May 06, 2005  |  By: DYANA BAGBY  | COMMENTS     

Television geared specifically toward gay men and lesbians in the United States has, until recently, been limited to a sprinkling of shows such as “Will & Grace” on NBC or “Queer as Folk” and “The L Word” on cable’s Showtime.

But now entire channels filled with gay movies, dramas and comedies, as well as original programming, are hitting the airwaves.

Here!, specializing in independent films as well as original programming, including a supernatural soap opera named “Dante’s Cove,” has been on the air since 2002.

The fledgling Q Television Network, a self-identified gay “lifestyle channel” currently only available on RCN satellite service, arrived in late 2004 and offers broadcasts from gay sporting events.

And on June 30, the highly anticipated launch of MTV Network’s Logo is expected to raise the bar even higher for TV industry executives looking to tap into a new demographic.

“It is long overdue that the LGBT community have channels we can call our own,” said Damon Romine, entertainment media director for the Gay & Lesbian Alliance Against Defamation.

“There are niche cable channels out there for everything from sports to music to food. Reaching out to LGBT viewers with more choices is not only good business, but it’s the right thing to do,” he said.

While both here! and Q Television are pay service cable networks, Logo is an advertiser-supported basic cable network.

Here!, now available through Comcast and Cox Communications, allows viewers to buy one program at a time or subscribe full-time. To date, the network is in more than 40 million households, according to CEO Paul Colichman, who also produced the gay film, “Gods & Monsters.”

Frank Olsen, Q Television’s founder and CEO, said plans are underway to have Q Television in Washington D.C., among other areas such as Seattle, Denver and Australia. Currently his network reaches viewers in Boston, San Francisco and New York City. By the end of June, viewership could be up to 16 million homes, he said.

Logo, the corporate giant of the three, has cable-giant Viacom on its side and is expected to be in 10 million homes at launch, said David Bittler, a spokesperson for the network. Logo will be carried by Adelphia, Time Warner, RCN Satellite and Atlantic Broadband, according to Bittler.

Final negotiations are continuing with Comcast and Cox Communications, the dominant cable providers in D.C., Northern Virginia and Maryland, to carry the channel, he added.

“We are confident Comcast will be with us at launch,” Bittler said.

Bittler said metropolitan Washington viewers who want to receive the channel via a digital TV package, should go online (www.LOGOonline.com), to register their request with local cable operators.

“Input from customers is always a great help to cable operators in gauging demand and interest for new products.

A Comcast spokesperson said the company has not yet reached an agreement with Logo.

“Until an agreement is in place, we can’t discuss it,” Comcast spokesperson Reg Griffin said.

Bittler said the network plans to be “the home-base for the GLBT community.”

“We think our existence is going to be historic,” he said. “We represent equality on the dial.”

Conservative backlash
The gay TV networks are already dealing with some backlash from social conservative organizations.

“I don’t think most parents want their children flipping channels on their way to the Cartoon Network and running across a scene of two men kissing in bed on the Logo network,” Tim Wildmon, president of the American Family Association, told Cybercast News Service Network this month. “Most of us have enough to explain to our children nowadays.”

Wildmon also warned that late-night programming on here! or Logo could turn pornographic.

“The very nature of homosexuality is based on eroticism and the infatuation with sex,” he told CNS News.

Colichman said the very reason he wanted here! to be a pay service network was so he could avoid conservative opponents.

“I didn’t want to deal with the political climate,” he said. “I didn’t want to bother.”

Olsen said Q Television’s business plan was also designed specifically to be a pay service to avoid offending those who oppose homosexuality.

“We’re very emphatic we want to be invited in your homes. I think [all gay networks] should be scrambled. I don’t think the gay lifestyle should be imposed on anyone. We don’t need to shove our agenda down anyone’s throats,” Olsen said. “We’re gay ...