KOCE-TV still fighting for air

Foundation faces another court date in battle with religious group over purchase of television station.Laguna businesswoman and KOCE-TV board member Jacqueline Schaar is hoping a judge will keep the public-supported television station intact.

The KOCE-TV Foundation is faced with a lawsuit from Texas-based televangelist group Daystar Television Network, which wants to nullify the sale of the station by Coast Community College District to the foundation two years ago.

A Nov. 22 court date with the California District Court of Appeals will be the next stage in what is now a two-year legal entanglement, Schaar said. The station has been in existence for 33 years.

“If we lose this it’s a significant loss for the community,” said Schaar, who credits her organization with providing resources to schools throughout the county.

KOCE’s “Real Orange” is the only news program that provides local Orange County news, she said.

Although KOCE may offer programming unique to Orange County, in the age of cable many homes in the area may also chose Orange County’s KDOC or Los Angeles’ KCET, both public-supported stations.

Schaar, who owns Schaar Galleries in North Laguna, has been involved with the station for 15 years and is the founder of Friends of KOCE, which handles volunteer activities for the station, including pledge drives.

“Everything is going so well for us in every other way,” Schaar said. “All of the effort and support that has gone into the station would be lost.”

According to KOCE-TV Foundation president Mel Rogers, Daystar believes it should own the station because its cash bid was higher than the foundation’s.

Daystar lost in the Superior Court of California, and also lost in an FCC ruling, Rogers said.

Daystar is also pursuing a federal case claiming that the foundation and the district conspired against their group in religious discrimination, Rogers said.