Comcast announces agreements with four new minority-owned independent networks

Comcast Corporation announced it has selected four new minority-owned independent networks to be broadly distributed on Comcast Cable systems between April 2012 and January 2014. After a thorough evaluation of more than 100 proposals, Comcast selected four networks – two of which are majority African-American owned and two that are majority American Hispanic owned and operated and programmed in English.“Comcast is committed to delivering programming that reflects the interests of our customers, and we look forward to integrating these great networks into our rich programming line-up,” said David L. Cohen, EVP, Comcast Corporation.In the Hispanic category the networks are El Rey and BabyFirst Americas.El Rey was proposed by Hollywood director Robert Rodríguez and FactoryMade Ventures executives, John Fogelman and Cristina Patwa. The network is designed to be an action-packed, general entertainment network in English for Latino and general audiences that includes a mix of reality, scripted and animated series, movies, documentaries, news, music, comedy, and sports programming.The El Rey network has entered into an agreement to launch by January 2014.BabyFirst Americas was proposed by Spanish language television veteran Constantino “Said” Schwarz. This network is designed for infants, very young children, and their parents, and emphasizes the importance of early development of verbal, math and motor skills. The network has entered into an agreement to launch by April 2012.In the African-American category the new networks are Aspire, spearheaded by entrepreneur and NBA Hall of Famer Earvin “Magic” Johnson, in partnership with GMC TV, and Revolt proposed by superstar and entrepreneur Sean “Diddy” Combs and MTV veteran Andy Schuon.