Saturday, February 19, 2005

BET Jazz catches Latin fever!

What the hey? BET Jazz is featuring Fat Joe??? How does he have anything in the world to do with Jazz? Thanks for showing the "Do the Rockaway" or whatever the song is(lena back! lean back!), about five times — actually once or so, but interrupted about four times.

Now, Fat Joe is a rapper or Hispanic extraction, and this (alleged) BET Jazz has "Viva" in big letters across the left side of the screen, juxtaposed with the BET Jazz bug on the right. This is a Latin show on Black Entertainment Television.

BET has caught Latin fever!

In all seriousness, rap *is* Black. The African diaspora *does* extend through Latin America. Fat Joe has a place on BET.

But Rap is not Jazz, and having a Ricky Martin wannabe and a would-be J-Lo hosting a show on Latino music for what is supposed to be a Jazz program on a cable network allegedly dedicated to African-American culture just seems like a bald grab for a Latino audience.

On cable, BET, the operating word is niche. Find it and narrowcast the heck out of it. If you want to attract English language Latino TV watchers, start up a new channel. Surely you've got plenty of money, what with not spending it on quality programs, right?

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