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, KCETLink's 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 government's 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, KCETLink's President and Chief Executive

Officer. "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."  

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 TV's 33 million satellite subscribers and KCET's 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 Station's 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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