Magic Johnson to Launch 24-hour Channel with ‘Uplifting Images of African Americans’

Magic Johnson is preparing to launch Aspire, a 24-hour channel with a focus on what Johnson called positive, uplifting images of African Americans.

By Jorge Rivas Feb 21, 2012

Magic Johnson is preparing to launch Aspire, a 24-hour channel with a focus on what Johnson called positive, uplifting images of African Americans. Initially the channel will be available in 11 million of Comcast Cable customers’ homes,[ the LA Times reports. ](http://www.latimes.com/business/la-fi-ct-magic-johnson-20120221,0,5232547.story) "This is so exciting for me, I’m pinching myself," Johnson told the LA Times. "This is big for myself, for the African American community and the African American creative community. I wanted a vehicle to show positive images and to have stories written, produced and directed by African Americans for our community. Aspire — that’s how I’ve been leading my life." [The LA Times reports on how this is coming about: ](http://www.latimes.com/business/la-fi-ct-magic-johnson-20120221,0,5232547.story) > Johnson’s entry into the television arena comes courtesy of communications giant Comcast Corp. as part of its agreement with the FCC and Department of Justice to diversify the cable landscape. Comcast agreed last year to launch 10 new independently owned cable channels, with most backed by African Americans and Latinos, by 2018. Johnson’s channel is scheduled to be the first. > > Comcast’s obligation to support minority-owned channels came after a bruising yearlong federal review of the Philadelphia cable company’s acquisition of NBCUniversal, which includes the NBC broadcast network, NBC television stations, Universal Studios, Universal Pictures, cable channels USA, Bravo, Syfy, MSNBC and CNBC and Spanish-language broadcaster Telemundo. > > During the extensive review process, which spanned all of 2010, executives were called before Congress to defend the merger. Rep. Maxine Waters (D-Los Angeles) was particularly tenacious in her grilling of NBCUniversal and Comcast officers, questioning their commitment to hiring and advancing minorities. [For more on the Comcast acquisition of NBCUniversal read Jamilah King’s reporting.](https://colorlines.com/archives/2011/01/comcast_merger_worries_indie_artists_web_advocates.html)