LGBT Channels - Harmful or Helpful?

American Television is predicated on an entirely different model to that in the UK. The introduction of Cable in America in 1948 (NCTA, 2010) proved highly successful and it’s popular uptake means that to this day is the most popular way of accessing television in America. This system is predicated on a subscription based model and viewers choose which channels they which to have access to and pay a fee in order to gain it (Lotz, 2007). Often smaller, more niche channels are subsidised with advertising in order to keep the subscription fees low. US television attempted to do something no other country had tried to do before by creating the first LGBT targeted subscription-based channel. It failed. How could this be when at the time there were very few programmes catering to this market and with gay men and lesbians taking up around 6.5% of the TV market in the US there was clearly a demand (Freitas, 2007).

The problem is that which every niche channel is predicated - the imagined community. But then what makes networks like Bravo or Tuff TV so successful? Well, first of all it is important to remember that during the 70s the law, as well as the social stigma attached to being gay, meant there was a much greater pressure for LGB people to stay in the closet (Rosen, 2014). The real fear of having a friend or family member flicking through your channels and coming across a subscription to a channel dedicated to gay programming could put you in difficult position. Gay people are not one single unified entity and have tastes as varied as their hetrosexual counterparts.

The age old camp stereotype of the gay man who adopts feminine characteristics is slowly beginning to erode and this is in part thanks to television programmes and channels that challenge these perceptions. To create a channel dedicated to the tastes of LGBT people as though lesbian, gay and bisexual people have similar tastes is harmful. It quickly becomes easy to forget the differences that separate gay men and lesbians are the same differences that separate hetrosexual men from women. The American free market system of television consumption might open up opportunities for these channels to exist but their creation could be damaging perceptions of LGBT people by helping to create further distinctions while alienating mainstream audiences from gay story lines and characters. Yet Logo TV, a current LGBT catering channel, have just announced their most successful year since their conception 10 years ago and plans to expand (Nichols, 2015). On their website, Logo TV describes themselves as:

[...] a gateway to a world where wildly original characters live surprising and unapologetic lives. Entertaining a social, savvy audience of gay trendsetters, Logo TV also attracts a straight audience that wants to be ahead of the curve.

It is not to say that these differences shouldn’t be celebrated or explored but the channels on which they are distributed, and the necessity to actively subscribe to them in order to view the content they broadcast, I believe perpetuate and exaggerate a divide this only helps to breed homophobia.

Bibliography:

Freitas, A. (2007) If It’s Not TV, What Is It? The Case of U.S. Subscription Television. Gay Programming, Gay Publics. In S. Banet-Weiser, C. Chris and A. Freitas (Eds.). Cable Visions: Television Beyond Broadcasting. New York: New York University Press.

Lotz, A. D. (2007) If It’s Not TV, What Is It? The Case of U.S. Subscription Television. . In S. Banet-Weiser, C. Chris and A. Freitas (Eds.). Cable Visions: Television Beyond Broadcasting. New York: New York University Press, pp. 85- 103.

Nichols, J. M. (2015). Logo TV Announces Largest Programming Slate Ever For 10th Anniversary. Huffington Post. Janurary 11 2015. [Online] Available at: http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2015/01/11/logo-programming-2015_n_6446652.html [Accessed: 12/01/15].

Rosen, R. (2014). A Glimpse Into 1970s Gay Activism. The Atlantic. February 2014. [Online]. Available at: http://www.theatlantic.com/politics/archive/2014/02/a-glimpse-into-1970s-gay-activism/284077/. [Accessed 01/012/15].