• by Wayne Friedman , July 5, 2005

For MTV Network's new Logo network, it's like getting the final Good Housekeeping seal of approval.

The largest cable operator in the land, Comcast Corp., announced it has reached an affiliation agreement with MTV's Logo, the new network of entertainment programming for the gay and lesbian community.

Logo, which launched last Thursday with some 13 million homes, will be put on Comcast's Digital Plus cable package tier in selected cities in the next 90 days. In a press release, the two companies did not disclose the exact number of homes in which Logo would be carried on Comcast systems. An MTV spokesman reached late Friday could not comment on distribution specifics linked to the Comcast deal.

One thing for sure--this doesn't mean full carriage for Logo on Comcast's 21.5 million homes--nowhere near it. Rarely do new cable networks get agreements any more that add the bigger and more lucrative pool of analog homes. Of the 21.5 million Comcast homes, 20% to 30% are digital subscribers.

Earlier in the week--in a last-minute rush to add more distribution--MTV announced a number of cable affiliation agreements, including a deal with DirecTV that added Logo to the satellite broadcaster's Total Choice Plus and Total Choice Premier programming lineups.

Industry watchers had speculated that the giant Comcast Corp. might not take on Logo. Stories in the Philadelphia Inquirer (Comcast's headquarters is in Philadelphia) and the Denver Post questioned whether a deal would be done.

Brian Graden, president of Logo, and president of MTV Networks Entertainment, told the Inquirer: "Our goal is to reach a critical mass of homes. There are various ways to get there. Getting there with Comcast is a smart way."

For MTV, Logo was a big push--and, according to a story in Television Week, MTV had toyed with the idea of moving Logo onto some of its other digital variations of its older analog networks, such as VH1.