Survey: Bravo, Showtime, HBO Gay-Friendly

Cable networks Bravo, Showtime and HBO were found to be among the gay-friendliest companies, which translates into the companies two-thirds of gays and lesbians are more likely to patronize.

That is according to a new study from advertising agency Prime Access and PlanetOut, the San Francisco-based media company with digital brands that include PlanetOut.com, Gay.com and Advocate.com.

The survey polled more than 5,000 people, including 757 from Harris' gay and lesbian specialty panel, 1,502 from the general population and another 3,156 subscribers to PlanetOut.

Bravo -- home of Queer Eye for the Straight Guy -- topped the list among all three panels, with 28% of the general population "strongly considering" it to be gay-friendly, 52% of the gay and lesbian population holding that view and 67% of PlanetOut subscribers.

Showtime was third with 24%, 35% and 63%, respectively, and HBO was fourth with 26%, 34%, and 53%, respectively. Also among the top five were Apple and Absolut.

John Eggerton

Contributing editor John Eggerton has been an editor and/or writer on media regulation, legislation and policy for over four decades, including covering the FCC, FTC, Congress, the major media trade associations, and the federal courts. In addition to Multichannel News and Broadcasting + Cable, his work has appeared in Radio World, TV Technology, TV Fax, This Week in Consumer Electronics, Variety and the Encyclopedia Britannica.