By John Wagner
Washington Post Staff Writer
Tuesday, August 21, 2007

With great fanfare, Maryland Public Television yesterday launched the state's first public all-Spanish-language channel, featuring an array of educational and entertainment programming. But it could be a while before most Comcast subscribers in Montgomery and Prince George's counties are able to tune in.

As the digital station made its debut in the Baltimore region, officials from Comcast, the Washington area's dominant cable provider, hadn't committed to a starting date in the two Maryland jurisdictions with by far the largest Hispanic populations.

The debut in Prince George's and Montgomery, where more than two-thirds of the state's Latino population lives, could occur as late as 2009, MPT officials said.

That prompted a chorus of calls from Latino advocates and elected officials, including Lt. Gov. Anthony G. Brown (D), to apply public pressure on the cable provider.

"People ought to be calling Comcast and expressing their wishes and desires," said Brown, a Prince George's resident, who took part in the station's morning launch at MPT headquarters in Owings Mills. When Brown took the microphone, he relayed his desire to watch the station, called V-Me, with his family, saying it could help his two young children learn Spanish.

Jaye Linnen, a Comcast spokeswoman, said yesterday that the cable provider had "no imminent plans" to offer V-Me, part of a national network, in Montgomery and Prince George's. She declined to discuss the rationale for the decision.

"What I can tell you is that Comcast currently offers a wide variety of programming and network options specifically geared to supporting the viewing needs of our Hispanic customers," Linnen said.

She cited the company's CableLatino package, which includes channels such as CNN en Español, Toon Disney en Español, Gol TV, Cine Latino, Telemundo and Univision, as well as many on-demand offerings.

"Comcast is committed to delivering quality programming to our customers, and we are continually reviewing our channel lineup with an eye toward being able to provide additional diverse programming," Linnen said.

In 2006, Montgomery had 128,365 Hispanic residents, nearly 14 percent of its population, according to Census Bureau estimates. Prince George's had an estimated 98,579 Hispanic residents, nearly 12 percent of its population. The third-largest Hispanic population was in Baltimore County; the 21,004 Hispanic residents represented less than 3 percent of the total population.

MPT officials said V-Me will be available to Prince George's and Montgomery residents who have digital televisions and receive the signal through the air. Information about how many Comcast customers in those counties have digital televisions was not immediately available.

MPT said its signal is strong enough that it should reach the District and Northern Virginia.

The Federal Communications Commission has required since March that all new televisions sold have digital tuners. The rule is part of a national transition from analog to all-digital broadcasting scheduled for completion in early 2009.

V-Me is already on the air in 23 other markets nationally, according to the station. It has not arrived in the District or Virginia.

Carmen DiRienzo, president of V-Me, said the station's daily programming starts with a yoga show and ends with a movie. In between are educational shows aimed at children, public affairs programming and Latino-focused features about food, travel, parenting and other lifestyle issues.

MPT is airing the programming on one of three digital channels it is allotted, a decision that Brown said reflected "a renewed commitment to the diversity that has shaped the American landscape for generations."

Others, including several conservative lawmakers and former governor Robert L. Ehrlich Jr. (R), who now co-hosts a radio show, have offered less favorable assessments.

In May, Del. Patrick L. McDonough (R-Baltimore County) called the decision "reckless" and "arrogant" and asked why Maryland would turn over one of its three digital stations to a Spanish-language channel, given that Hispanics are still a small, albeit growing, minority of the statewide population. Census Bureau estimates from last year put that figure at about 6 percent.

Robert Shurman, president and chief executive of MPT, said Comcast had offered assurances that V-Me would be available in the two counties by February 2009, when the nation is scheduled to complete the transition to all-digital television broadcasting.

But Shurman said MPT was hopeful that V-Me would arrive on Comcast "closer to today than 2009."

"We have met with them numerous times," Shurman said of Comcast officials. "They have not given us a date yet."

Staff researcher Meg Smith contributed to this report.