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 | KCSM-TV:Blackstone To Control The Sale of 5th Largest Public TV Station in CA
August 19th, 2013
An MA public records request reveals that Blackstone Group subsidiary Locuspoint Networks has the absolute right to force a sale to any bidder of California's 5th largest public TV station if FCC spectrum auction does not ensue in 4 years, including for example, a christian chain broadcaster. |
 | Cell Phone Unlocking
by Derek Khanna, The Hill
Cell Phone unlocking is another issue that unites leftwingers with some libertarian sectors. In addition to the civil liberties issues, cell phone unlocking has real benefits for low-income communities to have access to higher-grade devices. |
.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. |
 | KCSM-TV Up For Sale
by Tracy Rosenberg, Huffington Post
December 1st, 2011
As part of an epidemic of higher education institutions nationwide ridding themselves of educational TV and radio licenses, the San Mateo Community College District in Northern California has announced the upcoming sale of KSCM-TV, the noncommercial TV station it has owned and operated for 48 years.
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 | Low-Power Radio: The Implementation Shuffle
"Pirate" radio is now the law of the land, thanks to the Local Community Radio Act. But the devil is in the details and how the law is implemented by the FCC will make all the difference. |
| Radio Summer Bay Area
Radio Summer Bay Area was a great event. Watch the video and join us virtually if you couldn't come in person! |
 | Saving College Stations
Update 6/28/2011 - FCC calls for further review of the application for consent to transfer KUSF license to Classical Public Radio Network. See the order below. |
 | Broadcast Ownership Data Released
On the good news front, after much litigation, the Federal Communications Commission finally released long-delayed Form 323 data, which tracks female and minority ownership of broadcast outlets. |
| Petition to Deny Transfer of KUSF License Filed with the FCC
Update 6-13-2011 - Friends of KUSF has filed a declaration with the Federal Licensing Agency, declaring that the University of San Francisco has illegally dismantled KUSF's studio prior to an FCC decision on the proposed license transfer to the Classical Public Radio Network LLC.
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| Minority Groups Say Civil Rights Getting Worse at the FCC
by Gautham Nagesh, The Hill
A coalition of minority advocacy groups, including the NAACP and Jesse Jackson's Rainbow PUSH Coalition, wrote to the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) and lawmakers on Tuesday complaining about a lack of progress on civil rights issues. |
| KUSF License Sold
In a sudden move that took many by surprise, the University of San Francisco sold the broadcast license of KUSF as a new frequency for the nonprofit iteration of classical station KDFC. |
| Local Community Radio Act Passes the Senate
On Saturday, December 18th, the Local Community Radio Act which opens up frequencies for 10-100 watt radio stations all over the country, passed the Senate and now awaits only the President's signature to become the law of the land. |
 | SF Public Access Producers Picket Soon-To-Be Closed Facility
On December 1st at 4:00pm, community producers will gather at the former Access San Francisco facility at 1720 Market Street in San Francisco (now called SF Commons and slated for closure on December 20th) to ask San Francisco city government to protect access to the public channels. |
| Community Access Preservation Act
Action Alert: Wisconsin Congresswoman Tammy Baldwin has introduced the Community Access Preservation Act to the House of Representatives to preserve and protect public access television channels nationwide. |
| Media Moguls Vow To Fight New Argentine Media Law
Interpress Service (IPS)
While civil society groups celebrated Argentina's new broadcasting law, media giants threatened to fight it with a wave of lawsuits, and opposition lawmakers pledged to revise it after the next Congress convenes in December. |
| Media Crisis and Grassroots Response
by Jordan Flaherty, Left Turn Magazine
The media landscape in the US is changing rapidly. As all forms of journalists face massive layoffs, analysts fear that journalism’s role as a counterforce against the powerful is in jeopardy. For progressives and radicals working in media, it’s time to not only question what format news will come in, but also how to approach our work so it is both accountable and sustainable. |
| DOJ Opens Review of Telecom Industry
by Amol Sharma, Wall Street Journal Online
The Department of Justice has begun an initial review to determine
whether large U.S. telecom companies such as AT&T Inc. and Verizon
Communications Inc. have abused the market power they've amassed in
recent years, according to people familiar with the matter.
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| U-Verse Legal Challenge at the FCC
The Alliance for Community Media, and the cities of Lansing and Dearborn in Michigan have filed suit against AT&T's U-verse system for the placement of many local public access stations on one channel with a pull-down menu. This effectively prevents channel surfers from ever encountering their local PEG. Comments are due at the FCC by March 5th. Anyone can file one! Proceeding# 09-13. |
| BAVC Gets City of San Francisco Contract to Run Public Access Facility
The Bay Area Video Coalition was awarded the contract to run the City of San Francisco's public access facility. While forward-thinking in some ways, the proposal also redefines public access as a little less public than it used to be. Read Media Alliance's comments on the award. |
| Raising Our Voices Rises Again!
Media Alliance's Raising Our Voices Program is back for a third cycle. Entitled Raising Our Voices III: Immigrant Women Speak Out!, the program offers free media training workshops focused on immigration, poverty, gender, labor and social justice in the San Antonio neighborhood of Oakland. |
| Tiny San Jose Low-Power Station Battles KTVU
http://www.boycottktvu.com
KAXT-CA is a Low Power Television station on Channel 22 and has been broadcasting in San Jose since 1990. KAXT filed an application with the FCC in 2007 for a channel, and was waiting for FCC clearance at the time of the DTV transition. The Bay Area is at risk of losing several new television channels with Vietnamese, South Asian, Spanish, Filipino, African-American and other local programming due to a sudden Cox Communications grab for the channel.
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| Tribune Files for Bankruptcy
The Tribune Company filed for bankruptcy protection in a federal court in Delaware on Monday, as the owner of The Los Angeles Times, The Chicago Tribune and the Chicago Cubs baseball team struggled to cope with rising debt and falling ad revenue. |
| Limbaugh "Dreaming" of Riots in Denver
DENVER -- Talk show host Rush Limbaugh is sparking controversy again after he made comments that appear to call for riots in Denver during the Democratic National Convention this summer. |
| FCC Got an Earful on April 17th at Stanford
Thanks to Media Alliance members and our SavetheInternet allies, the FCC hearing at Stanford on April 17th was a stirring call for a free and open Internet, a strong condemnation of random telecom interference with data traveling over their networks, and a clear statement on media in the public interest. |
| Media Alliance and UCC Delay Tribune Lawsuit
The U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit decided to put off hearing Tribune's challenge of the FCC's decision to grant it waivers to complete the deal to sell the company to investor Sam Zell due to a lawsuit filed by Media Alliance and the United Church of Christ Media Justice Campaign. |
| Media News - December 3, 2009
Host: Al Kielwasser
Guest: Tracy Rosenberg, Media Alliance
Subject: Media Alliance and the Changing Nature of Media Advocacy |
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