American Muslim TV network getting wider exposure

By JAY TOKASZ
News Staff Reporter
4/5/2006

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Derek Gee/Buffalo News Ahmed Soliman and Shaan Khan anchor the telecast of national and international news from the Bridges TV studio in Orchard Park.

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Derek Gee/Buffalo News Nathan Lewan, creative director for Bridges TV, follows the news script in the control room of the Orchard Park studio.

A Muslim lifestyle television network based in Orchard Park is dramatically broadening its potential audience as it joins the regular lineup of three cable companies.

As a premium cable channel, Bridges TV struggled to sign up subscribers for an extra $15 per month. But now, three cable companies with markets in Massachusetts, Michigan, Illinois and Ohio will begin carrying the network as part of their digital cable packages.

A satellite company and a broadband system also are adding the network, and the Canadian Radio and Television Commission has approved a license for Bridges TV to air in Canada, clearing the way for a launch with Rogers Cable.

"Essentially, we're going from being in 10,000 homes to one million homes," said Muzzammil S. Hassan, founder and chief executive officer of Bridges TV.

The network, which debuted in 2004, had 10,000 subscribers, nearly all of them Muslim or Arab, for its premium service - far short of a goal of 50,000 subscribers within the first year.

Now, non-Muslims and non-Arabs in places such as Chicago, Columbus, Toledo and Detroit also can come across Muslim programming while channel-surfing.

"It wasn't working as a premium service. We're going to leave it on and see how it works as a digital channel," said Kelvin Fee, senior vice president of Wow! Cable, which has a large presence in Chicago, Detroit and Columbus. "It's going to be on, and we hope it does well and we think it will."

The other cable systems moving the service to their basic lineup are Buckeye Cable in Ohio and Shrewsbury Cable in Massachusetts. Verizon FiOS, a broadband service, and Globecast Satellite also will make the change, covering markets in Boston; Dallas; Tampa, Fla.; and Washington, D.C.

Adelphia Communications will continue to offer Bridges TV as a premium-pay channel in Erie and Niagara counties at $14.99 per month.

An Adelphia spokesman said the company was examining whether to bump Bridges TV into its regular digital lineup.

The network has not had strong subscriber support locally. Fewer than 30 of Adelphia's 300,000 customers in Erie and Niagara counties paid for Bridges TV as a premium-pay channel.

"We did not have the numbers we anticipated," said Thomas Haywood, a spokesman. "Bridges is not the only station that would love to be part of our basic digital package."

The lynch pin of the network continues to be its news show, expanded from a half-hour to an hour, with Muslim anchors Ahmed Soliman and Shaan Khan delivering national and international news stories from a studio in Orchard Park.

Bridges TV produces an hour of "fresh" news daily under the direction of Nancy Sanders, former WKBW-TV assistant news director. The news show is replayed six times a day.

Soliman, Khan, Sanders and a team of 24 national and international correspondents try to develop unconventional angles on stories.

In covering the recent release of the 9/11 emergency tapes, for example, the news team focused on the 60 Muslims killed that day, featuring an interview with the mother of a Muslim police cadet who died in the attack on the World Trade Center towers.

Bridges TV, which is entirely in English, also runs sports shows, including cricket and soccer; situation comedies; children's shows and cooking programs. A couple of shows feature Western New York residents: Local lawyer Sharon Stiller is the host of "Predominantly Legal," and Molly Herud of M&T Bank interviews business people on "Basically Business."

Last July - after the town zoning board cracked down on Hassan's attempts to run the network from his basement, with a huge satellite dish in his back yard - the operation moved to an office park in Orchard Park.

With a staff of about 20 employees - many of them non-Muslim - it still remains a bare-bones operation. Staff built their own sound recording booth by nailing together sheets of plywood and tacking on foam. Rain hitting the building's metal roof sometimes forces a delay in taping the daily newscast.

"Those are part of the growing pains," Hassan said, adding he hopes to install a drop-ceiling to dampen the noise.

e-mail: jtokasz@buffnews.com

URL: http://www.buffalonews.com/editorial/20060405/105485