As media resources are shrinking, residents in North County are at risk of losing Oceanside’s only public access channel.
KOCT said it needs to raise $100,000 to stay on the air until the end of the fiscal year in June 2027.
For more than 40 years, the station has been documenting life in Oceanside and North County. It covers everything from mom-and-pop store openings to school and sporting events through its news, arts and culture programming.
KOCT stands for Oceanside Community Television. It is classified as a PEG — a public, education and government access station. That means it gets most of its funding from franchise fees paid by cable providers.
But as more people turn to streaming and cut cable, the station’s funding has taken a hit.
“When I walked in the door, it was almost $480,000 worth of franchise fees that we would receive from Cox Cable subscribers and AT&T subscribers,” said Carly Starr, the station’s general manager. “Since cord-cutting has happened, now we are down to $260,000 to $250,000 a year.”
For the past couple of years, the city of Oceanside has helped with the funding gap. In June, the city declined to provide additional funding for the station. Mayor Esther Sanchez said at the June city council meeting that the city is tapped out.
KOCT hopes that the public will pitch in to keep it on the air. The station has launched a GoFundMe campaign.
As a PEG station, KOCT has limited options for raising funds. The station has cut where it can, but without additional funding, it could go dark as early as the end of the year.
“There isn’t anything necessarily to replace it,” said Kent Davy, KOCT board chair.
In addition to community events and city council coverage, the station is also a major news source for North County.
“KOCT has historically done election coverage, particularly of Oceanside city races, ballot propositions,” Davy said. “And many mayoral races, things like that. It's also done election coverage of wider California Assembly, state Senate and congressional district races.”
And that’s something that can’t be replicated if the station goes off the air, he said.
