Comcast to carry Word

The Rev. Al Sharpton's National Action Network has won a major cable-carriage
contract.

Comcast Corp.'s systems in Washington, D.C., and Baltimore and
Prince George's County, Md., have agreed to carry African-American gospel
channel The Word Network, on which NAN leaders Sharpton and the Rev. Horace
Sheffield, Jr. appear.

Sharpton, Sheffield and the NAN have been picketing satellite-TV provider
EchoStar Communications Corp., and cable MSO Charter Communications Inc. because
neither of those companies has agreed to carry Word.

A Comcast spokesperson said, "Comcast is committed to connecting
people to what's important in their lives and offering people more viewing
choices."

The three areas in which Comcast will carry Word on digital-cable tiers are
heavily populated by African Americans.

Paige Albiniak

Contributing editor Paige Albiniak has been covering the business of television for more than 25 years. She is a longtime contributor to Next TV, Broadcasting + Cable and Multichannel News. She concurrently serves as editorial director for The Global Entertainment Marketing Academy of Arts & Sciences (G.E.M.A.). She has written for such publications as TVNewsCheck, The New York Post, Variety, CBS Watch and more. Albiniak was B+C’s Los Angeles bureau chief from September 2002 to 2004, and an associate editor covering Congress and lobbying for the magazine in Washington, D.C., from January 1997 - September 2002.