MTV Will Accept Political Ads

MTV changed its mind and will now accept political ads for this year’s presidential elections. For the last 17 years, MTV has not allowed political campaigns or parties to advertise on the network, opting instead to get political by encouraging viewers to get out and vote through network sponsored Choose or Lose and Rock the Vote initiatives. The network now thinks accepting ads will be good for its audience and be a compliment to the current Choose or Lose effort. MTV will allow ads from the political candidates and party committees, but draw the line at ads from third-party organizations and political-action committees.

MTV changed its mind and will now accept political ads for this year’s presidential elections. For the last 17 years, MTV has not allowed political campaigns or parties to advertise on the network, opting instead to get political by encouraging viewers to get out and vote through network sponsored Choose or Lose and Rock the Vote initiatives. The network now thinks accepting ads will be good for its audience and be a compliment to the current Choose or Lose effort. MTV will allow ads from the political candidates and party committees, but draw the line at ads from third-party organizations and political-action committees.

From Cynopsis

Black Men Revealed

TV One scheduled the season two debut of Black Men Revealed for July 20 at 10p with a repeat at 1a. New hosts, Doug and Ryan Stewart, real-life brothers and syndicated sports radio personalities known as The 2 Live Stews, will lead hot-button conversations amongst five African-American men as they dish on everything from fatherhood to sexuality. The series is produced by Macvision Entertainment.

As reported by Cynopsis

TV One debuts Lifestyle Zone

From Cynopsis

On May 25 from 7-10p, viewers will get a big sneak preview of the new Lifestyle Zone, TV One’s Saturday morning show. The show, which begins airing on May 31 at 9a, will be all about lifestyle, including celebs, fashion, travel and much more. Returning to the network’s schedule with a new host will be TV One’s 30-minute Makeover Manor, now hosted by Essence Magazine Beauty Director and Cover Editor Mikki Taylor. It debuts on May 25 at 8p with back-to-back episodes. Here’s a glimpse at the network’s special primetime preview lineup on May 25:

• 7p – Third season debut of church renovation series Divine Restoration
• 730p – Fourth season premiere of reality series Living It Up with Patti LaBelle
• 8p and 830p – Season debut of newly redone Makeover Manor
• 9p – A new 60-minute special of G. Garvin: The Road Tour
• The new Saturday morning Lifestyle Zone lineup is as follows starting May 31:
• 9a – Turn Up the Heat with G. Garvin
• 930a – Divine Restoration
• 10a – Makeover Manor
• 1030a – Living It Up with Patti Labelle
• 11a – Turn Up the Heat with G. Garvin: Celebrity Dish (series premiere)
• 1130a – G. Garvin: The Road Tour

This Week’s Black TV Rankings

African American television homes in the US represent 13,650,000 households. Here are the Live +SD rankings for the week of April 20-27, 2008 - highest rated primetime network programs in African American TV homes according to Nielsen Media Research
FOX American Idol (Wed 9p) 11.7 HH Rtg
FOX American Idol (Tue 8p) 11.6 HH Rtg
ABC Dancing with the Stars (Mon 8p) 10.4 HH Rtg
CBS CSI: Miami (Mon 10p) 10.2 HH Rtg
CBS Without a Trace (Thu 10p) 9.8 HH Rtg
NBC Law and Order (Wed 10p) 9.4 HH Rtg
NBC Law and Order: SVU (Tue 10p) 8.7 HH Rtg
ABC Grey’s Anatomy (Thu 9p) 8.5 HH Rtg
ABC Dancing with the Stars Results (Tue 9p) 8.4 HH Rtg
CBS CSI (Thu 9p) 8.2 HH Rtg
*Source: Nielsen Media Research (via Cynopsis)

Master P Launches Preschool Brand

Make ‘em say unnnnnnhhhhhhh…..

From Cynopsis:

The father and son team of Master P and Romeo (f/k/a Lil’ Romeo) are working on Gee Gee the Magical Giraffe a new educational preschool property.  Developed by Romeo, Gee Gee is designed to make learning fun for kids using music and dance.  The property is featured in a series of books, and will also star in an animated series slated to bow on DVD, and a movie that is expected in theaters in 2009.  The books will be written with the help of Romeo’s real life little sister Itali Miller, while artists Ryan Hutchinson and Olatokunbo Betiku will animate the property.  Romeo, a successful rapper, starred in Nickelodeon’s live-action series titled Romeo! (2003-6), and is going to star with his dad in a horror movie (as in not for kids) titled The Pig People.

