Potential bidders for pubcaster KCSM-TV in San Mateo, Calif., put up for auction by its college licensee, include both religious broadcasters and names well known in public media.
Daystar Television, a growing religious network that has bought pubTV channels in Dallas and Waco, Texas, and bid for them in Orlando, Fla., and Orange County, Calif., was on the attendance list for the San Mateo Community College District’s pre-bid meeting Jan. 10.
Also on the list were former WNET exec Ken Devine of Independent Public Media, a nonprofit that aims to preserve spectrum for public media (Current, Oct. 17); Ken Ikeda and Marc Hand of Public Media Company, an affiliate of Public Radio Capital; Booker Wade, head of the Minority Television Project and non-PBS pubTV station KMTP in San Francisco; and a rep for Stewart Cheifet Productions, which created Computer Chronicles, a show that ran on public TV for 20 years, ending in 2002.
Other interested parties on the list: Ravi Potherlanka and Bill Dekay, two California wireless entrepreneurs; Ravi Kapur, v.p. of KAXT in Santa Clara, Calif., a low-power affiliate of Spanish-language Christian programmer Tiempos Finales TV; and Brian Stephens, c.e.o. of Pixel-Flick Entertainment, a service provider for independent producers.
Proposals for purchase of the station and equipment are due Feb. 14.