Indie KCET’s channel moves off VHF on two cable systems

Two California cable systems have shifted Los Angeles’s KCET from its VHF position into the harder-to-find digital tier, now that the station has departed PBS. Charter Communications and Cox Cable made the move to keep PBS’s new primary station, PBS SoCal/KOCE, “in the more trafficked VHF band,” according to Variety (free registration required to view story). KCET President Al Jerome said it made “a strategic decision to retain its digital multicast channels … This has impacted our channel positions with some cable services.” The move affects around 377,000 Charter viewers; Variety did not list the number of Cox subscribers. Jerome said the channel remains the same on other cable outlets, including Time Warner and Comcast.