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Why would bloggers imply a relationship between Rightnetwork and Comcast?
Simon, a frequent reader of Stop the Cap! dropped us a note to let us know reports that Comcast was backing a new right wing cable network might be premature.
Talk about passing the buck. Comcast this morning issued a statement on their company blog denying any involvement in the Rightnetwork project Stop the Cap! and other blogs reported over the weekend:
Over the weekend there were some stories on a number of blogs about a new network called Right Network, and some of these rumored that Comcast might be involved as an investor, partner or distributor. Here is a statement from Comcast to clear up any confusion:
“The blog reports that Comcast is an investor in, or partner of the Right Network are inaccurate. We have no partnership with this venture and have no plans to launch or distribute the network. As we have done with hundreds of other content providers, we have met with the network’s representatives. We do carry a number of independent networks on Comcast representing a wide variety of interests and diverse viewpoints.”
"Through partners including Comcast..." prominently appears in Rightnetwork's own promotional literature (click to enlarge)
How could we have been so wrong? 🙂
- The network’s founder is Ed Snider, chairman of Comcast-Spectacor, whose parent company is guess-who?
- Rightnetwork’s own promotional “lookbook” (which they took down this morning, but which you can still get from us right here) says, “On television, through partners including Comcast….”
Somehow, Comcast forgot to call out Rightnetwork for making claims they absolutely don’t want to have associated with their company at such a politically-sensitive time, what with the Comcast-NBC merger on the table and all. It was much easier to blame the bloggers.
It’s not as if the idea of Comcast launching a right wing network comes straight out of fantasy land. In fact, Politico got David L. Cohen, Comcast’s executive vice president to toy with launching its own right-wing network to compete with Fox News:
A major Democratic donor and fundraiser, Cohen — who oversees the company’s Washington operation spent last week pitching the deal to regulators, editorial boards and reporters —described himself as “a news junkie” who watches MSNBC, CNN and Fox News. He didn’t dismiss out of hand the possibility of launching a right-leaning network to compete with Fox News, and he said Comcast wouldn’t tamper with NBC or MSNBC’s operations (Olbermann told POLITICO, “I’m confident they know exactly what they’re doing and exactly how valuable a commodity MSNBC has become”).
Cohen explained that Comcast’s job is not “to shape the content that people receive. It is our job to facilitate the delivery of a diverse set of voices and opinions to consumers, and we believe it’s up to the consumer to decide which of that content he or she would like to listen to or watch and which of that content he or she would like to avoid.”
Rightnetwork has remained silent on the matter, so we’ll apologize on their behalf for misleading you.
“Partners including Comcast” could just mean that RN will be available via Comcast’s CATV service, though apparently the ties to the company are a lot bigger than that.
Even if that’s the case, they STILL lied…
“We have no partnership with this venture and have no plans to launch or distribute the network.”
‘Cohen explained that Comcast’s job is not “to shape the content that people receive. It is our job to facilitate the delivery of a diverse set of voices and opinions to consumers, and we believe it’s up to the consumer to decide which of that content he or she would like to listen to or watch and which of that content he or she would like to avoid……”’
He went on to say “…….and what’s more we’re not trying to take over one of the world’s leading content providers, that’s merely a figment of your imagination.”