HUNTINGTON BEACH, CALIF. (September 5, 2007) – KOCE-TV, the sixth most-watched public television station in the U.S., announces the imminent launch of Orange County’s only full-time county-specific news, information, features and lifestyle channel. Developed to meet the needs of the county’s underserved three million residents – the fifth most populated county in the nation – the channel features content entirely produced in or focused on Orange County 24/7. KOCE-TV partners with primary collaborator Chapman University, as well as The Orange County Register, University of California, Irvine, Orange County Department of Education and Caltrans to enable the channel to deliver relevant, up-to-the-minute content such as traffic updates, live-crawl news headlines, and weather as well as feature programs. KOCE-TV's digital OC Channel – KOCE-TV Chapman University is seen as a prototype for the next generation of PBS channels and will debut October 24. The station is planning carriage with Cox Communications and Time Warner Cable. The channel will also have a companion website for instant access to OC-based content.

“Orange County residents are known for embracing their own cultural identity, arts organizations, sports teams, business and political views. The locally-dedicated OC Channel fulfills Orange County’s need for their own television station providing quality, community-based programming,” said Mel Rogers, general manager and president of KOCE-TV. “The station intends to showcase the real breadth and depth of this diverse community. It provides a counterpoint to the soap opera-style image of the county currently featured on commercial television, while fostering a strong identity for Orange County. The realization of the OC Channel has long been part of KOCE-TV’s goals, and aligns with its strategic initiative to ‘be live, be local, create content and create community.’”

KOCE-TV is currently beginning its 35th year of operation with an estimated 5.8 million monthly viewers. With OC Channel, the station expands upon its two current channels – an analog broadcast channel and a high-definition channel.

Representing a true collaboration between broadcast and community, the station is enhanced through the following partnerships:

Chapman University is to provide talented young filmmakers, state-of-the-art production resources and interesting OC-related feature productions from the Dodge College of Film and Media Arts, which is recognized as one of the top film schools in the nation.

The Orange County Register provides timely access to breaking news headlines for the channel’s news crawl.

Cox Communications and Time Warner Cable are to deliver the channel to their broad service areas.

Additionally, Caltrans will provide streams of live traffic cameras that will be broadcast weekdays to help viewers plan their rush hour commute; the University of California, Irvine will supply content that includes sporting events, performance and lecture coverage; and the Orange County Department of Education will produce content of value to educators and students in Orange County. OC Channel will also develop relationships with innovative local filmmakers as well as community organizations to expand the pool of content resources available for broadcast.

“We are pleased to join in partnership with KOCE-TV to make this possible,” said Jim Doti, president of Chapman University. “The OC Channel will allow Chapman University students the opportunity to gain first-hand experience in the technology-driven television industry, and provide an outlet to share their work with a wider audience.”

“The OC Channel expands upon The Orange County Register’s long-standing collaboration with KOCE-TV in delivering relevant news and information to Orange County,” said N. Christian Anderson III, CEO and publisher of the Register and president of Freedom Orange County Information. “The community will benefit from the OC Channel collaboration, as it will result in delivering compelling and informative news from the Register in an immediate, visual format.”

The launch of the channel was made possible, in part, by a grant from the Corporation for Public Broadcasting (CPB), which received 27 proposals totaling $6.5 million in grant requests. CPB selected KOCE-TV because it saw both the underserved market and the potential the OC Channel had to serve as a replication model for other PBS stations across the country to establish digital multicast channels.

About KOCE-TV
KOCE-TV, located in Huntington Beach, produces Orange County’s only nightly news show, Real Orange – now celebrating its 10th year – as well as Inside OC, the only news and analysis show about Orange County business and politics. KOCE-TV has been lauded for its outstanding service to the community and is the recipient of 25 Emmy Awards and 26 Golden Mike Awards. The station’s staff of producers, writers, directors and reporters thoroughly understands the people, places and issues that define Orange County.

KOCE-TV is the sixth-most watched PBS station in America with an estimated 5.8 million viewers* monthly. KOCE’s award-winning programming offers the fifth-largest county in the nation a long-standing community hub for local news, culture and features, and broadcasts the best available national PBS programs to the entire Southern California five-county region. Known for its outstanding dedication to education, KOCE Classroom serves more than a half million K-12 students. A national Roper poll recently ranked PBS as number one in public trust for the fourth consecutive year.** The winner of hundreds of awards including Emmys and Community Service Awards, KOCE continues to be a vital community resource and connector for Southern California. For more information, please visit www.koce.org.
* Nielsen Station Index 2007
** Reported by the GfKRoper Public Affairs & Media poll (2007)

About Chapman University
Chapman University, founded in 1861 and based in the city of Orange, is one of the oldest, most prestigious private universities in California. Chapman’s picturesque campus is located in the midst of one of the nation’s most vibrant economies and artistically creative areas, and draws outstanding students from around the world with the highest academic achievement and standing. Known for its blend of liberal arts and professional programs, Chapman University encompasses six schools and colleges: the Wilkinson College of Letters and Sciences, the George L. Argyros School of Business and Economics, the Lawrence and Kristina Dodge College of Film and Media Arts, the College of Performing Arts, the School of Law and the School of Education. Named to the list of top universities in the nation by U.S. News & World Report and the Princeton Review, Chapman University enrolls more than 5,700 undergraduate, graduate and law students.

About Freedom Orange County Information
Freedom Orange County Information of Santa Ana, Calif. is publisher of The Orange County Register, a three-time, Pulitzer Prize-winning newspaper that celebrated its 100-year anniversary in 2005. Its newspaper portfolio includes quick-read daily newspaper OC Post and 24 community newspapers, including Spanish-language Excélsior. Freedom Orange County Information also publishes several Internet products, magazines and insert advertising solutions. Web sites include OCRegister.com, OCPOST.com, OCExcelsior.com, SqueezeOC.com, OCJobfinder.com/monster, OCRealEstateFinder.com, and OCCarFinder.com. Magazines include Coast, Orange County Home, Coast Kids and Preferred Destinations, and several publications supporting the performing arts. Freedom Orange County Information offers a full spectrum of custom printing services and insert advertising vehicles, including mass distribution of direct mail inserts through OC$aver or targeted "solo mail" distribution to individuals at businesses or households within specific ZIP codes.