 

Click here for more on Gee Gee

Coolio Gets New Reality Show on Oxygen

From cynopsis

New on Oxygen Network

Coolio’s Rules – Viewers will look inside rap star Coolio’s personal life as father, musical artist and entrepreneur.  Executive producers include Chris Coelen, Greg Goldman and Mike Duffy for RFD in addition to Andrew Hoegl, Jonathan Singer, Susan Haber and Coolio. Series debuts later this year.

Black Television News Channel Readies 2009 Launch

From Cynopsis

Black Television News Channel (BTNC) inked a multi-year carriage agreement with Comcast well before its 2009 launch. Under the deal, BTNC will be added to Comcast systems in Atlanta, Baltimore Chicago, Detroit, Philadelphia and Washington, D.C. when it makes its debut as a 24/7 cable news network with original news programming from an African American perspective. It will create a coast-to-coast all high-def TV newsgathering system with network operations headquartered in Washington, D.C.

Bill Cosby Readies Hip Hop Album

From Billboard

This is ridiculous.  Granted Bill won’t rap or sing, but then what can it really accomplish?

BOOP.

Bill Cosby will serve as executive producer and co-writer on “Cosby Narratives Vol. 1: State of Emergency.”  The album is expected to drop within the next several weeks.

Designed as a companion to Cosby’s “Come on People: On the Path From Victims to Victors” — the debate-provoking 2007 book co-authored with Dr. Alvin Poussaint — “State of Emergency” weaves hip-hop, jazz, pop, funk and other genres around frank, positive messages drawn from Cosby’s lyrics, stories and musical ideas.

Guests include such newcomer MCs as SupaNova Slom, Jace the Great and Brother Hahz. Selections include the New Orleans-jazzed “Where’s the Parade” (a celebration of womanhood), the funky-soul “Dads Behind the Glass” and R&B-vibed “Get on Your Job.” Despite previous reports, Cosby does not rap or sing on the album.

In a statement released by longtime Cosby representative David Brokaw, “State of Emergency” is described as an “unflinching look at life in the 21st century but without the profanity, misogyny, violence and braggadocio” that Cosby has vehemently criticized in hip-hop music.

The Problem with Black Media

From a report by Ad Age

A great article about how the shrinkage of Black-owned media is posing difficult for marketers.

“All things being equal, we’d have no problem supporting” black-owned media, said a CMO [Chief Marketing Officer], but “a lot of the true African-American owned media companies are small and very decentralized. That doesn’t fit our strategy of needing to have a national reach. We have looked at some of the options, but the delivery is so small in relation to cost it doesn’t fit our strategy.”

In a world of scale — and the benefits of lower ad pricing that come with it — there are few independent, black-owned media outlets left to support, and those that exist don’t have the reach to offer competitive rates.

Some of the biggest names in black media today actually are owned by corporate titans. The most notable example is BET, which founder Bob Johnson sold to Viacom for $3 billion in 2000. Then there’s Essence: Time Warner’s publishing arm took full ownership of the legacy brand in January 2005.

But the most dismal rate of media ownership among African-Americans is in TV. Only five African-Americans own full-power commercial TV stations; they collectively own eight out of 1,379 commercials stations nationwide.

Read the entire article here 

Kevin Powell Presents Sexual Assault Awareness Month Event

From AllHipHop.com aka “The Rap Sheet”

All you brooklyn peoples show up!

Hip-Hop activist/author Kevin Powell is joining forces with Black and Male in America (BAMIA) and New York radio station Hot 97.1, to recognize Sexual Assault Awareness Month and to present a special screening and discussion about the award-winning documentary No!. The event, which is also presented by April Silver of Akila Worksongs, Inc., Connect and the Black and Latino Filmmakers Coalition, will take place at 7 p.m. tonight (April 7) at Brown Memorial Baptist Church in Brooklyn, New York. Doors open at 6:30 p.m. Written, directed and produced by Aishah Shahidah Simmons, No! focuses on rape, sexual assault and violence against women and girls. April is noted for being Sexual Assault Awareness Month, a annual time that is used to bring awareness to sexual violence and prevention as well as efforts to provide rape crisis intervention and prevention services while supporting sexual assault survivors and victims.