Alliance for Diversity in Programming Formed
TV One, Sí TV, The Africa Channel Team Up to Fight a la Carte
By Linda Moss -- Multichannel News, 3/29/2007 6:53:00 PM
Three minority-targeted cable networks joined forces with civil-rights organizations and civic groups to form the Alliance for Diversity in Programming, which plans to lobby against any a la carte regulation.
TV One, Sí TV and The Africa Channel are part of the new coalition, which also includes groups such as the Black Leadership Forum, the Hispanic Federation, the Hispanic Telecommunications and Technology Partnership, the Labor Council for Latin American Advancement, the National Black Chamber of Commerce, the National Congress of Black Women, the National Council of La Raza and the William C. Velasquez Institute.
During a conference call, TV One CEO and ADP co-chairman Johnathan Rodgers said the coalition was being launched in response to the continuing interest of some congressmen and the Federal Communications Commission to create regulations to force cable operators to offer programming on a per-channel basis.
“We’re all opposed to government action that might limit the growing diversity available to consumers on cable television,” Rodgers said. “TV One is now three years old, and we have yet to break even. But we’re on the verge of breaking even. Had we had to come out in an a la carte world, we would be nowhere as far along as we are.”
Without being part of a broad cable package, start-up minority-aimed and niche cable channels would not have enough distribution, or ad revenue, to survive, said Michael Schwimmer, Sí TV CEO and ADP co-chairman.
TV One targets African-American audiences, while Sí TV is an English-language network aimed at young Latinos.
“The only way a network like ours has any chance of really serving that community … is by being included in more broadly distributed packages via cable,” Schwimmer said. “A la carte may sound great for our customers, but in fact, it’s not a business model to deliver new programming ideas to customers.”
ADP will work to raise awareness among lawmakers, regulators and consumers about the important role of programming diversity in closing the digital divide. Members of the coalition will also respond swiftly to those who seek to curtail the programming options of consumers by reducing the number of channels geared toward minorities.
“While there isn’t anything that is on the front burner at the FCC today, we think it’s important that people understand the sort of maybe unintended pernicious effect that a la carte legislation, regulation would have on entities like Sí TV and TV One and others,” Schwimmer said.
Added Rodgers, “Living in Washington, you sort of hear the drumbeats … we just need to be ready.”
More than 100 civil-rights leaders and organizations, including the National Urban League and the NAACP, have filed comments with the FCC opposing per-channel-charge regulations.
Many of these organizations have argued that per-channel-charge rules would raise prices for consumers and severely hurt the economics of smaller programmers that depend on being included in the shared tier for marketing and advertising purposes.
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When he became aware of protests regarding the show “Hot Ghetto Mess,†BET’s programming chief, Reginald Hudlin, cast aside complaints, saying “ Hot Ghetto Mess†was “ so doggone good.†The creator of “Hot Ghetto Mess†has said “to all of you who are angry at me for airing our dirty laundry—good I’m glad you’re angry.†This level of contempt is possible because under the current pricing scheme, no matter how many African Americans boycott BET, the network still gets paid. Thus, the arrogance and contempt from BET’s top decision-makers. What BET knows is that it has burned so many bridges in the African American community that the thought of actually asking us to pay them directly for their programming is terrifying.
Most of the African Americans who visit my site indicate that they gave up on BET years ago. Those African American cable subscribers shouldn’t have to subsidize “Hot Ghetto Mess†with their cable subscriptions. The next time you receive a letter claiming that a la carte pricing would decimate minority programmers who air programming focused on African Americans, I urge you to actually REVIEW what these programmers are airing. I then ask you to decide if the “diversity†that these programmers are offering is worthy of receiving a subsidy from cable subscribers. In the case of BET, the answer must be a resounding “No!†If people want to pay for crack cocaine of the multimedia variety, let them pay for it…. a la carte.
If you have any questions, you can visit my site What About Our Daughters at whataboutourdaughters (dot) blogspot(dot)com
Gina - 7/10/2007 2:41:00 AM EDT -
Cable fees are exorbitant. An when cable started the idea was that here was a service that was "different" from over-the-air television. Why not let consumers pay for the programming they want to watch. Then many of these other channels that really have nothing to offer would either program a better product or fall by the wayside.
Consumers pay for access and then must suffer inane product advertisements.
If you've got a great product to offer then the audience will support the programming. They key is not to hamstring the consumer, but to offer quality, the audience will follow.
Walter Harris Gavin - 3/31/2007 11:54:00 AM EDT
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