KCET says enough viewers are hanging in

Ratings are down by half compared to a year ago and donations by former members have also dropped off, but KCET chief executive Al Jerome says that the station's broadcast of the BBC news during the Egypt crisis wasn't that far behind "NewsHour" on PBS SoCal. From the L.A. Business Journal:

“We anticipated in second half of fiscal year January through June that we would have significant losses in revenue,” Jerome said. “We cut expenses down to anticipate that. What will really be significant is as people get used to our line-up, how much of that funding will be restored. I don’t expect anybody to take anything on faith. It’s incumbent upon us to make the case for support.”

It will be tough to convince former fans, including award-winning documentary filmmaker Mark Jonathan Harris, whose films have aired on KCET.

“I don’t think the slate of programming KCET has proposed in any way replaces what they lost,” said Harris, professor of film and TV production at USC. “I’ve stopped watching it and giving my money to it.”

At this point, KCET has not scheduled any major pledge drives. Instead, the station is relying on social media to raise money and has received major grants including $1 million from the Ahmanson Foundation to help with its transition to an independent station.

There are no plans to eliminate any of the station’s 123 employees at this time.
“So far, things are fine,” Jerome said.

The story is by Greg Hernandez, newly named as entertainment and media reporter for the Business Journal. He got the offer the day after the Oscars ceremony, which has some irony to it: he was downsized from the Daily News the day after the Oscars two years ago. Hernandez' blog Greg In Hollywood continues.