EthnicMajority

(Los Angeles Times) "Undercovers," a glossy drama about married caterers moonlighting as spies, was positioned by NBC as more than just a glittery entry in its fall lineup when it premiered last September. The series featured two black leads — a rarity in prime-time network TV — and was the centerpiece of the network's aggressive campaign touting its commitment to boosting diversity.

NBC trumpeted "Undercovers" as a response to opponents of the network's merger with cable giant Comcast who contended NBC had a historically poor record when it came to placing African Americans in front of and behind the camera. But despite heavy promotion, "Undercovers" never caught on with viewers and was canceled by early November, leaving some observers to speculate that NBC's push for more minority presence would wither.

Network honchos were reassuring. Then-diversity chief Paula Madison maintained in a February radio interview with noted sociologist Michael Eric Dyson that Comcast's NBCUniversal was committed to increasing diversity "in all facets of our business.…Those commitments are in writing, and they are on file with the FCC. There is no likelihood that we would revert. We're not going to put shows on the air that are devoid of diversity."

Full story…

(Democracy Now) A federal appeals court has overturned part of a Federal Communications Commission rule that made it easier for a single company, like Rupert Murdoch’s News Corp, to own a newspaper and a broadcast outlet in a single market. The ruling marks the second time the appeals court has intervened in the commission’s attempts to relax media ownership rules. We speak with Brandy Doyle, policy director for the Prometheus Radio Project, the organization that filed lawsuit, Prometheus v FCC. “Media consolidation has a particularly terrible impact on ownership by those who are historically disenfranchised in the media system like women, people of color, workers, the poor, anyone whose voice is not already represented in our media,” says Doyle.

(Daily Caller) The pending merger between NBC Universal and Comcast appears to have received Federal Communications Commission Chairman Julius Genachowski’s support because of the companies’ recent promises to the NAACP, Al Sharpton’s National Action Network, the National Urban League and several Hispanic and Asian civil rights organizations. The two media giants promised more “diversity” in new and existing programming, and in all levels of the company and they promised more minority characters in existing television programs and more new programs targeted at the specific racial minorities.

Comcast and NBC Universal promised black leaders four new channels “in which African Americans have a majority or substantial ownership interest,” two of which would be created within two years of the merger. Comcast also promised the black leaders $20 million within six months of the merger closing for a program to expand opportunities for “minority entrepreneurs.”

The media giants also agreed to allow black leaders to have influence over NBC’s news programming.

Full story…

(Radio Survivor) Radio One, the nation’s biggest African American oriented radio network, has endorsed the proposed Comcast/NBC Universal merger, now being evaluated by the Federal Communications Commission and the Department of Justice.

Its CEO Alfred Liggins III praised Comcast for helping Radio One develop its TV One cable channel.

“The result is that today, as one of the nation’s two major African-American-oriented channels (and the only one owned by African-Americans), our network now reaches more than 50 million homes via cable and satellite and has an audience with enormous race, gender and generational diversity.

In addition to supporting TV One, Comcast has a history of giving diverse voices a megaphone. The company assisted in launching African-American-owned channels like Hip Hop on Demand, the Africa Channel and Crossings and boasts an unrivaled package of 50 Spanish language channels and 150 titles available on-demand. The newly formed company plans to build on this track record in a number of exciting ways.”

Full story…

(Ryan Blethen, Seattle Times) The media cross-ownership debate should be settled by now. Unfortunately, it is acting up again like a slow stubborn disease fed by the greed of big media companies.

The question of how much is too much for one media company to own should have been answered in 2007. At the end of that year the Federal Communications Commission wrapped up an exhaustive review of its cross-ownership rules. It held public hearings across the country. The feedback was overwhelmingly in favor of not relaxing cross-ownership rules. The FCC also commissioned studies, which again shed an unflattering light on media consolidation.

It would make sense then that the FCC would look at the studies, listen to the public and tighten up its long-standing consolidation rules. Didn’t happen.

Instead, former FCC Chairman Kevin Martin decided to monkey with the rules, making it easier to own a newspaper and broadcast outlet in the same market.

The rule changes permitted a company to own a newspaper and broadcast station in any of the nation’s top 20 media markets as long as there are at least eight media outlets in the market. If the combination included a television station, that station couldn’t be in the market’s top four.

Full story…

(NNPA) 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 African-Americans, 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 White-owned, according to media watchdog group Free Press, who cites public FCC filings. The numbers do not include stations owned by publicly held companies whose boards are typically not very diverse.

Full story…