Bishop Wayne T. Jackson
Pastor Wayne T. Jackson caused a stir last September when he let presidential candidate Donald Trump speak at his Detroit church and appear on his cable TV show. He also delivered the closing prayer at Trump’s inauguration.
Now the minister, who runs Detroit-based,The Impact Network, a religious station, is locked in an intense, competitive battle with The Word Network, which is based in Southfield and owned by Kevin Adell. Both focus on black Christian audiences nationwide and worldwide.
Jameson Cook of The Macomb Daily writes:
The Word Network, based in Southfield, last week filed a complaint with the Federal Communications Commission alleging that Comcast Corp. in January pulled The Word’s availability from seven million of its 12 million Comcast customers -- not for solid business reasons but because The Word is not part of NBC-TV, which Comcast merged with six years ago.
The Word Network argues that Comcast’s replacement, Detroit-based The Impact Network, is “inferior” to The Word.
“The Word Network is the leading network in its genre,” The Word’s attorney, Markham Erickson, said Friday. “There is no sound, legal justification for cutting The Word Network. It’s not a legitimate business decision because The Word Network is the superior network to The Impact Network.”
Jackson tells the Macomb Daily that The Impact better serves its viewership. Jackson, who is black, noted Adell is white and not a pastor.
“We didn’t get in business to compete against him (Adell),” Jackson said. “We’re in business to serve our community. We have major bishops, pastors on the Impact Network who are doing a great job spreading the message.”
