Bob Johnson Tries to Shank TV One in the Carotid Artery: TV One Says "No Thanks" -(Pull Out the Popcorn Folks)

Despite the fact that my blog audience has no interest whatsoever in telecommunications law, I will continue my coverage of Bob Johnson's attempt to force the federal government to give him an unfair business advantage  to launch a 24-hour minority sharecropping infomercial channel called "Urban Television." I knew I was boring y'all, but my inner blogging voice said "Blog on. Blog on and see what the end's gonna beee." Even in the face of a wall of support from the Black Elite Establishment, I pressed on towards the mark. My previous posts on this subject:

• Bob Johnson and Civil Rights Industrial Complex Conspire to Destroy Minority Broadcasters-(Broadcasting Sharecropping)
• Bob Johnson’s “Urban Television” Sham-Black Leadership’s Shame- Totally Blogable!
• WAOD Exclusive:Common Cause’s Opposition to Bob Johnson’s Urban Television

Alas, I have been rewarded for being the FIRST person of color to go on record saying that Urban Television is a SHAM!!! SHAM!!! S to the H to the A to the ME - SHAME!. I am no longer alone. Right about now, the NABJ, NAACP, National Bar Association and Rainbow PUSH et al ..wish that they had held out for more than a two piece, a biscuit, and promises of rainbows and ponies from Bob Johnson. If they had not traded their unqualified support for Bob Johnson, skirting existing law to have the American taxpayers grant him a competitive advantage by FORCING cable outlets to carry his new infomercial channel, they MIGHT have been able to get something more than dinner. But NO, he took them to dinner and they lined up behind his application with Ion media before the FCC. NONE of these supposedly "Black" or African American- interest organizations paused for even a single second to contemplate what the granting of this license would do to existing multicultural channels trying to get off the ground as BET once did. None of them paused to ask if media ownership is really "DIVERSE" if the same Black man owns, or controls EVERYTHING. None of them paused to ask what would happen to stations like The Africa Channel, Gospel Music Channel, or SiTV. None of them paused to consider what would happen to TV ONE which in its short lifetime has prodcued programming lightyears better than the multimedia crack cocaine offered over at  BET. I thought I was the only one that said "Umm hey, this looks like a naked attempt to crush all other multicultural cable channels in existence with the assistance of the FCC." Well the scam that Bob Johnson and his enablers at the Black Entertainment and Sports Lawyers Association, the International Black Broadcasters Association, the Lawyers Committee for Civil Rights Under Law, the Minority Media and Telecommunications Council, the NAACP, the National Association of Black Owned Broadcasters, National Bar Association, National Urban League, Rainbow PUSH Coalition and the Video Access Alliance, and NABJ has blown up in their faces. First community broadcasters destroyed the myth that minority groups were lined up in support of Bob Johnson's infomercial channel. Now TV One finally got a clue and decided that Bob Johnson is trying shank them in the carotid artery. TV One sent comments to the FCC in opposition to Johnson's infomercial minority sharecropping channel. So what did Bob Johnson do? He threw a fit! According to Journalisms:

TV One, the joint cable venture between Comcast and Radio One that targets African American adults, is opposing a proposal for a new network by Robert L. Johnson, founder of Black Entertainment Television. In response, Johnson sent a letter to TV One's CEO, Alfred Liggins III, saying that "your argument that Urban Television would 'have a devastating impact' on TV One is totally without merit and absolutely self-serving."Journalisms

HOld my mule! Hoooold my mule!  Happy Friday folks, the foolishness runneth ova! Did Bob Johnson have the AUDACITY to call any other Black person on planet Earth self serving? Oh and Mr. Prince threw in this flashback of a quote by the rocket scientist currently running the NABJ.

Johnson won the support of the National Association of Black Journalists and other supporters after a Dec. 23 luncheon meeting with Johnson at a Washington restaurant. "We're trying to expand the footprint of African American ownership," NABJ President Barbara Ciara told Journal-isms then.Journalisms

Hmm your are trying to "expand" minority ownership by handing Bob Johnson a shank to drive into the necks of all the other multicutural channels CURRENTLY IN EXISTENCE??? Not too bright. For those who say i am too harsh, au contrair mon petit readers! If Barbara Ciara was so concerned about expanding the footprint of African American ownership, she would have obtained legally enforceable gurantees from Johnson OR have made her support contingent on certain safeguards being put in place to insure Johnson keeps his promises. They didn't do that. Bob Johnson splurged by taking the Black Elite Establishment out to dinner and in exchange they offered him their birthright. Where have we heard about THAT before?:

"...When Jacob had cooked stew, Esau came in from the field and he was famished; and Esau said to Jacob, 'Please let me have a swallow of that red stuff there, for I am famished.' Therefore his name was called Edom. But Jacob said, 'First sell me your birthright.' Esau said, 'Behold, I am about to die; so of what use then is the birthright to me?' And Jacob said, 'First swear to me"; so he swore to him, and sold his birthright to Jacob. Then Jacob gave Esau bread and lentil stew; and he ate and drank, and rose and went on his way. Thus Esau despised his birthright." (Genesis 25:29-34).

Hmm I wonder if Bob Johnson served any lentil stew at that dinner. I tried to tell y'all that this Urban Television Ion Media deal was foul. I told you it was completely and totally blogable, but there I was all by my lonesome sounding the alarm. Bob Johnson has never done an altruistic thing in his life, why on earth would people think that he would start now. So I am pulling out the popcorn because this is getting interesting. If this ever gets a public hearing I am SOOOOO there! Road TRIP! Road Trip! Road Trip! Road Trip!

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