Comcast Corp., the nation’s largest cable television company, and Radio One Inc., the nation’s biggest radio broadcaster serving black listeners, will invest $130 million to create a TV network for black viewers.
The network will feature news, sports and talk shows geared toward 25- to 54-year-old viewers, the companies said Monday. The network, which hasn’t been named yet, is scheduled to begin broadcasting later this year, they said.
The new network would compete with Black Entertainment Television, founded in 1980 by billionaire Robert Johnson and bought by Viacom Inc. in 2000.
“African-Americans have had only one dedicated TV channel serving their interests for over 20 years,” said Alfred C. Liggins, chief executive and president of Radio One.
Liggins, who will be chairman of the new network, said the goal wasn’t to directly challenge BET, however.
“The reality is that this marketplace can support more than one good idea,” Liggins said. “My own personal belief is that you try to offer what’s not being offered, so this will be a complement to BET … and be very different from it.”
BET officials didn’t return calls seeking comment.
Philadelphia-based Comcast and Lanham, Md.-based Radio One want the network to focus on black viewers, who make up about 13 percent of the U.S. population. Black consumers spend about $2.7 billion a year on cable TV, the companies said.
