WALNUT CREEK, Calif. – Are U.S. television audiences ready for an American Muslim version of the game show “Jeopardy?” Or a Muslim sitcom? How about a standup routine about the Muslim experience after Sept. 11, 2001?
Former Concord, Calif., resident Muzzammil “Mo” Hassan and his supporters are betting on it: They are trying to start the country’s first Muslim-themed cable channel.
They have enlisted hundreds of mosques around the country, including many in the Bay Area, to spread the word and help get Bridges TV into living rooms by next summer.
The idea came to Hassan’s wife, Assiya Hassan, in November 2001 as the couple were driving in their current home state of New York, listening to a commercial talk-radio station, the Bridges TV CEO said.
“She became upset that the host and the callers were turning negative toward Muslims, and she felt there was a need for American Muslims to create their own programs and show themselves both as Americans and as Muslims,” Hassan said.
“We want to help build bridges of understanding between American Muslims and non-Muslims.”
First, Hassan and his backers need to convince major cable and satellite companies that their idea has legs, which means enrolling at least 10,000 paid subscribers before a single program airs. The station has signed up 2,500 subscribers so far.
U.S. Muslims help out
Hassan has recruited the financial and moral support of prominent American Muslims, including boxing legend Muhammad Ali and basketball player Hakeem Olajuwon, to help raise the $15 million needed to start the channel.
Tim Fitzpatrick, spokesman for Comcast, the nation’s biggest cable company with 21.3 million subscribers, said he could not talk about specific negotiations between his company and the channels they work with.
He said: “The range of programming we offer varies from market to market, and we try to serve the unique interests there.”
As reflected on the Bridges TV Web site, some American Muslims wonder if such a cable channel would be censored for presenting Muslim viewpoints at a time when thousands of people of that faith are being detained, questioned and deported.
Earlier this year, Comcast refused to air advertisements during President Bush’s State of the Union speech that opposed a U.S.-led attack on Iraq, a position that many American Muslims espouse.
The Web site says Bridges TV executives have met with government officials and have received only positive feedback.
Although viewers will have to pay a separate fee to view the station, Hassan said he hopes it will reach Muslims of all backgrounds, from blacks to Indonesians to Saudis, as well as the general public.
The station’s programming will be in English rather than Arabic or other languages spoken on foreign-based stations such as al-Jazeera.
Concord resident Juveria Aleem already brims over with ideas for Bridges TV programs.
A member of the station’s programming committee, Aleem imagines an Islamic version of MTV or a Muslim cooking show or an Oprah-style talk show.
The channel will eschew violence, foul language and excess exposure of flesh, in accordance with Muslim values, said Aleem, who is also organizing what she said will be the nation’s first Muslim Film Festival. It will take place in the Bay Area in March.
“That’s another reason why Muslims don’t relate to what’s on TV,” Aleem said. “We see moral values degrading to Muslims.”
But how will a TV station speak to everyone from Indonesians to black Muslims to the curious masses?
“We will focus on things unique to the American Muslim experience,” Hassan said. “The melting of ethnicities, free-speech issues, or how my daughter is being told by her Islamic schoolteacher that she can’t go out for Halloween because it’s pagan or satanic.
“We could build a whole sitcom on that.”
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(c) 2003, Contra Costa Times (Walnut Creek, Calif.).
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Distributed by Knight Ridder/Tribune Information Services.
AP-NY-09-09-03 0621EDT
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