TV One's Rodgers: No Fear Of BET's New Centric Service
Exec Says There's Room For A Number Of Niche-Targeted, African-American Networks
Thomas Umstead -- Multichannel News, 4/23/2009 3:10:10 PM
TV One CEO Johnathan Rodgers says he isn't afraid of potential competition from BET and MTV Networks' new African-American targeted channel, saying that there's room for several such niche-targeted networks on cable.
Rodgers, responding to BET and MTV's new network venture, Centric, that will go after TV One's target adults 25-to- 54 African-American demo, said in a statement that he's not surprised at Viacom's move, adding that he's always made the business case for the launch of more networks targeting the African-American community.
"The Viacom announcement is no surprise to us as we've always said that the African-American viewing community is so large and diverse that there is probably room for three or four cable channels in the space," Rodgers said. " I guess they were just waiting for us to prove the case."
The Comcast-Radio One owned network has struggled to gain significant distribution, currently reaching just over half of BET's 89 million subscribers. Meanwhile, Centric officials claim the network will be in front of 45 million households when it launches later this fall.
Nevertheless, Rodgers says he's proud of what TV One has been able to accomplish in its short lifetime.
"We launched TV One five years ago because, at that time, no programmer, broadcast or cable, seemed to care very much about the distinct needs and viewing patterns of African American adults," he said. "We've spent the last few years validating the great value African-American adults bring to both Madison Avenue as consumers and to the operator community as loyal subscribers. Although we are still in our infancy, we're quite proud of our achievements as an independent network and see a great future ahead."
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