“Magic” Mandate: Democrats force Comcast to create new “black programming”
Magic Johnson slam-dunked an alley-oop tossed up by Maxine Waters (D-CA) and Attorney General Eric Holder’s office in conjunction with the FCC. The sweet-heart play emerged from a back-door screen set by these Democrats against cable giant Comcast during its merger with NBCUniversal.
But the score required little magic and a lot of political pressure from the left. WashingtonFreeBeacon.com reports,
National Basketball Association legend and prominent Democratic donor Earvin “Magic” Johnson is set to launch a new network that will be carried on Comcast Corp. cable after pressure from Democratic politicians to “diversify” cable lineups.
Johnson’s Aspire network will launch on June 30, according to the Los Angeles Times. It is the first of 10 new networks—the majority of which are owned by African-American and Latino businessmen—that Comcast will launch by 2018, per its agreement with the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) and the Department of Justice to “diversify the cable landscape.” . . .
In February 2010, Waters asked then-NBCUniversal CEO Jeff Zucker, “Is there some assumption that black programming is not profitable?” Waters offered to help arrange meetings for Zucker with African-American producers. . . .
Johnson made a proposal for one of the cable networks immediately after learning that Comcast was taking submissions. “We wanted to be the first one,” Johnson said to the Times.
Given the political nature of the network’s creation, Johnson was in a prime position to realize that goal. Johnson has donated more than $80,000 to Democratic candidates, committees and PACs since 2007, including $51,200 to the Democratic National Committee and $11,900 to President Obama, according to a database maintained by the Center for Responsive Politics.