The first domino?
PBS President Paula Kerger said the network will have a dual focus in Los Angeles following the KCET departure. There’s the new reality after Jan. 1, with KCET gone and KOCE as the primary, and all the adjustments that change will take. “The second” she said, “is how do we look at the L.A. market in the long term?” Kerger said PBS and CPB are both interested in bringing the SoCal Consortium to fruition; that’s the alliance among the three remaining PBS affiliates — KOCE, KVCR and KLCS (Current, Aug. 9, 2010). “I think there’s potential for new models for the public broadcasting situation in Los Angeles, and this gives us an opportunity to think afresh about what this might look like,” Kerger said. But even beyond all that looms the dreaded domino effect: If KCET thrives as an independent public TV station, might other PBS member stations follow its example, shedding dues costs and charting their own courses in the new world of public media? That’s what seriously troubles Ward Chamberli
