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…

(Politico) Some of the leading nonprofits and civil rights organizations that have urged federal regulators to approve AT&T’s mega-deal with T-Mobile have former and current employees — and lobbyists — for the wireless company serving on their boards.

Among the groups that have AT&T representatives on their boards of directors and have written to the FCC to back the AT&T/T-Mobile deal are the National Coalition on Black Civic Participation, the National Puerto Rican Coalition and the National Hispanic Caucus of State Legislators.

"Over the past several weeks, we have engaged in intensive discussions with AT&T representatives, and with merger opponents. In those discussions, our focus has been on the key issues of the impact of the merger on adoption and jobs. Based on our due diligence, we have now reached the definitive view that the merger deserves to be approved," the National Urban League wrote to the FCC June 20, in a joint filing with the National Action Network.

Rayford Wilkins, AT&T's CEO of diversified businesses, is a trustee on the National Urban League's board.

A similar perceived conflict of interest proved toxic last week for the Gay and Lesbian Alliance Against Defamation, which came under fire from gay bloggers for weighing in on the AT&T/T-Mobile deal while a former AT&T executive and registered lobbyist, Troup Coronado, sat on the board. Amid the backlash, GLAAD President Jarrett Barrios and eight board members — including Coronado — resigned.

So far, other key minority groups haven’t experienced the same type of internal turmoil for backing AT&T’s proposed T-Mobile purchase.

Full story…

(Huffington Post) When Comcast first proposed its joint venture with NBC Universal in October 2009, skeptics correctly asked, “What’s in it for African Americans and other underserved communities?” We wanted to ensure that the Federal Communications Commission didn’t rubber stamp a corporate giveaway that didn’t deliver real benefits to the public.

I hope these critics will now take a hard look at what was achieved for African Americans as part of the Comcast-NBCU review process at the Federal Communications Commission (FCC). Any fair review will find a number of positive advances, particularly in the areas of broadband adoption and minority media ownership, which are significant enough that I felt compelled to offer my strong support.

Broadband Development and Adoption

As access to broadband has become increasingly essential to educational and employment opportunities, African Americans and members of other underserved communities have lagged behind in broadband deployment and adoption. Leaving these communities out of the broadband revolution is unacceptable.

Full story…

(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…

(Philadelphia Inquirer) Seeking to neutralize political opposition to its proposed merger with NBC Universal Inc., Comcast Corp. says it will add four cable networks owned, or partly owned, by African Americans over the next eight years, as well as a new English-language channel aimed at Asian Americans.

Those provisions are part of separate agreements Comcast executives signed with civil rights groups.

The African American agreement will be filed Friday with the Federal Communications Commission, Comcast said, and the Asian American agreement was filed earlier in the week. Both call for Comcast to boost diversity in its corporate management and entertainment content and to establish councils to review diversity projects.

“We had been working with NBC for a decade, but Comcast did not have much of a track record with the Asian American community,” Karen Narasaki, president of the Asian American Justice Center in Washington, said Thursday.

One criterion the FCC will evaluate in considering the “public benefit” of the Comcast-NBC Universal deal is the diversity of voices in media that will result from the cable and entertainment giants’ merger.

Full story…

(AFP) US cable giant Comcast pledged Wednesday to step up programming geared toward Asian Americans, addressing concerns in the community that its growing size has not been reflected on television.

Comcast and NBC Universal, which it is seeking to acquire, signed an agreement with Asian American groups pledging to expand selections and to invest at least one million dollars over three years for new programming.

The new offerings will include “Cinema Asian America,” which aims eventually to offer films around the clock to 18 million viewers.

Susan Jin Davis, a vice president at Comcast Cable, said the commitments “position us to better compete in an increasingly diverse business environment.”

“This is not just about getting good films to our Asian American viewers; it’s about offering good films that all Americans should have the chance to see,” she said.

Full story…

(The Hill) Lawmakers are increasingly divided on whether Comcast’s proposed acquisition of NBC Universal would help or harm the amount of diversity in the media.

The proposed merger has drawn scrutiny from competing media companies and advocacy groups who fear the deal would concentrate too much control over media ownership and distribution in the hands of one firm. Lawmakers, especially those representing districts with significant minority populations, have increasingly found themselves choosing sides in the debate.

Rep. Bobby Rush (D-Ill.) recently added his name to the list of minority lawmakers backing the transaction; in a letter to the Federal Communications Commission dated Oct. 21, Rush argues Comcast’s diversity commitments, including a pledge to add ten minority-owned cable networks, would benefit minority businesses and media representation.

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…

(OpEd News) On July 13th, citizens from Chicago piled into a Federal Communications Commission (FCC) public hearing on the Comcast-NBC Universal merger to weigh in on the merger and give public comments that would become part of the FCC’s legal record for and against the merger. The legal record would be referred to when making a decision on whether to allow Comcast to merge with NBC or not.

The hearing was held at Thorne Auditorium on Northwestern University’s campus in Chicago. It was possibly the only public hearing the FCC will be holding on this merger in the country.

Each person in attendance had an opportunity to sign up and give two minutes of public testimony. About ninety people signed up. Most were from Chicago but some were from California and other parts of the country.

Those giving public testimony voiced their opinion on a media consolidation move that would put production and distribution into the hands of one company. This would make it a vertical merger. The merger would also mean that Comcast would control one in every five television viewing hours and could potentially push its competitors in the industry to raise prices on cable subscribers by charging them more for NBC content.

Full story…

(OpEd News) Congressman Bobby Rush (D-IL) put together a hearing on the possible merger of Comcast and NBC Universal on July 8th, which was held in Chicago at the Everett Dirksen Federal Building (the same building holding the US v. Blagojevich proceedings). The hearing, held by the Subcommittee on Communications, Technology and the Internet (a subcommittee of the Committee on Energy & Commerce in the House of Representatives), invited “witnesses” to testify and provide insight into who might benefit from the merge if it went through.

The hearing held was not open to public comments. However, Rep. Rush, Rep. Rick Boucher (D-VA), Rep. Maxine Waters (D-CA) and Rep. Steve Buyer (R-IN) asked questions of all the invited witnesses after an hour of opening statements.

The witnesses present included: Samuel R. DeSimone, Jr., General Counsel, Earthlink, Inc; Will Griffin, President and Chief Executive Officer, Hip Hop on Demand, Jonathan Jackson, National Spokesman, Rainbow/PUSH Coalition, Inc.; Paula Madison, Executive Vice President, Chief Diversity Officer, NBC Universal; Joseph W. Waz, Jr., Senior Vice President, External Affairs and Public Policy Counsel, Comcast Corporation. (Ms. Shirley Franklin, Senior Adviser for the Alliance for Digital Equality was invited but did not attend the hearing).

Full story…