KCETLink and KLCS Announce Channel Sharing Partnership

BURBANK AND LOS ANGELES, CA - September 10, 2014 - KCETLink, the national independent public media organization, and KLCS, the public educational television station licensed to the Los Angeles Unified School District and member of the Public Broadcasting Service (PBS), have entered into a channel sharing partnership in an effort to participate in the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) voluntary spectrum incentive auction.

Yesterday, KCETLinks Board and the Los Angeles Unified School District Board of Education, which holds the license to KLCS, unanimously approved a memorandum of understanding to move forward with the agreement.

The two stations will share a single, over-the-air broadcast television channel, offering to surrender 6 megahertz (MHz) of spectrum to the FCC, which will be sold in the governments spectrum auction. Both KCET and KLCS will continue to operate under separate non-commercial, educational television broadcast licenses.

The announcement comes after KLCS successful pilot channel sharing partnership with KJLA--also known as LATV---which occurred during Q1 2014.

We are pleased to forge this bold partnership with KLCS and chart new waters together, said Al Jerome, KCETLinks President and Chief Executive Officer. We will certainly benefit from KLCS test program and appreciate the stations leadership. We feel the spectrum auction is a great opportunity to potentially gain significant resources that we can reinvest into programs and activities we provide to the community in support of our mission.

With our proven track record of success, we know that technology allows us to continue to offer high-quality public media content over the air without compromising the viewer experience, said Sabrina Fair Thomas, KLCS General Manager. Were thrilled to be able to move forward in the collaborative nature that the CPB had intended for this type of initiative, and we are confident that KCET is a great partner to fully leverage our combined technological acumen, while maintaining the integrity of our respective licenses and identities.

According to a report from the CPB, the FCC is planning to hold the voluntary spectrum incentive auction in mid-2015 in which television stations will be able to bid on surrendering their licenses, moving from a UHF channel to one in the VHF band or sharing a different channel with other stations, in exchange for cash.

ABOUT KCETLINK

KCETLink is the national independent public transmedia organization formed by the merger between KCET and Link Media. A viewer-supported 501c(3) organization, its content is distributed nationally via satellite on DirecTV (375) and DISH (9410), in Southern and Central California via broadcast, as well as through various digital delivery systems. The combined organization reaches a wide broadcast audience that includes Link TVs 33 million satellite subscribers and KCETs 5.6 million households in Southern and Central California. KCETLink is committed to driving public media innovation with smarter ways to access content that engages all audiences with global storytelling. For additional information about KCETLink productions, web-exclusive content, programming schedules and community events, please visit kcet.org or linktv.org.

ABOUT KLCS

KLCS is the noncommercial educational television station licensed to the Los Angeles Unified School District, with a signal reaching 16 million viewers throughout Southern California. The Stations K-12 educational programming airs 10 hours each weekday, is aligned with Common Core Standards, and provides support for over 700,000 students throughout Greater Los Angeles. KLCS broadcasts educational and general audience entertainment programs over 4 digital channels (including CREATE and MHz), and is carried on all major cable systems, DirecTV and DISH. KLCS produces over 700 hours of original programming annually. KLCS is a PBS-member station dedicated to providing content that highlights and celebrates the diversity of cultures and lifestyles that reflect the tapestry that unites our local communities. Visit klcs.org for more info.

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LINK:	http://www.kcet.org/about/pressroom/kcet-press-releases/kcetlink-and-k...
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