Bad Signal from Comcast
August 8, 2008
Fans of Asian American television in the Bay Area were dismayed to realize that last month cable operator Comcast Corp. switched off iaTV, formerly ImaginAsian TV, in San Francisco — effectively killing off the last Asian American network in one of the largest Asian American markets in the country.
Sadly, we’ve been here before: Comcast gave the groundbreaking AZN TV the axe in April, in the face of a huge outcry from devoted viewers.
The same reason was given for turning off both English-language Asian TV channels that Angela Pang details in this issue: not simply low viewership, but that the programming was replaceable with the many and more in-language programs on television.
We cannot accept this reasoning. Ethnic press is currently one of the fastest growing segments of media in America — in all languages. As the largest and longest-running Asian American publication, we remain in disbelief on hearing anyone say that there is no significant English-speaking Asian/Pacific Islander audience.
Comcast’s philosophy serves to ghettoize Asian audiences — “they only want to watch shows in their languages” is the warped logic — and further niche the market with more in-language channels that cost less to advertise, resulting in even fewer dollars spent marketing to our community.
The logic is half correct — we do want to watch shows in our language. Our language, for over 80 percent of the community, is English. That number is almost 90 percent if we’re talking about the two-thirds of Asian Pacific Americans who were born and raised in America. When Asian Americans speak with each other — Filipinos, Japanese, Koreans, Indian, Vietnamese, Chinese, and the list goes on — we talk to each other in English.
We are happy that network television shows like Dancing with the Stars and Heroes feature Asian Americans speaking English. But it is not enough. We need our own television channels that reflect and celebrate our unique Asian Pacific American culture and heritage — stations like iaTV.
This is yet another bad sign from Comcast, which this year also cut off support to the largest African American, Latino and Asian American outdoor celebration events.
It is true that the San Francisco Board of Supervisors has granted Comcast a monopoly on cable services. But it is also true that the majority of San Francisco’s residents are people of color. And no monopoly lasts forever.
***Related Articles:***
Comcast drops ImaginAsian TV
Comments
2 Responses to “Bad Signal from Comcast”
Got something to say?
Perhaps the reason IATV was dropped from Comcast was due to the fact the owner operators are so arrogant.
If IATV or any Asian’s want to do business in this company they have to play their politics correctly.
IATV is boycotted by many of the largest Asian American ad agencies. Comcast dropping them from the line up just supports my views and potentially many others.
Worry not Asian American fans. There is better content on youtube at least in my opinion.
I apologize for the typo. I meant to say country not company.