Posted on 04/19/2005 4:11:59 AM PDT by Liz
NEW YORK — Three new TV networks catering to gay and lesbian viewers are trying to establish themselves, and all say they support one another — at least publicly.
Competition breeds interest and shows doubters the business is viable, said Frank Olsen, president of the Q Television Network. He once applied the same theory when he owned four gay and lesbian bars near each other in Seattle.
"I think there's room for all three of us," said Olsen, whose network is the underdog of the trio. "We're different types of channels, just like you have ABC, NBC and CBS."
Sure to be the most visible is MTV Networks' Logo, scheduled to start as a basic cable network on June 30. Q and Here are both pay services operating now and available to a limited number of viewers.
The gay and lesbian community has been underserved by the media and these channels are long overdue, said Damon Romine, entertainment media director for the Gay and Lesbian Alliance Against Defamation.
"There's definitely an audience out there that is hungry to see their stories being told," he said. "We've seen this with the tremendous success of 'Queer as Folk' and 'The L Word.' "
Logo has two original series that will be ready this summer. One is "Noah's Arc," about a black gay screenwriter from California and his friends, and the other is "My Fabulous Gay Wedding," a comic makeover reality show.
Otherwise, Logo will rely heavily on movies and documentaries until it is better established. Logo has acquired the rights to films such as "Angels in America" and "Moulin Rouge," and has documentaries about a gay rugby team in Chicago and the gay rodeo circuit.
"It will be programmed to the sensitivity of a basic cable audience," said Nicole Browning, president of MTV Networks' affiliate sales and marketing unit.
Logo's ride to reality hasn't exactly been smooth. It spent years on parent company Viacom's back burner, and already has seen its starting date postponed from February. This year's delay was partly to get more programming in place but was also because it only had agreements to be in 2 million to 3 million of the nation's nearly 110 million television homes.
Browning said Logo will begin in 10 million homes, a significant percentage of the roughly 45 million homes with digital service. Logo isn't trying to reach analog homes.
Political trepidation is one of the reasons Paul Colichman, Here's CEO, believes his business plan is superior. Interested viewers can subscribe to Here full time, for an evening or for individual programs.
"Unless you want the channel, you don't receive it," he said.
Colichman claims ownership of the largest gay and lesbian film library in the country, with such titles as "The Crying Game," "Longtime Companion" and "Gods and Monsters," which he produced. He has original series on gay families, how gay couples met and a supernatural soap opera called "Dante's Cove."
"Look at HBO and Showtime and what they do and compare it to a basic cable channel, and that's where you will see the difference between Here and Logo," he said.
Roughly 80 to 85 percent of homes with digital satellite or cable can order Here, he said.
Q is aggressively marketing itself but, to date, is only available on the small RCN satellite service. Olsen said it would be available in 16 million homes by June. Olsen concedes his rivals have shut him out of the market for many films.
It has a documentary series, "In FoQus," which is preparing a tribute to Elizabeth Taylor, and a morning talk show.
Copyright © 2005 The Seattle Times Company
Information On the Web:
www.heretv.com/
www.qtelevision.com/
www.logoonline.com
The Something is Wrong With You Because You're Not Gay TV channel....or maybe......Cigars and Other Inanimate Sex Partners Playboy Channel......How To Be Gay in Ten Easy Lessons Public Television Series......or still yet........ The Transgender Tolerance and Compassion Network.
And the world keeps getting sicker. We know a gal who decided to "see if she was a lesbian" and hooked up with a couple. She decided that the experiment had gone far enough when they introduced their male dog into the mix.
Further indoctrination of our children, that's all.
So what your're saying is that gal is a Dogophobe, right?
Secularism and moral relativism have created a terrifying self-centered world in which personal behavior has no boundaries----with no checks or controls on one's impulses-----individuals are reduced to animal-like behavior.
The magnitude of crimes being committed---children killing parents---parents killing children---crimes against children on all levels----rampant killings of children by sexual deviates.
One unvelievable news report had thieves unplugging helpless people on heart monitors in order to resell the monitors for a few bucks.
First- degree liberalism should be a punishable felony.
(Denny Crane: "Sometimes you can only look for answers from God and failing that... and Fox News".)
I guess it's possible - of course there's always the outside chance it was a gender issue...
Ho-Hum...instead of 163 channels and nothing on, we now have 166 channels and STILL nothing on....
I'll sign that petition...
"Further indoctrination of our children, that's all."
Not really. Does the remote on your TV have a channel changer?
Does your TV have an on / off switch?
Then again, she mighta been a PETA fanatic and figured they'd pull her membership if she effed the dog.
Dean, Bwaney Fwank, and the Dumbocrats are grearing up to accomodate gays, transexuals, and hermaphrodites to substantially increase the Dummycrat 2008 pervert vote.
Dumbocrats are trying to be really, really "tolerant and compassionate" of the sexual preference proliferation, and are creating sexually-oriented victim caucuses for the 2008 convention consisting of:
Unknown Gender Caucus (AKA heads-or-tails voters)
Necrophiliac Caucus (partners both genders as long as they are deceased)
Date-Rape Caucus (partner must be unconscious - as in Andrew Luster - Max Factor heir)
Inanimate-Object Caucus (partners non-humans such as cigars)
Bestiality Caucus (partners only with pets approved by PETA).
Transgender Caucus (whatever).
Can I start calling them Queers, too?
Mmmmm............okay.
Better plots, better directing, better acting all would attract more gays than better pandering. Of course, this assumes that better writers, directors, and actors are available.
Now this made me crack a grin.
It SEEMS they will be seperate pay per view/premium channels and not in the basic lineup.
They had better keep the commercials OFF the children's channels or ANY basic channels which children might see.
Perhaps now we can bump MTVs into a premium pay services for only those who want to pay services.
IN addition perhaps all the homo-character themed shows can be "quaranteened" there.
I gave up cable TV last year and really haven't missed it. All I get is ABC, NBC, FOX, PBS and two local indie channels. Can't get CBS, don't even miss it.
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.