Posted Monday August 16, 2010 - 12:12pm

By Brenton Garen, Beverly Hills Courier

L.A.’s primary public television station KCET, has hit a sharp fork in the road, but whichever path it takes will lead to big shake-up in its programming line-up.

In one direction is the hope of becoming a limited service station, which means sharing its Public Broadcasting Service (PBS) programming rights with the region’s three other affiliates – KOCE, KVCR and KCLS.

The other direction is a future without PBS, which would make the Hollywood-based station the nation’s largest independent public television station.

The Courier sat down with KCET President and CEO Al Jerome to talk about the station’s future and the challenges it faces.

Like most other L.A. cultural institutions, Jerome has the recession to thank for financial woes.

Now he must convince PBS to allow KCET to form a consortium with the region’s three affiliates, otherwise he may have no other choice but to cut ties which the parent organization.

Large Dues

KCET is one of 358 members across the country who pay PBS dues to receive programming content such as Frontline, The News Hour, NOVA and Sesame Street.

For FY 2005, KCET paid $4.985 million for the full PBS line-up as a primary station.

Fast forward to FY 2009 and KCET had to write a check to PBS for $6.955 million.

The increase corresponds to the amount of non-federal funding each station generates.

Over the past five years, KCET has raised $50 million to produce a program called A Place Of Our Own and its Spanish equivalent Los Niños en Su Casa which has won numerous Peabody and L.A. Emmys.

“After we raised this money, our dues, even though these funds were restricted, meaning they could only be used for that production and not to pay PBS dues… spiked our PBS dues up 40 percent over four years,” Jerome said.

And with the fall of the economy, so fell contributions significantly.

This included hits from all sides including decreased corporate, foundation and individual donations due to the crashing market values of their portfolios.

Because of this, Jerome says the station can no longer afford to pay the new level of PBS dues.

Cutting Costs

The Los Angeles Times recently incorrectly reported most of the dozen KCET employees ranked vice president or above earn more than $200,000 a year.

Jerome said this was false and only his salary and three of his executive vice presidents earned $200,000 or above.

He says KCET has been fiscally responsible the past few years cutting costs at every corner in an attempt to pay its increased PBS dues.

These include reducing staff level from 169 employees in July 2007 to 132 employees in July 2011.

KCET also cut two executive-level positions.

Salary cuts have ranged from 5 percent to 12 percent for salaried employees, and hourly staff have been issued furlough days in FY 2010.

Reductions were also made in general spending and travel, even the company retirement contributions have been suspended.

“If you take the PBS dues as a percentage of our net operating revenue, in FY 2005 our PBS dues were 13 percent,” Jerome said.

“In FY 2011, it just went to 25 percent.”

Banding Together

Jerome has a solution which he believes is a win-win situation for both KCET and PBS: Allow his station to become a limited service station, which would mean sharing the PBS program line-up with the region’s three other limited service stations.

He believes this consortium would allow the stations to present the entire PBS lineup, but at the same time cutting dues by more than half.

“We had a conference call today with the four stations and we’re ready to go and ready to start to do this,” Jerome said.

He expects PBS to come to a conclusion on this proposal by mid-September.

Going Independent If PBS doesn’t agree to a consortium, Jerome said ties will be cut, making KCET the nation’s largest independent public television station.

“We would prefer to be associated with PBS. We like PBS. We’ve been happy being members of PBS. But our responsibility is to the viability and long range strength of KCET.”

Jerome stated this would lead to more locally produced content, as well as more programming from American Public Television, from which it already receives some content.

“Now, if these programs are not available on KCET, it’s certainly incumbent upon us to provide other compelling important programs that give them a variety,” he said.

But Jerome reiterated that a consortium would result in substantial economic sufficiency’s and make viewers’ favorite programs available.

Discussions Continue

Discussions are ongoing between the PBS directors, PBS senior management and the chairman of the KCET board, according to a PBS spokeswoman.

“PBS supports the idea of a coalition of Southern California stations. The creation of a collaborative organization must be driven by the stations and the communities they serve,” the spokeswoman said.

“However, we are not aware of any business, operations or governance plans that have been developed, or that a time line agreed upon by all the stations has been crafted.

“We are eager to continue this relationship, ensuring the people of Los Angeles have access to the full range of high quality and enriching PBS content,” she said.

Copyright © 2011 Beverly Hills Courier

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