Press Releases

Rev. Sharpton & NAN Salute Comcast Corp. For Living Up to the MOU Signed with Civil Rights Groups by Awarding Networks to Minority Owners

Tuesday, February 21, 2012 (New York, NY)—Reverend Al Sharpton, President of the National Action Network (NAN), and one of the country’s foremost leaders for civil rights, said the following regarding the news that Comcast Corp. will launch four minority-owned independent networks that will be seen on Comcast Cable systems beginning in April, including two stations that were awarded to Magic Johnson and Sean P. Diddy Combs: “I salute the first two African-American stations selected by Comcast as part of the MOU (Memorandum of Understanding) that Comcast signed with National Action Network (NAN), the National Urban League (NUL), and the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP.) This was the largest community agreement made around a merger with the appointment of four African-American and Latino networks and there is more to come including procurement practices and ethnic advisory boards. So far Comcast has lived up to the MOU which was the basis of our support of the merger. We would also hope that those entrepreneurs, including Mr. Johnson and Mr. Combs, bring in people from the community that are qualified to make these stations successful since the community helped to make these opportunities available to them.”

Reverend Al Sharpton, President of National Action Network