OC's KOCE changes name as part of PBS programming

The station, which beginning next month will call itself PBS SoCal, becomes the hub of public broadcasting for L.A., Riverside, San Bernardino, and Ventura counties, as well as the city of Santa Barbara, and of course Orange County. All this is the result of L.A. station KCET breaking off its relationship with PBS in a fee dispute. It means that PBS SoCal gets all the popular shows - "American Masters," "Frontline," "Masterpiece Theater," and "NOVA" - while KCET is left with, well, the news from Japan. From The Wrap:

In a conference call with reporters on Thursday, KOCE still seemed to be shaking off the shock of KCET's departure from the PBS family. "The general mood can best be described as bewilderment. None of us expected it to come to this. All of us assumed at the end of the day that something would be worked out. We have been so busy scrambling to fill void that we havent had time to think about what might have been," President and CEO Mel Rogers.

If KCET's decision doesn't rank as the biggest blunder in the history of broadcasting, surely it must be in the top 5.