KOCE-TV

Logo used since February 6, 2024[a]
Huntington Beach–Los Angeles, California United States
City	Huntington Beach, California
Channels	Digital: 18 (UHF), shared withKSCI Virtual: 50
Branding	PBS SoCal
Programming
Affiliations	50.1:PBS for others, see§ Subchannels
Ownership
Owner	Public Media Group of Southern California
Sister stations	KCET
History
First air date	November 20, 1972 (53 years ago) (1972-11-20)
Former channel numbers	Analog: 50 (UHF, 1972–2009) Digital: 48 (UHF, 2001–2018)
Call sign meaning	"Orange County Education"
Technical information[1]
Licensing authority	FCC
Facility ID	4328
ERP	700kW
HAAT	899 m (2,949 ft)
Transmitter coordinates	34°12′47.9″N118°3′44.3″W / 34.213306°N 118.062306°W /34.213306; -118.062306
Translator(s)	see§ Translators
Links
Public license information	Public file LMS
Website	pbssocal.org

KOCE-TV (channel 50) is aPBS membertelevision station licensed toHuntington Beach, California, United States, serving the Los Angeles area. It is owned by the Public Media Group of Southern California alongside the market's secondary PBS member,KCET (channel 28). The two stations share studios at The Pointe (on West Alameda Avenue andBob Hope Drive, betweenThe Burbank Studios andWalt Disney Studios complexes) inBurbank; KOCE-TV maintains a secondary studio at the South Coast Corporate Center (in theSouth Coast Metro area) inCosta Mesa and shares transmitter facilities withKSCI (channel 18) atopMount Wilson. Since 2011, the station has been branded asPBS SoCal.

KOCE-TV and KCET are two of four PBS member stations servingGreater Los Angeles (the others beingSan Bernardino–basedKVCR-DT [channel 24], which mainly serves theInland Empire, and theLos Angeles Unified School District–runKLCS [channel 58]).

Former station headquarters of KOCE-TV atGolden West College in Huntington Beach, California, pictured in 2022

The station first signed on the air on November 20, 1972, as the first television station licensed toOrange County, initially airing four hours of programming per day. It broadcast its first telecourse in 1973.^[2] It was originally owned by the Coast Community College District.^[3] The station was originally based from studios atGolden West College in Huntington Beach. For most of its history, KOCE-TV was a "beta" or secondary PBS station, airing only 25 percent of the national PBS schedule.

In 2002, the Coast Community College District offered KOCE for sale to raise revenue for other programs. A bidding war ensued between the religious broadcasterDaystar Television Network and members of the community who wanted to continue membership with PBS. In 2004, the station was sold to the KOCE-TV Foundation, an organization made up of civic and business leaders who wanted to keep KOCE-TV as an educational station, for $25.5 million, reduced from an initial bid of $32 million (with $8 million paid up front and the rest paid in 25 equal installments without interest beginning in 2009). The foundation outbid Daystar by $500,000; the religious broadcaster placed a bid of $25 million, which it intended to compensate in an all-cash payment.

Daystar sued in state court, stating that under the terms of the auction, its all-cash bid should have been accepted. A lower court ruled in favor of the college district and the foundation; but on June 23, 2005, the California Court of Appeals ruled that the sale of KOCE-TV was illegal, since the offer was modified after the end of bidding and because the value of the bid was not expressed innet present value terms. Both sides appealed this decision. On November 22, 2005, a state appeals panel reheard arguments in the case following a petition from KOCE, the KOCE Foundation, the Coast Community College District, and Daystar.^[4] On May 25, 2006, the appeals court reaffirmed its decision, again ruling the sale illegal.^[5]

At the same time, Daystar also filed a federal lawsuit, allegingreligious discrimination,civil rights violations, andracketeering. On May 1, 2006, the District Court dismissed the racketeering claim, but not the civil rights portion of the lawsuit.^[6]

In June 2006, a state assembly bill that had previously been approved was changed to allow the Coast Community College District to sell KOCE below fair market value to keep it a PBS station.^[7] The new bill was passed by the assembly, but GovernorArnold Schwarzenegger vetoed it, citing concerns about serving the public interest in the sale of public property and the unresolved legal challenges to the type of sale that the bill would have authorized.^[8]

In June 2007, an agreement was reached in which the KOCE-TV Foundation would keep the station, provided that Daystar would be allowed to broadcast over one of KOCE'sdigital subchannels. As a result, KOCE-DT3 is reserved to broadcast Daystar's national schedule without any local deviation.^[9][10]

In 2007, KOCE andChapman University launchedOC Channel, an Orange County-focused news channel.

