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Givng You The Business!
Volume 1 Issue 12 (100607)
SAN ANTONIO, TEXAS
(206) 309-9528
DRIVING MEDIA
COMCAST UNDER FIRE OVER BLACK MEDIA OWNERSHIP NNPA, News Report, Pharoh Martin New America Media
Ownership is a major driver of the Black economy. Knowing this, a group advocating Black media ownership and a former Federal Communications Commission chairman are spearheading a crusade against cable giant Comcast and their proposed merger with NBC/Universal over the cable operator's lack of African-American owned channels on its national platform. "When you really start thinking about the areas that are critically important to us as AfricanAmericans, one of the biggest issues is our ability to own, distribute and create our image," said Stanley Washington, president of the National Coalition of African American Owned Media (NCAAOM). Although African-Americans make up almost 13 percent of the U.S. population, according to the U.S. Census Bureau, they own far less than one percent of the country's television channels. Seventy-seven percent of all television channels are Whiteowned, according to media watchdog group Free Press, who cites public FCC filings.
Comin’ Soon...
The numbers do not include stations owned by publicly held companies whose boards are typically not very diverse. If the FFC approves the merger, Comcast, already the country's largest cable and home Internet provider, will own 44 of the 250 channels carried on its platform. According to the Pew Project for Excellence in Journalism's 2010 State of the Media Report, the top three owners of AfricanAmerican-targeted cable channels are TV One and media behemoths Time Warner and Viacom, who both own three such channels a piece. Viacom's African-American-targeted channels such as BET, VH1 Soul and new channel Centric dedicate a significant portion of its programming toward music videos. "In addition to cable networks and Video-on-Demand, Comcast also carries several broadcast stations around the country that are African-American owned and/or targeted to African-American audiences," said Comcast spokesperson Sena Fitzmaurice in a statement. "Our desire to work with African-American media owners extends proudly to our seminal role in partnering with Radio One to launch TV One in 2003." After Black Entertainment Television's sale to Viacom by Robert Johnson in 2003, TV One is the closest thing to a Black-owned cable channel that Comcast has on its basic cable platform. Comcast owns 33 percent of the Black-targeted channels along with Radio One, which owns a 40 percent interest.
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Ask Chuk Jones
What exactly does a mixtape do for an ar st? Honestly, these days, the way they are used by the ar sts here in the south, I’m not really sure I would call them “mixtapes” anymore. They are more like “pop-trunk karaoke-tapes” to me. Tradi onally, mixtapes created by DJs were THE way to get your music heard by the people and when the people know who you are you’re on the right track. If you’re old school like I am, you remember when DJ’s used to actually be the ones to put an ar sts name and skills on the scene. A ‘Mixtape’ was a DJ tool that would mix and match vocals and instrumentals of various ar sts in order to “move the crowd” and give some shine to some of the ho est talent. In the south, the ‘mixtape’ has somehow been hijacked by the ar st to promote themselves exclusively but without the exposure from the DJ’s the whole concept doesn’t work. *Note - A lot of these local & regional DJs need to step up and take control of the scene again and stop le ng everyone else control what they play; you’re the gate keepers of the music and the voice of the underground. When you ignore your power, you ignore your possibili es for greatness. Cater to your people, not the machine! To ask Chuk a ques on, call (206) 309-9528 or go to www.mogulweekly.com
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