KOCE sale invalidated by court

The fate of the Los Angeles area's second largest pubTV station is up in the air again after a state appeals court on Friday nixed the sale of KOCE to a nonprofit affiliated with the station. The seller, a community college district in Orange County, must either keep the station or put it up for sale again, the Los Angeles Times reported. Selling KOCE to the nonprofit instead of a higher-bidding religious broadcaster was "the rankest form of favoritism," the court concluded after rehearing the case. Daystar, the religious broadcasting chain, filed a separate suit alleging discrimination. The nonprofit now operating KOCE thought it wrapped up the purchase in October 2003.