MTV

Juliana D. Norwood  |   OW Staff Writer
Jul 12 2012

Companies can’t agree on new contract

Popular Viacom channels such as Nickelodeon, MTV, Comedy Central, BET, VH1 and Spike were blacked out Tuesday night for DirecTV subscribers, after the two companies failed to agree on new programming fees. More than 20 million subscribers were affected by the dispute.

The two companies, which have been under contract for the last seven years, failed to come to an agreement over new carriage fees, after the contract expired over the weekend.

The action stems from Viacom’s demand for an increase.

Gail Choice  |   OW Contributor
Jun 23 2011

Hollywood by Choice

What do champions do when they discover that things are not going as planned or hoped? They regroup and come out fighting. Oprah Winfrey is just that kind of champion.

Winfrey has acknowledged that launching her own cable channel has been more difficult than she expected. And she plans to devote herself to overhauling OWN, the Oprah Winfrey Network, and spending more time in Los Angeles where the headquarters of OWN is located.

Jun 23 2011

Discussion rages; Rihanna’s sexual defense

Rihanna shot a man to death in her music video ….

So what?

The television industry was recently up in arms over Rihanna’s racy promo for “Man Down,” saying that the opening scene where she murders a man in the center of town is unwarranted and inappropriate for network television.

In the video, shots of life in an underdeveloped and impoverished Third World are cut with others featuring celebratory African and Caribbean dancing by young Black girls.

Jun 15 2011

Jabaar Vincent Thomas charged with murder

LOS ANGELES, Calif.—A second defendant was charged today with murder in the May 8 killing of an MTV music coordinator in the Mid-Wilshire area, along with the slaying of another man about a week earlier.

Jabaar Vincent Thomas, 26, pleaded not guilty during an appearance before Los Angeles Superior Court Judge Upinder S. Kalra, who ordered Thomas and co-defendant Destiny Young, 30, to remain jailed without bail.

They are charged with the slaying of Gabriel Aron Ben-Meir, along with the April 30 killing of a 35-year-old man in the Pico-Union area.

Mar 16 2011

Long Beach native

LONG BEACH, Calif.—Rapper Nate Dogg has died, it was reported today. He was 41.

The artist, a Long Beach native whose real name was Nathaniel D. Hale, died Tuesday, family members told the Press-Telegram.

The cause of death was not immediately disclosed. The rapper suffered strokes in 2007 and 2009.

Across Black America

Here’s a look at African American people and issues making headlines throughout the country.
 

Alabama
Freeman A. Hrabowski, president of the University of Maryland, Baltimore County, will address the annual African American Business Council luncheon on June 28. Hrabowski, who is chairman of President Barack Obama’s Advisory Commission on Education Excellence for African Americans, has a national reputation for his work studying the performance of minority students in math and science. Hrabowski, named one of the 10 best college presidents in the country by Time magazine, was a child leader in the Civil Rights Movement in Birmingham in the 1960s.
 

Arkansas
The Liberty Counsel filed a motion and a brief in United States District Court for the Eastern District of Arkansas seeking to intervene on behalf of a Concepts of Life crisis pregnancy center to defend against a suit filed by the American Civil Liberties Union and the Center for Reproductive Rights. The groups seek to impose a permanent injunction before the Human Heartbeat Protection Act goes into effect July 18. Liberty Counsel also filed a brief opposing the ACLU’s request for an injunction. The “Heartbeat” bill states that when a woman seeks an abortion at or after the 12th week, doctors must test for a fetal heartbeat before an abortion is performed and inform the pregnant mother that the child in her womb has a heartbeat. If a heartbeat is detected, a woman cannot have an abortion, except in cases of rape, incest, and if a mother’s life is in danger. “As we promised when the legislation was introduced, Liberty Counsel will defend this law without reservation for the people of Arkansas, born and pre-born,” said Matt Staver, founder and chairman of Liberty Counsel. “No right is more foundational than the right to life. Without life, all other rights are irrelevant,” concluded Staver.