John Hagee, pastor of the non-denominational Evangelical Cornerstone Church in San Antonio, Texas, represented the coalition in Washington on Thursday with representatives of other media ministries to present 472,656 petitions to the Justice Department and the Federal Communications Commission that call for rejecting the proposal. Regulators should kill the merger to prevent the creation of a monopoly, and prevent control of the merged company going to EchoStar’s existing corporate leadership, which “decidedly propornography,” Hagee said. “Not to speak out against EchoStar for trying to make the minds of America’s children their toxic dumpsite would be considered treason in the courts of heaven,” he said.

Richmond co-founded UMN with Rodney Kimbrew, its chief executive. They are also the co-founders of Poly Pacific Entertainment Corp., which produces soundtracks, television shows and movies, Richmond said.

The UMN suit was filed March 9 and alleges misappropriation of trade secrets and unfair competition, among other claims. UMN is also seeking an injunction to stop the launch and development of 1 AM.

“We started getting calls from people who were potential investors saying, ‘What’s this?’ or ‘Are they doing the same thing?’” said Karin Richmond, president of UMN. “They took a step back.”

In addition, on Sept. 9, 2003, while in discussions about the proposed channel, Kimbrew offered the plan to the program acquisition group at DirecTV, the suit says. On Oct. 3, Richmond mailed a copy of the plan to Steve Rifkind, head of Street Records Corp., which is partially owned by Universal Records, a subsidiary of Universal Music Group, the suit says.

The Jan. 2 story in the Los Angeles Times quoted unnamed sources as saying that Universal Music Group was in discussions with DirecTV for a channel featuring commercial-free, uncensored music videos. The 1 AM channel, named for the First Amendment, will team Universal, the Endeavor Agency, Van Nuys-based adult entertainment giant Vivid Entertainment Group and rap star Eminem’s Shady Records, the Times reported.

“They’re not financially backing us,” she said. “It just means they’ll do everything they can to launch. They see the value in the network.”

In its suit, UMN said both Universal Music and DirecTV had access to its business plan or prospectus.

Richmond said that despite the prospect of competition from another “uncensored” video channel, she and Clear Channel were still discussing the nature of its support.

posted by Administrator at 2:54 am & filed under Sirius |