KOCE became the Los Angeles market's primary PBS station on January 1, 2011, when the area's longtime original primary member station of the network,KCET (channel 28), ended its association with PBS after 40 years due to an increase in costs to carry PBS programming—leading to its switch to anindependent public television station.^[11]

After KCET left PBS, KOCE entered into a broadcast agreement withKLCS andKVCR to form "PBS SoCal" effective January 1, 2011. The PBS programming originally carried on KCET is now shared between the three stations. As a consequence, on December 31, 2010, KOCE expanded its cable coverage intoSanta Barbara, and later expanded toPalm Springs.^{[citation needed]} BothSan Luis Obispo andSanta Maria (who were previously served by KCET), however, were not included in the cable coverage, as those communities are now served by San Francisco PBS memberKQED via cable^[12] (Palm Springs is also served by KVCR-DT, whileBakersfield, which was also served by KCET, is now served via cable and over-the-air throughFresno PBS memberKVPT).

In the spring of 2011, KOCE moved its administrative offices to a modern facility in Costa Mesa.^[13]

KOCE was available in the Palm Springs area and theCoachella Valley on cable and over the air since the late 1990s, formerly on K55FI and later K35LA, now a KCET translator since 2011, when KOCE became the major PBS station forSouthern California.

On April 25, 2018, KCETLink Media Group and the KOCE-TV Foundation announced that they would merge, effective by the end of the first half of 2018. KOCE remains Los Angeles' primary PBS station but relocated its operations to KCET's facility in Burbank (maintaining its Costa Mesa location as a secondary facility). The two stations continue to carry their existing programming, but KCET returned to PBS.^[3][14] The merger was completed on October 1, 2018, with the combined company branded as Public Media Group of Southern California.^[15]

In January 2024, PBS SoCal announced plans to rebrand KCET asPBS SoCal Plus starting on February 6.^[16]

In addition to PBS programs, KOCE features programming focused on the communities of Orange County. It also broadcasts severalcollege telecourses by the Coast Community College District, which was the station's original owner. Programming produced by KOCE includesVariety Studio: Actors on Actors.

KOCE produced and broadcast the only Orange County-focused nightly newscast in the Los Angeles market,Real Orange, with a concentration on human interest and public service stories. The program was co-anchored by former longtimeKTLA (channel 5) news/sports anchor Ed Arnold, and Ann Pulice. KOCE partnered with theOrange County Register for newsgathering resources for the station's newscasts, the newspaper also served as a sponsor for the program. The program aired five nights a week until 2009, when only two episodes a week were produced (with rebroadcasts the other three weeknights). The program ended in 2013 due to funding constraints.^[17]

KOCE also operated a Weather Center stationed inLa Habra Heights, located about 20 miles (32 km) north of the Huntington Beach studios. This weather station, which only consists of a weather camera, was shown live during the weather segments ofReal Orange on Monday, Wednesday and Friday evenings.Weather radar imagery and other forecast data were gathered from other weather sources (such as theNational Weather Service), as KOCE did not employ its own weather radar.

On January 1, 2011,World Channel moved from KCET-DT4 to KOCE-DT4.

KOCE-TV shut down its analog signal, overUHF channel 50, at 11:30 p.m. on June 12, 2009,^[19] as part of thefederally mandated transition from analog to digital television.^[20] The station's digital signal remained on its pre-transition UHF channel 48, usingvirtual channel 50.

On April 13, 2017, KOCE-TV announced it had sold its over-the-air spectrum in the FCC'sspectrum reallocation auction, reaping $49 million, which the station said it would use to invest in programming and other services. As a result of its spectrum sale, KOCE-TV entered into a channel sharing arrangement with multicultural independent stationKSCI (channel 18).^[21] KOCE completed the move to UHF 18 on the morning of June 19, 2018, with all five programming streams appearing in the virtual channel table with the same numbering.

• KODG-LD 17Palm Springs
• KBAB-LD 50Santa Barbara

• Maria Hall-Brown

• PBS SoCal

• 1972 establishments in California
• Daystar Television Network stations
• Mass media in Orange County, California
• PBS member stations
• Television channels and stations established in 1972
• Television stations in Los Angeles
• Religious television stations in California

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