KCSM TV put up for auction

CSM's television station, KCSM TV, went up for bid on Wednesday, Dec. 7 on the district website after the district decided it could not keep funding its deficit earlier this year.

"To date, all efforts undertaken to raise additional revenue and reduce expenditures in order to make KCSM TV self sufficient have not been successful," said a district office announcement.

Because of the district's lack of funds, it was decided after many public discussions that suspending the funding of KCSM TV's deficit was a necessary decision to move towards the board's adopted "core values," said the announcement.

KCSM TV has been running at a $1 million deficit a year for the past two years, said CSM president Michael Claire. The deficit has been covered by the district's general fund.

The district has resolved to sell the television station license to the highest bidder, though this decision was the district's last resort, according to the announcement.

The doors opened for bidding as soon as the posting went online and will go on until Feb. 14, 2012.

Marylin Lawrence, general manager of KCSM, kept a contact list of interested parties and send out a brief as soon as the station was put on sale. She sent out 40 emails the same day it was put up for bid, as well as various other physical mail packages, said Lawrence.

"It's a public broadcasting station," said Claire. "It's the license that's being sold and it has to be sold to a public entity."

The sale of the station will free some money for the district and help alleviate some economic stress on all three campuses, added Claire.

KCSM TV has not subscribed to a rating system for a few years, but the last time they did, it was calculated that 400,000 viewers tuned in every week to watch KCSM TV programming, she said

The fate of broadcasting classes is still to be determined since there will be no broadcasting station.

There is a possibility that an arrangement will made with PenTV, a cable access channel ran out of San Carlos for the San Mateo County, according to Lawrence.

About eight employees will be affected by the sale, said Lawrence. There is no faculty working for KCSM TV.

The selling of KCSM TV includes the exchange of equipment, a television transmitter, and miscellaneous camcorders that add up to a value of $6 million in hardware.