Marisa O'Neil
KOCE-TV's foundation announced Wednesday that it is submitting an
"extremely competitive" bid to buy the station and retain its format
with the help of local business leaders and former baseball
commissioner and once recall candidate Peter Ueberroth.
Surrounded by half a dozen CEOs from some of Orange County's
biggest companies at a press conference, KOCE Foundation board member
Joel Slutzky said that the new bid would be significantly higher than
the $10 million originally submitted to the Coast Community College
District, who holds KOCE's broadcast license. Four religious channels
have already submitted bids as high as $25 million, but the KOCE
Foundation is the only one that has promised to keep it a public
broadcasting channel.
"I don't think you should change what KOCE does in the public
arena," said Ueberroth, an Orange County resident who pulled out of
the California gubernatorial race last month. "This community needs
this asset in its current form. Don't change something that's part of
the public community."
The foundation's new offer comes just in time as bidding closed at
the end of the day Wednesday.
The previous bid, entered jointly with L.A.-based PBS affiliate
KCET-TV, fell apart last week due to time constraints. Details of the
revised bid have not been released, but KOCE President Mel Rogers
said that it includes more cash up front and a higher net -- and
possibly higher gross -- bid than the others submitted so far.
Rogers credited community support for the strengthened bid.
"Some of the most important business and financial leaders in
Orange County are making a point to come together and put together
the best bid for the Coast Community College District," he said.
Matt Massengill, CEO of Western Digital Corp., said that when
taking into consideration costs of transferring the station's
license, including repayment of debts, PBS grants and employee
severance packages, other bidders would have to pay off approximately
$12.27 million. That would effectively halve the high bids from Costa
Mesa's Trinity Broadcasting Network and Daystar Television Network of
Dallas unless they agreed to pay the costs on top of the selling
price.
The time it would take to gain FCC approval to transfer the
license could also significantly add to the costs, Massengill said.
Taking that into consideration, he said, the foundation's bid should
be at least on par, if not superior, to the others.
Slutzky, who is also CEO of Odetics Corporation, called KOCE "an
