Civil-rights activist and presidential candidate the Rev. Al Sharpton said
he’ll work to help upstart African-American network Major Broadcasting Cable
Network gain distribution on cable systems.
Sharpton said he will aid Major Broadcasting Corp. chairman Willie Gary in
some capacity to help build awareness and gain carriage for the network, which
is currently in 10.5 million homes but has deals to reach as many as 28 million
households.
MBC, which offers family-values programming, is co-owned by Gary, former
baseball star Cecil Fielder, entertainer Marlon Jackson, cable veteran Alvin
James and former heavyweight-boxing champ Evander Holyfield.
"We’re very much supportive of what Willie is doing with MBC," Sharpton said,
although he would not reveal specifics on how he will aid the network.
Sharpton -- who spoke this past week at the National Association of
Multi-Ethnicity in Communications Conference -- is no stranger to the cable
industry.
He and his National Action Network have aggressively targeted -- and, in some
cases, demonstrated against -- cable operators and satellite providers on behalf
of The Word Network despite Word’s non-minority-ownership
status.
