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July 1, 2009

Letter: Misguided Comcast policy deprived viewers of chance to see Jackson tribute

To the editor:

Sunday night my family tuned in to watch the BET (Black Entertainment Television) network's annual awards ceremony from 8 to 11 p.m. because the entire evening had been changed to honor Michael Jackson.

But there was no sign of it in our on-air Comcast listings, and when I called Comcast the recording announced — before I could even ask the question — "Please be advised that the BET channel is not available in all areas."

When I reached a representative, he said that BET is not offered in our area because "there is not enough demand."

I asked rhetorically, "How do they know that if they don't offer it?"; and he volunteered that Comcast was being besieged by calls that evening — hence the special recording.

Unless Comcast did an extensive demographic study to determine that so few people on the North Shore would want to watch Black Entertainment Television (they didn't ask us), then I believe that Comcast helped Sunday night to define that ugly word that has to do with making assumptions about people (and here, their interests in the arts) based on their appearance. Comcast apparently looked around and saw that there were not "enough" people of color on the North Shore, who must be the only viewers who would want to watch BET.

Let's give Comcast an opportunity to conjure a squirmy defense, but what else is it?

Jim Hayward

Ipswich

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