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.jpg) | SMCCD Board Liquidates KCSM-TV
by Tracy Rosenberg, Media Alliance
May 18th, 2013
On Wednesday May 15th, three San Mateo Community College board trustees approved an unseen contract with Locuspoint Networks, a 99%-owned subsidiary of hedge firm The Blackstone Group, to liquidate the 48-year-old noncommercial TV station KCSM in a spectrum auction. |
 | Low-Power Radio: No Urban Blackout Zones
MA filed these comments with the FCC on March 8th asking for the commission to consider lower watt service in urban markets where the band is too crowded to allow significant low power service for residents including: San Jose, Detroit, and New York City. |
_1.jpg) | California's 5th Largest Public TV Station May be Scrapped for Wireless Spectrum
by Tracy Rosenberg, Media Alliance
Update 4/27: Despite a legal letter sent earlier this month, the San Mateo Community College District refuses to release information on the bidding process to either Media Alliance or the Palo Alto Daily Post, which also submitted a public records request. The District stated it was not in their "interests" to release information to the academic community, station members and the public about the fate of the station. The District has identified a "top bidder", believed to be Locus Point Networks http://locuspointnetworks.com/, a for-profit wireless company, and does not appear to be engaging in negotiations with other bidders, who include Free Speech TV co-founder John Schwartz and several other community groups. The District declared it's hope to cash in on a spectrum auction at previous board meetings, which means an end to public television broadcasting and seems poised to do exactly that, despite letters of protest by state senator Leland Yee and congressperson Anna Eshoo. Please come to the next board meeting on May 15th at 6:00pm at 3401 CSM Drive in San Mateo (near Belmont Canyon). We'll try to arrange car pools if needed. You can write to the trustees at trustees@smccd.edu or use the link below. Profiteering off the destruction of public media is wrong and the District has several bidders willing to pay millions of dollars for the privilege of operating the station. This is nothing more than simple greed and the abdication of public service and accountability to stakeholders for the survival of a 48-year old public asset. |
_2.jpg) | Al-Jazeera Purchases Current TV: Plans Launch of "Al-Jazeera America"
by Rory O'Connor, Media Channel
Al-Jazeera, the Qatari news channel whose coverage of Arab Spring electrified the world, and then whose coverage in Bahrain and Syria appalled the world, in an example of the challenges faced by government-owned media outlets, has purchased Current TV for the price of 500 million dollars, purchasing the carriage on cable systems that they were otherwise unable to secure. |
_2.jpg) | KCSM-TV Bids
by Tracy Rosenberg, Media Alliance
October 26th, 2012
In response to Media Alliance's public records request, the six bids received for KCSM-TV's broadcast license have been provided by the San Mateo Community College District Board of Trustees. |
 | KCSM-TV Sale Postponed
August 11th, 2012
Update: 10/25 - The San Mateo Community College District has rejected all bidders in the sale of KCSM-TV. MA's pending public records request for all of the bid documentation will be fulfilled this week - (six months after the request was filed). The board stated that they are still determined to sell the broadcast license and will embark on a new RFP process. |
 | KUSF One Year Later
Update: On August 15th, in a tribute of sorts, the fabled call letters of KUSF, which will be remembered forever by music fans, were transferred to a yet-to-be-constructed station at 91.3 in Glendale, Oregon owned by community radio facilitators Common Frequency. |
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