By Don Irvine ——Bio and Archives--October 12, 2010
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LA’s public broadcasting station KCET has decided to part ways with PBS, reports the LA Times. Starting in January, KCET will become independent, dropping popular PBS shows like “Charlie Rose” and “Sesame Street” and filling the void with programming from overseas as well as feature films. “After four decades as the West Coast flagship PBS station, this is not a decision we made lightly,” KCET president Al Jerome said in a press release. “We have been in discussions with PBS for over three years about the need to address challenges that are unique to our market as well as our station. “As an independent public television station, KCET will be committed to investing in Southern California by developing, acquiring, producing and distributing content across all media platforms. We will continue to offer the KCET audience programming from leading national and international sources. Some of these series are currently on our air.” The move comes as KCET’s dues to PBS reached $7 million annually–out of a $37 operating budget. Mighty pricey! Time will tell how other PBS affiliates respond to the move. Could a PBS revolt be in the works?PBS' response
PBS was notified today of KCET’s intention to withdraw its membership. At issue were KCET’s repeated requests that it be allowed to operate as a PBS member station without abiding by PBS policies and paying the corresponding dues. The Board and senior management of PBS remain focused on ensuring the people of Los Angeles continue to benefit from the full range of high-quality PBS content and services, including SESAME STREET, PBS NEWSHOUR, MASTERPIECE and NOVA. PBS’ goal is to have a financially stable service in the Los Angeles market. PBS fully supports the idea of a Southern California consortium of stations and continues discussion with KOCE, KVCR, and KLCS, PBS’ additional stations serving the Los Angeles market.”This may work out well for KCET as PBS shows while critically acclaimed are rarely big ratings draws while on the other hand the lack of a network affiliation even one as weak as PBS ratings wise could drive revenues down significantly. Though if KCET's departure does prove successful it could lead to further defections as stations search for increased ratings and revenue. At least for now there is one less station in PBS' liberal station orbit.
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Don Irvine is the chairman of Accuracy in Media and its sister organization Accuracy in Academia. As the son of Reed Irvine, who launched AIM in 1969, he developed an understanding of media bias at an early age, and has been actively involved with AIM for over 30 years.