San Mateo Community College is tired of losing money to operate its KCMS-TV – it has already ditched its PBS affiliation and accepted bids to acquire it. But it hasn’t yet heard the right price, so it’s looking anew for a buyer.
The college let it be known that the station was available in December 2011, accepted bids through February 2012, and failed to find a taker who was willing to pay what the college was willing to accept.
However, the station is still running on a $1M operating deficit, and the college wants that situation to end.
It is now hoping that a creative approach to marketing the station may yield a happier result. According to the Daily Journal, one idea is to find a station willing to cover the deficit and run the station until its spectrum can be turned in for auction when the FCC puts its incentive auctions into motion. A company that keeps it afloat until that event would be able to share in the proceeds of such an auction.
The college is open to any idea that puts the station in new hands and stops to bleeding of cash.
One of the problems facing the station is – you guessed it – the internet. A portion of its programming is said to be classroom material, but the internet has supplanted noncommercial television as a more effective venue for the dissemination of educational material.
The station is licensed to San Mateo, and is in the San Francisco DMA.
