Comcast, the country's largest cable company, announced Tuesday it will carry new channels from Earvin “Magic” Johnson, Sean “Diddy” Combs, Robert Rodriguez, and Spanish language TV veteran Constantino “Said” Schwarz.
The four channels were selected by the nation's largest cable company after it promised to carry more minority-owned channels as it sought federal approval for its majority acquisition of NBCUniversal. After reviewing more than 100 proposals, the company opted to air channels by some of the best-known people in entertainment as they seek to give voice to often-underrepresented audiences.
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Johnson's channel, Aspire, was created with GMC TV and will focus on programming that celebrates "the successes, achievements and accomplishments of the African-American community and create new opportunities for the next generation of African-American visionaries." The channel, which will debut this summer, fits into a similar niche as broadcast network Bounce TV, which launched last year.
Combs' Revolt will be a live music and news station inspired by the pace of social media. It is expected to debut next year.
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Revolt will be live, like all great moments in television history," Combs said in a statement. "Revolt will also be immediate, like today’s social networks. We know it was a highly competitive process and we want to thank Comcast for this opportunity to truly change television with Revolt."
Rodriguez's El Rey, which he proposed with FactoryMade Ventures executives John Fogelman and Cristina Patwa, will be an "action-packed, general entertainment network in English for Latino and general audiences," according to Comcast. It will prominently feature Hispanic producers, celebrities and public figures, and is expected to launch by January 2014.
The first channel expected to launch is Schwarz's BabyFirst Americas. The network targeting infants, young children and their parents emphasizes verbal, math and motor skills. It is expected to air by this April.
Here's the release:
PHILADELPHIA, PA – February 21, 2012 – Comcast Corporation (Nasdaq: CMCSA, CMCSK), one of the world’s leading media, entertainment and communications companies, today announced it has selected four new minority-owned independent networks to be broadly distributed on Comcast Cable systems between April 2012 and January 2014. After a thorough evaluation of more than 100 proposals, Comcast selected four networks ― two of which are majority African-American owned and two that are majority American Hispanic owned and operated and programmed in English.
“We are thrilled to work with such talented individuals to launch these new networks that will bring exciting and fresh content to consumers,” said David L. Cohen, Executive Vice President, Comcast Corporation. “Comcast is committed to delivering programming that reflects the interests of our customers, and we look forward to integrating these great networks into our rich programming line-up.”
African-American Category:
· Aspire: Spearheaded by Entrepreneur and NBA Hall of Famer Earvin “Magic” Johnson, in partnership with GMC TV, Aspire is dedicated to delivering enlightening, entertaining and positive programming to African-Americans families, including movies, documentaries, short films, music, comedy, visual and performing arts, and faith and inspirational programs.
