Howser's accent is not "fake." He is from Tennessee, and he sounded just the same there all those years ago. I know. I lived there then. Not that I'm fond of him, but at least his accent is real. As for KCET, it takes some gall to be running its beg-a-thon during the official PBS pledge drive. Though I hope to be able to catch the BBC World News (if it doesn't conflict with the PBS Newshour), I otherwise will not be watching KCET any longer. I tuned in for the PBS programming, not out of love for those call-letters. Here I come, KOCE.

[Jack]

I've ended my contributions to KCET and will now be a loyal supporter of KOCE.