July 7-13, 2005

city beat

LOGO a Local Go

Comcast will soon bring MTV's new gay cable channel to Philly.

by Natalie Hope McDonald

It's queer, and will soon be here in Philadelphia. LOGO, MTV's newly launched digital-cable channel, is a 24-hour, seven-day-a-week entertainment source focused on all things gay related, whether they be documentaries, exclusive series, reality shows or regular feature films.

Parent company Viacom started beaming the station into more than 10 million homes across the country June 30. By week's end, after much of speculation, some of an estimated 21.5 million cable subscribers were brought into the loop as Philadelphia-based Comcast, the nation's largest cable TV provider, signed on to distribute it.

Company officials didn't say what areas would be getting the station, only that they'd soon offer specifics on the Philadelphia launch. Even though LOGO already touts Philadelphia as a marketplace for the programming on its Web site, it remains unclear when it'll join the local cable lineup.

"It is coming to Philadelphia," said Comcast spokesman Jeff Alexander on Tuesday afternoon, "but we're not ready to announce channel location or timing."

Just last week, LOGO founder Matt Farber couldn't confirm whether it'd ultimately air in Philly at all.

"The vision for LOGO is and always has been to create a destination where the diversity of the gay audience can be authentically represented and see all of our shapes, sizes and colors — and to appeal to not only a broad LGBT audience, but gay-adjacent friends and families," says Farber, who sat on a panel discussing whether gay content could be viable in the mainstream at this year's Equality Forum.

That exposure, however, doesn't mean every cable provider is eager to support LOGO. Some opt for more covert methods of reaching gay and lesbian TV viewers. This year, Comcast launched a pay-per-view channel called "here!," featuring gay-themed programming available for purchase for an average of $3.99 per show. Available exclusively On Demand, the channel features regular series and movies à la carte.

LOGO relies on advertising to balance costs for real-time broadcasting. Among the first advertisers to sign on, according to Viacom, are Subaru, Orbitz and Paramount, the last of which is also a member of the Viacom family.

For LOGO, the thought of not being able to secure Comcast as a distributor became a bit of a bane since Philadelphia alone accounts for approximately 1.6 million subscribers.

To compete with both here! and a second, gay-themed pay channel, QTV, LOGO features programming that includes My Fabulous Gay Wedding, a behind-the-scenes reality TV show; a comedy about African-American gay men living in Santa Monica; and documentary series about gay rugby players, transgender actresses and teens growing up with same-sex parents. They also plan to air the first-ever telecast of the GLAAD Media Awards and will team up with CBS News to cover LGBT stories and headlines, says spokeswoman Nakiah Cherry Chinchilla.

Katherine Sender, assistant professor of communication at the Annenberg School at the University of Pennsylvania and author of Business Not Politics: The Making of the Gay Market (Columbia University Press), says, "If we can have a golf channel and a fishing channel, in terms of niches, gay audiences have proved themselves to be very loyal — and a potentially profitable area."

Like any cable company, Comcast has the option to distribute LOGO only in certain markets, favoring, for instance, a metropolitan subscriber base rather than the traditional Bible belt. In the Philadelphia region, public television and radio already feature prominent gay and lesbian programming, including Philly Live on WYBE, hosted by Debra D'Alessandro, who also jockeys lesbian-fueled Amazon Country on WXPN.

"As cable morphs into the next generation of service, I believe it is smart business sense for any cable company, be it Comcast in a major market like Philly, or a small company in rural America, to provide programming that targets all parts of its subscriber base," says fellow out WXPN host Robert Drake. "To expand on the classic gay rights slogan, "We Are Everywhere,' chances are, "We Also Have Cable.'"

A channel like LOGO also has the potential to be a medium for independent filmmakers who may have trouble getting distributed by more mainstream methods.

"The more images that are available of gays and lesbians — our lives, stories, families, challenges and successes — the more people everywhere will understand how similar we all are," says Dolph Ward Goldenburg, executive director of the William Way Community Center. "The increase in gay and lesbian television programming and the launch of gay networks is the latest chapter on a long road to acceptance, and eventually, equality."

Even before Comcast's announcement, Drake was hopeful, saying, "I think the delay is more the logistics and such, and less some statement on the community."