Public TV Outlet Battling Christian Network

[Norquist Nemesis]

Not a LBN, but on the AP: http://hosted.ap.org/dynamic/stories/P/PBS_STATION_FIGHT?SITE=FLTAM&SECTION=HOME

The lower channels that are now being part of the 'debate' with the FCCs digital mandate are being bought up more and more by 'Christian' mega-media. Daystar is apparently becoming the Christian equivalent of Clear Channel on the radio.

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.

<snip>

"There's been a corrupt auction that took place to give this station to the foundation," Sherman told the three-judge panel of the 4th District Court of Appeal. "Their desire to have a PBS station outweighs everything else. It was never going to fall into the hands of a television evangelist."

Ardelle St. George, the foundation's legal counsel, said that district has an obligation to Orange County to keep KOCE-TV as a public asset.

[SharonAnn]

1. Daystar bought our local channel (not PBS) and now beams in programs

by satellite.

Now we have a twenty-four hour "Beg-a-thon" on our formerly local channel. All begging for money (under the guise of religion) all the time.

I miss the local channel. It had local shows, local news, and sometimes was as funny as hell. It wasn´t fancy but it was ours.

But Daystar offered so much money to the owner that he couldn´t turn it down. They promised not to change the programming but within 90 days it was all remotely transmitted begging shows.

[Norquist Nemesis]

2. "Daystar" sounds like the Star Wars weapons

to destroy planets. At present, it's in the process of seeding to destroy America.

[rwenos]

3. This Has Been Going On for a Couple of Years

I watch KOCE as an alternative to KCET, the main public station in Los Angeles. KOCE is carred together with KCET on most cable systems in L.A.

KOCE has been the target of "Christian" broadcasting before. I believe the Trinity Network tried to buy KOCE a couple of years ago, and an Orange County Superior Court judge threw the sale out.

Anyone else have better details on this?

[LastLiberal in PalmSprings]

4. The same thing has happened to public radio

During the Clinton years the FCC allocated a number of frequencies at the low end of the FM spectrum to be used by communities to set up low power stations for locally oriented programming. The catch was you had to bid to use the frequency.*

So what happened? You guessed it -- the fundies jumped in and snatched all the frequencies up and used them for translator stations which merely rebroadcast programs from the evangelical mega-churches.


*This is just the opposite of what happened with the MSM, which were given their frequencies for free. That's right, our govenment gave away billions of dollars worth of public assets (usable frequencies are scarce) and no one of consequence challenged it.