Kcal Television Station

While acknowledging that obtaining a TV station in the home market of their Burbank-based corporation was an important incentive for shelling out $320 million for KCAL Channel 9, top Disney executives also hint that the company is not about to stop there. "We are not looking to develop another network, but television stations purchased at the right price are good investments," said Richard Frank, president of the Walt Disney Studios and former general manager of KCOP Channel 13 in Los Angeles.

KCAL Fined for Minority Hiring Deficiencies: The Federal Communications Commission has renewed KCAL-TV Channel 9's broadcast license for another five years but also fined the Walt Disney Co.-owned station $30,000 for deficiencies in minority recruitment and failure to keep accurate records in that area before 1993.

Rush Limbaugh will become the newest member of the Disney family Monday night when his nationally syndicated TV show begins airing locally on KCAL-TV Channel 9, which is owned by the Walt Disney Co. But it's hardly one big happy family.

It goes without saying that Laker and Clipper television carriers Channel 9 and Fox Sports West are relieved by Wednesday's NBA settlement. "Sports represent about a third of our business, so you can imagine what it meant to take the Lakers and Clippers out of the equation," said Don Corsini, Channel 9's vice president and general manager. "It's like NBC losing 'Seinfeld' and 'ER.'

The merger of Walt Disney Co. and Capital Cities/ABC Inc. is almost a sure thing. The future of Disney-owned KCAL-TV Channel 9 in Los Angeles is not. While executives at KCAL were trying Monday to downplay the possibility that the independent station may have to be sold because of Federal Communications Commission rules, Disney Chairman Michael Eisner expressed doubt that the company would be able to hang on to it. At a news conference with Capital Cities chief Thomas S.

KCBS Channel 2 and KCAL Channel 9 are the only two stations that will compete for the coveted Los Angeles Area Emmy Award for best daily 60-minute newscast, the Academy of Television Arts & Sciences said. The nominations went to KCAL's 8 p.m. newscast, anchored by Jerry Dunphy and Jane Velez-Mitchell, and to KCBS' 5 p.m. newscast, anchored last year by Jim Lampley and Bree Walker (Michael Tuck has since replaced Lampley).

In a surprise move, Pinelands Inc. said Thursday that it had terminated a deal to buy KCAL-TV in Los Angeles from Walt Disney Co. in exchange for Disney acquiring a 45% stake in Pinelands. Instead, Pinelands, owner of WWOR-TV in New York, said it had agreed to be acquired by BHC Communications Inc. for $18 a share, or about $310 million.

Walt Disney Co. and Capital Cities/ABC Inc. said Wednesday that the Justice Department has requested additional information about their proposed $19-billion merger. In a joint statement, the two companies, which hope to create one of the largest entertainment firms in the world, said they are cooperating with the request, which Disney described as a routine development. "We're not at all surprised they would ask for more information," Disney spokesman John Dreyer said.

KCAL-TV (Channel 9), the award-winning news and sports station that has struggled with low ratings and low profit margins, will be acquired by a New York-based television group for $385 million. Young Broadcasting Inc., an ambitious owner of television stations in 10 mid-size markets, agreed Monday to buy the station from Walt Disney Co.

The march of television technology has done something extraordinary for independent TV stations: It has allowed them to seriously cover world events. Their newsrooms newly filled with employees and equipment, news at Los Angeles' four major independents has come a long way from the days when local and especially world events were relegated to five-minute updates between reruns of "Leave it to Beaver" and "The Munsters." Coverage of the crisis in the Persian Gulf is a case in point.