A couple of months or so ago, my friend and comrade Jared Ball and I wrote about the need for a “B-SPAN”—a Black C-SPAN that would serve the people’s needs.

So I was more than slightly intrigued when I found the following in my email box this morning:

Wi-Fi TV Launches Black and African-American Internet TV and Chat as Digital Divide Closes

Wi-Fi TV Leads the Way in Bringing Black Themes to the Changing Face of Television and Millions of Black Internet Users

NEWPORT BEACH, CA — (MARKET WIRE) — August 23, 2006 — Wi-Fi TV Inc. (PINKSHEETS: WTVN) today became the first Internet TV provider in the world to create channel categories for Black and African American TV channels and live chat.

“As live interactive TV comes to Internet enabled PCs, laptops, cellular phones and mobile devices, and the nature of TV itself is re-invented, Wi-Fi TV will work to make the growing economic power, compelling history and great cultural richness of African-Americans a vital part of the mix,” said Alex Kanakaris, Chairman of Wi-Fi TV Inc.

Wi-Fi TV (www.Wi-FiTV.com) will provide extensive links to the Wi-Fi TV Black and African-American channel pages from throughout its live interactive TV web site, and will place channels and content pertaining to Black themes in many different Wi-Fi TV categories, including Education, Entertainment, Politics, News, Music and History.

“Wi-Fi TV is taking the lead in bringing African American live TV content to the Internet, in connecting Internet TV with African Americans and in providing education, culture and entertainment for an African American audience,” said Mr. Kanakaris. “We are actively selling Wi-Fi TV Channels to the African American community and are truly excited about the kind of content we will be able to provide that old fashioned analog TV never will,” he added.

According to the New York Times (March 31, 2006, article by Michael Marriott) the “Digital Divide” is closing as Blacks turn to the Internet. “African-Americans are steadily gaining access to and ease with the Internet, signaling a remarkable closing of the ‘digital divide’ that many experts had worried would be a crippling disadvantage in achieving success,” the newspaper reported.

According to the New York Times:

— African-Americans, even those at the lower end of the economic scale,
are making significant gains in online adoption.
— Organizations that serve African-Americans are turning to the Internet
to reach out to them.
— The sharpest growth is among young people but African-Americans of
various ages are increasing usage as well.

According to a Pew national survey of people 18 and older, completed in February 2006, 74 percent of whites go online, 61 percent of African-Americans do and 80 percent of English-speaking Hispanic-Americans report using the Internet.

In a similar Pew survey in 1998, just 42 percent of white American adults said they used the Internet while only 23 percent of African-American adults did so. Forty percent of English-speaking Hispanic-Americans said they used the Internet at that time.

About Wi-Fi TV, Inc.

Wi-Fi TV can be seen over the Internet in the United States, Latin America and globally. 300 channels of live TV programming, Country and Category specific breaking news and free voice over IP phone calls are available at www.Wi-FiTV.com.

Wi-Fi TV viewers from 130 countries around the world are tracked on the home page (www.Wi-FiTV.com) by the independent NeoTracker. Wi-Fi TV, Inc. has opened a new content and technology demo room for the press in Newport Beach, California. For further information contact Colby Marceau, (949) 716-9397, info@wi-fitv.com.