another one bites the dust
comcast shuts down AZN TVby albert wang
AZN Television, a network devoted to English-language programming for the Asian American community, will shut down on April 9, its parent company Comcast announced January 25. The decision, reached “after considerable review of the network’s financial situation” according to the statement, nevertheless thins the already small market for English-language, Asian-oriented programming.
Comcast will continue to offer 13 “in-language” Asian networks, imported programming from overseas, through subsidiary International Networks. But AZN, with its focus on American audiences and its lack of an established viewership, has suffered from low advertiser interest and limited distribution; with other cable companies declining to carry the network, AZN only manages around 13 million subscribers, a marginal sum against the 100 million average for Comcast’s networks. These factors, despite a major consulting firm’s attempts to salvage the business, resulted in the closure decision.
Does the failure of AZN TV mean that Asian American programming can never be fiscally viable? Not necessarily, according to AZN TV Executive Director of Communications Teresa Wiedel.
“The market is strong, the Asian population is increasing, they have strong buying power, so from that sample there is a market out there,” Wiedel said. “Now is there a demand for English Asian-American broadcasting? How big is that demand…are advertisers willing to come on board to make that a viable business?” Maybe not, Bill Imada of major Asian American advertising agency IW Group told columnist Jeff Yang in the San Francisco Chronicle.
“We didn’t do enough to support AZN and MTV World, because I think that we tend to be a little selfish…the biggest bang is on the conventional (ethnic-language) side,” Imada said.
Imaginasian Entertainment, one of the few remaining Asian American TV outlets, would not comment on the viability of the Asian American media business outside of its official statement that, while “there are very few in the industry who were surprised…there is a tremendous market for this type of content.” And such groups as the Asian American Journalists Association (AAJA), which compared AZN to other ethnic niche channels like BET in a statement, would agree.
For deputy AAJA Executive Director Janice Lee, moreover, the profit to be had only comprises part of the importance of Asian American-oriented programming.
“I think that Asian American advertising companies will tell you that there’s different percentages that show that the buying power of Asian Americans is pretty high, so I think that that’s something for the networks to consider,” Lee said. “But in terms of programming, I think that just having more representation through the news media and programming is important for everybody to know what kind of diverse experiences there are outside of the home.”
Precisely how much representation AZN TV provided, however, is a matter of some contention. Yang, the publisher of Asian-American-themed A magazine before it folded in 2002, characterizes AZN as a shadow of its former self. In his column, he describes the high hopes for AZN when Comcast acquired the International Channel in March 2005 and repurposed it to focus exclusively on Asian programming—and how these hopes were dashed when Comcast, by December, laid off 75 percent of the staff, “including all of its non-sales senior management and its entire programming team.”
Although Comcast promised in a statement that the layoffs constituted only internal readjustments and would not affect the channel’s content, Yang claims that they scuttled the chances for original Asian American programming and AZN sponsorship of independent media alike.
Indeed, although AZN TV promotes original Asian American programs on its website, they are all sold on DVD—for prices ranging from 75 cents to 90 dollars, none of which are currently airing. AZN’s airwaves are dominated by imported news, dramas and variety shows, with a smattering of Chinese films and English-dubbed anime, programming that Yang would describe as “valuable content, but nothing groundbreaking—and nothing targeted specifically at Asian Americans.”
Hardly a fulfillment of Comcast’s initial lofty promises, this kind of programming is nothing that cannot be found on channels like Comcast’s in-language offerings, channels that have established bases in their mother countries and are more attractive to advertisers like Imada.
Yang goes on to impugn Comcast’s commitment to the Asian American community, suggesting that AZN was only an expedient in a lucrative deal with Liberty Media, virtually liquidated as soon as regulations allowed; he lays the blame ultimately upon “corporate bean-counters resistant to long-term risk.”
Yet regardless of what they think of AZN’s adequacy as a resource for Asian America, the pundits agree that its loss will be deeply felt. And if the English-language Asian American media cannot produce unique, marketable and original content, AZN may not be the last of its kind to fail.