Redwood City, Calif. ? San Mateo County is charging television stations $51,000 to reserve a coveted spot next to the courthouse for the Scott Peterson murder trial.

The announcement by county officials Friday prompted a stunned silence, then laughter in a briefing room filled with dozens of reporters, photographers and camera operators planning to cover the case.

“In 24 years in this business, I’ve never seen anything like this cost this kind of money,” said Chip Vaughan, who works for KTVU, the Oakland-based Fox network affiliate. Vaughan said his station had reserved a spot, but couldn’t keep it because of the fee.

“Our station manager got wind of this and nixed it,” he said.

Peterson, 31, is accused of killing his pregnant wife, Laci, and their unborn son. He faces the death penalty if convicted of two counts of murder in the trial, which was moved from Modesto because of publicity there. The trial is expected to last six months and could cost the county millions.

“We’re not trying to put anybody in a box,” said Steve Alms, county real property services manager. “We’re trying to be fiscally responsible for the citizens of San Mateo County.”

The 16 assigned spaces, which are about 13 feet by 17 feet, will be used for television reporters to store equipment, work and conduct interviews. Each station must provide their own tent.

In addition, television stations must pay $7,500 a month for space to park their satellite trucks. Twenty spaces set aside for journalists in a nearby lot cost $200 a month each. Reporters are not being charged, however, for space in a media center being set up about a block away.

Altogether, the “tent city” for television media would raise $816,000 for the county, about a third of which has already been spent on preparations for the trial, Alms said.

The $51,000 fee amounts to about $230 per square foot. At the height of the dot-com boom, prime office space in San Francisco leased for about $80 per square foot.

When Alms said the fee was due Saturday at noon, he was nearly shouted down by reporters and producers in the room, saying that even major networks can’t get that kind of money together in less than a day.

Alms extended the payment deadline until Feb. 13, but made no apologies for the fees.

“I think they’re a little stunned by the number of dollars,” Alms said. “It’s not a matter of charging rent. We’re trying to recover the cost burden on the county of San Mateo.”