Comcast drops ImaginAsian TV
August 6, 2008
Citing low viewership, cable operator Comcast has pulled the plug on iaTV, formerly ImaginAsian TV, in San Francisco as of July 22.
The Asian American network will still be carried on cable systems across the U.S. including New York, Los Angeles, Houston, Dallas and Hawai‘i.
Though Comcast decided to stop airing the Asian American network in June, IA MEDIA President Adam Ware said they were not involved in its deliberations and were given only 24 hours before the station was pulled from San Francisco.
While Comcast said there are currently no plans to bring back ia TV to the San Francisco region, Ware says there is an “absolute need” for their station especially in San Francisco where there is a high Asian American population.
Ware said statistics show that the primary language of an overwhelming majority of Asians in America is not their native language but English.
“Stations like KTSF do a disservice to the Asian American market as they niche Asian communities and then pitch programming in their languages - to me that’s horribly uninspired,” said Ware. “I am a firm believer that there is room for an English Asian pop culture channel.”
iaTV was only aired part time in the San Francisco region. In other markets, it aired 24 hours a day.
“It was great that Comcast aired the channel on a part time basis, but that was not the best use of their spectrum nor the best way to represent the channel,” said Ware.
Earlier this year Comcast also decided to pull the plug on AZN Television, due to the Asian American network’s difficulty attracting advertisers.
“[iaTV] was one of the least accessed channels in the San Francisco,” said Andrew Johnson, vice president of communications for Comcast in California. “Customer service surveys continually showed low interest for this station.”
The fact that there are so many other alternatives available and much more highly requested in-language programs contributed to the decision, according to Johnson. He added that there would not be a void on the dial for the type of programming ia TV offered.
“For our viewers in the city, there are 17 other alternatives that cater to the Asian community,” he said, citing such examples as the Asian channel KTSF, TFC for Filipinos and KICU on digital sub channel 36-2 that offers Korean-language programming from the Korean Broadcasting System.
For San Francisco resident Rene Del Prado, who watches iaTV at least 3 days a week, the decision to pull ia TV is a “slap in the face to the Asian American community.”
“First AZN TV, now iaTV, I’m outraged,” said Del Prado, a Filipino American who loves watching Korean dramas and Monday night movies on the station. “Watching these programs made me more aware and in touch with my Asian American heritage.”
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7 Responses to “Comcast drops ImaginAsian TV”
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Asian Americans have to develop our own media. We can’t depend on cable companies to cater toward us. I think IPTV is the future for Asian American TV. We need TV programs that discuss real Asian American issues such as identity, racism, glass ceiling and others. We need to celebrate Asian American heroes through the eyes of Asian Americans. Internet TV is the wave we need to embrace. We also need to support Asian Americans who are out there trying to make a difference vs. just catering to the white male dominated media world.
I am extremely disappointed by Comcast’s decision to remove iaTV from the lineup. I watched ImaginAsian TV six days a week. As an Asian American, I truly enjoyed watching the programming that this channel provided including documentaries, movies and dramas. This channel gave me a glimpse of the culture all across Asia. With this channel replaced by NBC homeshopping, I can hardly believe this is an improvement.
I totally agree that Asia should have out own network TV. IPTV is an excellent idea. We can select all the ‘feeds’ from the program rather than fixed slots. Better yet some of them is already in HD format.
Yes, we can’t depend on Cable Operators.
=Joe=
Yes, Joe Kwong:
Not only SHOULD “we” do it ourselves, we CSN.
Like Phil Chung’s theater group.
Don’t wait on those money-hungry entrepreneurs to exploit our own.
We HAVE the talent. Only the organizers to set the wheels in motion.
nobody at the Imaginasian Center in Los Angeles has been paid this past week.
This is ridiculous. I NEED to watch asian channels! It’s a part of my heritage!! This is like cancelling Disney Channel for the average american :[
this is exactly what leads people to leak things online. Cable just fails to show anything worthy of watching
The channel Lineup on includes something called Asia TV…but in the published guide, since it is a special channel it does not list the programming. I think with so many channels that with eng sub it would be delightful to have some Japanese and Korean programming …good movies like ’save the green earth’, ‘the good the bad and the weird’, ‘oasis’, ‘old boy’, ‘death note’, nobody knows’ and concerts from sm entertainment’s super junior and dong bang shin ki …just put some elegant low-key subtitles and it would be an AWESOME alternative and untapped reservoir of wonderful cultural programming that Hollywood just does not address…oh also movies like “spring, summer, fall , winter, spring
..and so many movies that are just a joy to watch like “my 13 mother”, “the game”, “200 lbs beauty” and on and on…i really believe there is a market that just needs to be cultivated just a little bit. It is true that there are asian movies not worth the film but by that reasoning no movie would come out of hollywood either!