Free Republic

SANTA ANA, Calif. (AP) -- For more than 30 years, public television station KOCE has dedicated coverage to Orange County in a media market otherwise dominated by the news and glitz of nearby Los Angeles. But the small station is now battling in court to prevent Daystar, one of the nation's largest Christian networks, from taking over its airwaves. The conflict began in 2003, when the Coast Community College District decided to sell KOCE-TV to the KOCE Foundation, the station's fundraising arm, over competing bidder Daystar. Daystar Television Network sued, claiming its bid should have been selected because the sale...

HOLLYWOOD -- Anyone watching Fox's new primetime sudser "The OC" would think Orange County is chock-a-block with fabulous beach houses, big cars and beautiful young people. But it's also the only county in the country that is on the verge of having to sell off its cash-strapped public broadcasting station to the highest bidder. It may not be the last. There are some 350 public service broadcast licenses scattered around the country, and it's arguable that joint operations in larger markets where there are signal and audience overlap might be a wise course for some of these perennially penny-pinched outlets....