Cable Biggies Bringing Homosexual Networks into America's Homes
by Allie Martin and Jody Brown
April 13, 2005
(AgapePress) - Officials with the American Family Association say they expect a massive public outcry to erupt over the recent announcement that two homosexual cable networks will soon be widely available, compliments of some major cable carriers that provide services to millions of American homes. As a result, homosexual-oriented programming will be available around the clock for the first time.
According to a New York Times article earlier this week, two major cable providers -- Comcast and Cox Communications -- will offer the homosexual network titled "here!" through their video on-demand offerings. Billing itself as "America's first gay television network," here! was established in 2002 by Regent Entertainment and boasts current availability in more than 40 million households.
The same Times report noted that Viacom -- which owns such well-known media outlets as CBS, MTV, Nickelodeon, Nick at Nite, and Paramount Pictures -- will have its own advertiser-supported network targeting "lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender (LGBT) viewers." That network, which will be known as "LOGO" and will be launched by MTV Networks, promises "authentic, smart, inclusive and open-minded" programming that will appeal to the homosexual community -- a group that, according to MarketResearch.com, has a projected buying power of almost $500 billion. That fact is not lost on Viacom.
"Creating a network specifically for the LGBT community is something we've wanted to do for a long, long time, and it's an idea we feel is overdue," Tom Freston, chairman and CEO of MTV Networks, said in a 2004 press release. "Despite our nation's progress on civil rights and the growing visibility of gay people in business, society and even in television programming -- what has been missing is a full-time home for this important and influential audience on television."
Apparently Freston is neglecting to take into account another important and influential TV audience: parents. Ed Vitagliano, a researcher for the American Family Association, says he is hopeful concerned parents will make themselves aware of the prospect of homosexual-oriented programming coming into their homes. He says even though LOGO is claiming there will be no pornographic programming, parents are still due for a shock.
"It's going to come as a shock when their children are scanning or flipping channels on the way to Cartoon Network or Nickelodeon or the Disney Channel and run across LOGO," the researcher says. He anticipates children happening across programming that "will probably [depict] two men kissing -- or at least having the kind of sexual content that you can get on the regular networks, like NBC or CBS, except that it will be of the homosexual variety."
According to the LOGO website, series in production include one titled "My Fabulous Gay Wedding" -- and another ("Noah's Arc") that features a group of African-American homosexual men living in Santa Monica. A documentary called "Momentum" will feature stories on homosexual rugby players, transgender actresses, and teens with same-sex parents. LOGO says it is even planning to team up with CBS News "to cover LGBT stories and headlines in a professional and authentic voice."
Tim Wildmon, AFA president, says he sees the potential for late-night programming on the new networks to turn pornographic as it targets individuals who define themselves by their sexual behavior. "The very nature of homosexuality is based on eroticism and the infatuation with sex," he says. "[Therefore] one can expect the gay networks to follow the trend in offensive late-night programming such as we saw with NYPD Blue -- only in a more deviant homosexual content."
Viacom has access to more than 10 million homes and is supported by sponsors such as Orbitz, Subaru, and Paramount Pictures. Along those lines, Vitagliano says there may be steps that concerned parents can take with their local cable operators.
"We're going to have to kind of wait and see whether cable companies in local communities have the option of not carrying LOGO," he explains. "We would certainly encourage people to call their cable companies and ask that they not carry it."
But if all cable companies that are linked contractually to Viacom have to carry LOGO, he says, "then our only option is to pressure advertisers not to sponsor the programming -- and that way maybe get this thing off the air."
Wildmon concurs with that approach. "We will hold accountable companies who sponsor this type of offensive, heavy-duty homosexual content," he promises. "This type of programming invading cable reinforces the need for 'a la carte' choices instead of forcing people to pay for a 24-hour homosexual network."
The American Family Association has at its disposal the online activism forums of OneMillionMoms.com and OneMillionDads.com, groups that have been effective over the past several years in getting advertisers to pull their advertising dollars from such anti-family programs as The Shield and Desperate Housewives.
LOGO is scheduled to launch on June 30, 2005, in several major American markets, including Los Angeles, New York, San Francisco, Boston, Philadelphia and Atlanta. Cox Communications and Comcast were slated to begin airing here! content this month.
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