TV One Nears 5 Year Anniversary, Coverage of Inauguration

It's a pretty amazing accomplishment. TV One, the all-cable TV network aimed at the African American population, is nearing it's 5 year anniversary. The students in my ethnic marketing and political communication course at Johns Hopkins University 5 years ago were really excited about this new network and I think it has lived up to a lot of expectations my students shared - most obvious among them was that TV One be a true alternative to BET offering much more programming for people and age-groups uninterested in BET's programming.

The Associated Press has an informative article on the wire now about how TV One and BET are planning to cover the inauguration next month of the first African American President of the United States.

Both are planning extensive coverage for Jan. 20, when Barack Obama is sworn in as the nation's 44th president. While it will be followed as a news event, network executives said the installation of the first black president will be as much a celebration as a story.

Multichannel News appears to have reported on the BET and TV One inauguration plans first.

While final programming lineups were still being finalized at press time, executives from both networks say they're planning unprecedented, around-the-clock coverage of the day-long festivities surrounding the Jan. 20 swearing in of Barack Obama as the nation's 44th and first African-American president.

Washington D.C.-based BET will air a live, four-hour block of ceremonies coverage beginning at noon, according to senior vice president of news and public affairs Keith Brown. In addition, the network will offer primetime, post-inauguration coverage, as well as an inauguration special as part of its popular music-video show 106 & Park.

Also of note, TV One recently announced it's HD channel.

NBC Nightly News and Today Show Carry National Menorah

The 2050 Group promoted the National Menorah Lighting in Washington, DC for the third year running. And delivered spectacular results. The event was carried on the NBC Nightly News last night and this morning the event was placed onto NBC's Today Show, the best rated national network morning program in America. It also landed on hundreds of TV stations, news websites and in newspapers across the nation.

Here's the entire NBC Nightly News broadcast. See last segment:

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And here's the entire NBC Today show program including the segment with the menorah lighting:

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Here's a clip from last night's event from CBS News. The menorah was lit by White House Chief of Staff Joshua B. Bolten and Rabbis Abraham Shemtov, Levi Shemtov and Nachman Holtzberg:

WKRG.com

Ahhh the memories. Here's a flashback to National Menorah 2006 lit with honored guest Ambassador Susan C. Schwab the United States Trade Representative: