Imus Closer To A Return To TV In Big Cities

Viewers in Washington, D.C., Boston, Chicago and San Francisco, among other big cities, moved a step closer on Wednesday to being able to see a simulcast of Don Imus’s morning radio show on television.

Patrick Gottsch, the founder and president of RFD-TV, a cable channel that carries Mr. Imus’s show but primarily chronicles life in rural America, said on Wednesday morning that he had signed an affiliation agreement with Comcast, the nation’s largest cable operator. That means RFD-TV is now authorized to begin negotiations to be carried on individual Comcast cable systems, including those in Baltimore, Detroit, Philadelphia, Seattle, Denver and Nashville.

While the rates that each of those systems would pay for RFD-TV (and a separate high-definition channel) are specified in the agreement, it will be up to the systems themselves to decide whether there is viewer interest, and if so whether they have room for the channel.

Comcast programming is available in more than 24 million households, many of them in urban markets. While RFD-TV is available in 30 million homes, many are in towns and small cities outside the Northeast. The channel can also be seen via the satellite providers Dish Network and DirecTV.

Jenni Moyer, a Comcast spokeswoman, confirmed the deal. No terms were immediately available.

In signing a five-year agreement with Mr. Imus last year — following his firing, over a racial remark, by CBS Radio and MSNBC — Mr. Gottsch had always hoped the host would serve as a lure for big-city cable operators. Mr. Imus’s program, which originates in Manhattan, currently appears alongside shows with a decidedly more country feel, including the “Crook & Chase” variety show, as well as fare in which cattle and horses are the stars.

“This is what we’ve been working for,” Mr. Gottsch said on Wednesday morning. “From Day 1 we wanted to connect city and country with rural programming.”

RFD is seeking a similar agreement with Time Warner Cable, which could pave the way for Mr. Imus’s show to be seen once again on cable in New York City and Los Angeles.

– By Jacques Steinberg

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