Sacramento judge rejects bid for tower receivership in KVIE, CapRadio dispute

A Sacramento Superior Court judge ruled against KVIE this week in the public television’s station bid to appoint a third-party entity to collect rent from a broadcast tower’s tenants, continuing the legal battle between KVIE and Capital Public Radio over which entity owns the tower.

The ruling is the first decision by a judge in a civil case between two of Sacramento’s largest nonprofit media institutions to determine which owns a tower used for decades by CapRadio to transmit its news. The issue of ownership was not resolved in the judge’s ruling Wednesday and is still pending.

The dispute began when CapRadio’s endowment board donated the Elverta property to PBS’ Ch. 6 last year in April. Endowment Board President Dan Brunner said the board became concerned about the tower’s upkeep, which extends to the welfare of public broadcasting, prompting the donation.

But CapRadio rejected any notion the tower was in disrepair, and that the endowment donated only the land and not the tower.

KVIE filed a motion last month requesting a judge “appoint a receiver to protect the Tower while litigation is pending in order to ensure that it is preserved for the public benefit for which it was initially and always intended.” It alleged the tower requires repairs worth hundreds of thousands of dollars and CapRadio is collecting rent on the tower but not using the money to maintain it.

CapRadio said it has budgeted for the tower’s cost and has been conducting repairs.

“(The ruling) refutes a major argument that both the endowment and KVIE have continued to use as justification for why the donation was made and accepted,” said Chris Bruno, CapRadio’s chief marketing and revenue officer.

Judge Thadd Blizzard ruled Wednesday that KVIE had not demonstrated its “right to or interest in the Tower is ‘probable,’” according to the ruling. KVIE did not meet a burden to show the property is “in danger of being lost, removed or materially injured,” the ruling said.

The television station also did not show a receiver is “necessary to preserve the property or rights of any party,” Blizzard wrote.

CapRadio said the ruling discredits KVIE’s claims of ownership over the tower and rejects that the radio station should pay rent on the tower through a receivership, according to a news release. The endowment board had allowed the station to use the tower without paying rent, but KVIE requested the radio station to provide it third-party rent payments.

The endowment has previously said it allowed CapRadio to use the tower without charge and the radio station collected third-party rent of about $126,000 per year.

“It seems very clear that the outcome that CapRadio and everyone in the community wants is to see this dispute resolved without lawyers,” Bruno said.

David Lowe, KVIE’s general manager, said in an email that the television station does not intend to pursue an appeal “but reserves the right to again request appointment of a receiver in the future if CapRadio’s financial challenges jeopardize the tower’s viability.”

A financial crisis struck CapRadio in 2023, leading to layoffs. The station accused its former general manager Jun Reina of embezzling from the station in another civil lawsuit seeking to seize Reina’s West Sacramento home.

The Sacramento County Sheriff’s Office said previously it was investigating financial improprieties at the radio station.

This story was originally published May 23, 2025 at 2:42 PM.