What I wrote earlier this week:
“[Stanley E.] Washington (NCAAOM President & CEO) goes on to say in the article that Comcast should give us (Black folks) 50 channels, not 4 to own and operate as we wish.
Again, the two things that I still have not heard from Washington and NCAAOM is what do they plan on broadcasting on these 50 channels? Secondly, is Black-owned television really in that big of a demand or is it just good programing?”
Targetmarketnews.com is a website that follows Black trends in the marketplace. That also includes trends in what we as Black folks watch on television. The recent “Top 25 Cable Shows in Black Households” list show a trend that goes back beyond December of last year (I stopped looking beyond 12/09. Here are some of my observations:
# Regular Black folks who simply like good programing and don’t care about the ownership of the channel consistently has given TBS the thumbs up for Tyler Perry’s “Meet The Browns” and “House of Payne”.
# Disney is consistently on he list with shows like “Suite Life on Deck”, “Phineas and Ferb”, “Good Luck Charlie”, “Hannah Montana” (shows clearly with no Black themes) making more appearances than ANY single show produced by TV One.
# As much as BET is hated exclusively by the upper echelon of Black folks, Black viewers seem not to mind that BET is now owned by the very White Viacom. BET hands down beats out TV One in their programing. TV One only made one appearance on the top 25 list since December of last year.
# World Wrestling Entertainment is very popular with Black viewers.
# Every last person throwing haterade towards Tyler Perry are completely out of step with what Black viewers prefer to watch. Both of Mr. Perry’s shows have been at the top of the heap with the exception of some nights during the NBA Playoffs and and special BET music programing.
Bottom line, Black folks are just like any other ethnic group when it comes to television: we like good programing. Although seeing Black faces on the screen is very important to us, these ratings show that apparently there are other factors beyond race that attract Black viewers. Lastly, Stanley E. Washington and his organization NCAAOM (National Coalition of African American Owned Media) is completely out of step with the rest of Black America when it makes the assertion that Blacks deeply care about increased Black ownership on the cable bandwidth. Of course we would love to see more Blacks in positions of authority in the cable industry. But programing that simply resonates with our tastes does not require Black ownership. It only requires television executives who know how to listen to their consumer base.
Trust me, I get the whole creating a Black economy thing. But begging White companies isn’t the way to go. Instead, we should increase our focus on financing and supporting original programing produced by us. Secondly, we should also take away from this list that not every show we produce has to have a 100% Black cast or has to deal with all Black issues. Times and trends are changing and organizations like NCAAOM need to stop trying to keep Black folks hooked on reruns.
But We Need 50 Channels
by Duane on July 24th, 2010 at 2:20 amWhat I wrote earlier this week:
Targetmarketnews.com is a website that follows Black trends in the marketplace. That also includes trends in what we as Black folks watch on television. The recent “Top 25 Cable Shows in Black Households” list show a trend that goes back beyond December of last year (I stopped looking beyond 12/09. Here are some of my observations:
# Regular Black folks who simply like good programing and don’t care about the ownership of the channel consistently has given TBS the thumbs up for Tyler Perry’s “Meet The Browns” and “House of Payne”.
# Disney is consistently on he list with shows like “Suite Life on Deck”, “Phineas and Ferb”, “Good Luck Charlie”, “Hannah Montana” (shows clearly with no Black themes) making more appearances than ANY single show produced by TV One.
# As much as BET is hated exclusively by the upper echelon of Black folks, Black viewers seem not to mind that BET is now owned by the very White Viacom. BET hands down beats out TV One in their programing. TV One only made one appearance on the top 25 list since December of last year.
# World Wrestling Entertainment is very popular with Black viewers.
# Every last person throwing haterade towards Tyler Perry are completely out of step with what Black viewers prefer to watch. Both of Mr. Perry’s shows have been at the top of the heap with the exception of some nights during the NBA Playoffs and and special BET music programing.
Bottom line, Black folks are just like any other ethnic group when it comes to television: we like good programing. Although seeing Black faces on the screen is very important to us, these ratings show that apparently there are other factors beyond race that attract Black viewers. Lastly, Stanley E. Washington and his organization NCAAOM (National Coalition of African American Owned Media) is completely out of step with the rest of Black America when it makes the assertion that Blacks deeply care about increased Black ownership on the cable bandwidth. Of course we would love to see more Blacks in positions of authority in the cable industry. But programing that simply resonates with our tastes does not require Black ownership. It only requires television executives who know how to listen to their consumer base.
Trust me, I get the whole creating a Black economy thing. But begging White companies isn’t the way to go. Instead, we should increase our focus on financing and supporting original programing produced by us. Secondly, we should also take away from this list that not every show we produce has to have a 100% Black cast or has to deal with all Black issues. Times and trends are changing and organizations like NCAAOM need to stop trying to keep Black folks hooked on reruns.