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KSAR is in danger again as KICU seeks Channel 6 spot
By Steve Enders
Saratoga's city attorney has written a strongly worded letter to officials at AT&T in response to the company's renewed effort to boot KSAR-TV and two other local community-access television stations off their homes at Channel 6.
TCI cable, owned by communications giant AT&T, wants Saratoga's government-access channel to move to Channel 15 effective Sept. 22.
KCAT in Los Gatos and KMVT in Mountain View are also in danger of losing the coveted channel location, which is said to snag channel surfers who regularly switch between the major network television stations in the Bay Area.
The effort to move the stations was derided by KMVT and KCAT officials at a press conference in Mountain View on Aug. 27.
San Jose's KICU-TV, located at Channel 36, is also aware of the potential value of the Channel 6 location and has asked AT&T to secure the channel location specifically for them.
Citing a "must carry" clause under the federal Telecommunications Act, KICU says that TCI should honor its request to be placed at Channel 6 simply because it has asked TCI to do so.
TCI communications director Andrew Johnson says that the move is a simple marketing ploy.
"[KICU is] trying to create a ubiquitous presence across the Bay Area so they can successfully brand themselves, so the community can have a way of finding them."
Johnson says the same argument doesn't apply to local broadcasters because "they're like closed-circuit stations. Perhaps their passions would be better suited to provide quality programming than fighting us on federal must-carry law," Johnson said of the public access channels. "It would be interesting to see them challenge the Supreme Court."
Saratoga city attorney Richard Taylor, however, has a different opinion and spoke up in defense of KSAR. "AT&T's proposed action is in direct conflict with the terms of AT&T's franchise agreement with the city," he wrote in an Aug. 27 letter to AT&T. "Moreover, AT&T's apparent decision to simply proceed with the restructuring absent any consultation with the city or the management of the stations affected is contrary to longstanding assurances to the city that any channel changes that are permitted ... would be managed in close consultation with the city."
The letter asks AT&T officials to explain why it's OK to move KSAR off of Channel 6 under the same must-carry laws it claims makes KICU's move to the channel necessary. It also asks for an explanation of how the move wouldn't constitute a "breach" of TCI's franchise agreement with Saratoga.
As explained in a letter to TCI from Los Gatos town attorney Orry Korb, the must-carry provisions allow local commercial stations to select their cable channel positions based on current channel position; the channel on which the station was carried as of July 19, 1985; the channel on which the station was carried as of Jan. 1, 1992; or as mutually agreed upon by the station and cable operator. Korb contends that KICU cannot select Channel 6 based on any of the first three options. He also argues that the mutual agreement option cannot direct relocation under the must-carry requirements.
According to Johnson, however, TCI has no choice. "We're upset, too," he said. "We'd much rather not carry out the must-carry laws, but the Supreme Court made it the law of the land. We continue to respond to the cities. City officials have known that this was coming. By federal law, KICU has the rights to that channel."
But officials at KSAR-TV in Saratoga have long held that any move to another channel--in this case, TCI is proposing that KSAR move to Channel 15--could be the kiss of death for the station. They say the station relies heavily on viewers who flip between the big network stations on channels 5 and 7 in the Bay Area.
According to the small station's officials, public-access television is protected by the Constitution, and the stations provide unique access to City Council meetings and other city information that viewers can get nowhere else.
On the other hand, they say, KICU has wide recognition on Channel 36 in the Bay Area because it's been there for some 30 years.
The town of Los Gatos is also fighting the proposed change, and it remains to be seen how AT&T will respond to that community's claims and requests.
Additionally, TCI is proposing that KEDU, run by West Valley College, move from Channel 27 to 26--not much of a move but enough to confuse viewers. The city is also upset that no consultation was given to station managers regarding the proposed move.
Los Gatos Weekly-Times reporter Jeff Kearns contributed to this story.
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Saratoga, California Since 1955
