KCET, KLCS In Channel-Sharing Partnership

KCETLink, the independent public media organization that operates noncommercial KCET Los Angeles (DMA 2), and KLCS, the public educational TV station licensed to the Los Angeles Unified School District and a member of the Public Broadcasting Service, have entered into a channel sharing partnership so they may participate in the FCC’s upcoming spectrum incentive auction. 

Yesterday, KCETLink’s board and the Los Angeles Unified School District Board of Education 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 MHz of spectrum to the FCC, which will be sold in the government’s spectrum auction. Both KCET and KLCS will continue to operate under separate noncommercial, educational television broadcast licenses.

The announcement comes after KLCS’ successful pilot channel sharing partnership with KJLA — also known as LATV — which took place in the first quarter of 2014.

“We are pleased to forge this bold partnership with KLCS and chart new waters together,” said Al Jerome, KCETLink’s president-CEO. “We will certainly benefit from KLCS’ test program and appreciate the station’s 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. “We’re 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.”