US networks plan channels for gays

Five years after Ellen DeGeneres shattered stereotypes as the first openly gay lead character in a television sitcom, attitudes have changed...

Five years after Ellen DeGeneres shattered stereotypes as the first openly gay lead character in a television sitcom, attitudes have changed so much that media companies are laying the groundwork to launch cable networks devoted to gay viewers.

Unlike the routine presence of gay characters on mainstream television these days, the new networks would focus exclusively on gay lifestyles.

The efforts of media giant Viacom Inc. and the Canadian channel PrideVision reflect the growing acceptance of gay programming and the increasing demand for new shows to fill up hundreds of digital cable channels.

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Viacom announced this year that its MTV and Showtime divisions are exploring a joint effort to create a gay network. Marketers covet gay audiences who are believed to have more disposable income than other viewers and more willingness to spend it on entertainment.

Still, the race to get a 24-hour-a-day gay channel on astounds veteran gay activists. ‘‘Thirty years ago it would have taken a civil rights action to get something like this,’’ said author Malcom Boyd.

It took mainstream networks to show the way. ABC was picketed after DeGeneres came out on her show. But NBC’s Will & Grace is now a hit with straight and gay viewers alike.

Though welcomed by gay viewers, Canadian network PrideVision does little to quell the stereotype of gay men as fitness-obsessed, sex-crazed partiers who swoon over Barbra Streisand. Indeed, its shows with names such as SoGay TV, Bump and Locker Room feature lots of innuendo and flesh.

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Even with the growing acceptance of gay programming on television, some conservative groups in the US have vowed to oppose any all-gay networks.

L. Brent Bozell, president of the Parents Television Council, wrote in January that the creation of a gay cable channel ‘‘is not some kind of affirmative-action proposal to bring gays into Hollywood. They’re there, at every level, already. This is a move to promote the homosexual lifestyle to the public.’’ (LATWP)