closed march 15 2012 country united states language american english broadcast area national headquarters buffalo new york bridges tv was a muslim television network . it originally headquartered in buffalo new york . premiering nationally in november 15 2004 it was the first american muslim television network to broadcast in the english language . 1 2 3 this channel ceased operations on march 15 2012 . designed to counter negative stereotypes of muslims the network has received attention from publications and media venues such as variety nbc news the voice of america columbus dispatch detroit free press san jose mercury news rochester democrat & chronicle the buffalo news and canadian press . 4 in july 2011 bridges tv moved to new york city in hopes of broadening its influence across america with help from soundview broadcasting . the move crippled the company and was only meant for soundview to absorb bridges tv s customers and its small influence in the muslim american market . contents 1 content 2 leadership 3 murder 4 references 5 external links content edit by focusing its content on the experiences of the estimated eight million muslims living in north america bridges tv differentiates itself from such foreign language programming as geo tv which broadcasts in urdu prime tv which broadcasts in urdu and arab radio and television network which broadcasts in arabic . around the time of its inception the network announced that it would seek to feature sitcoms that represent american muslim family life in a positive way and identified the cosby show as a model for such programming . 1 in late 2005 bridges tv started airing current issues a show produced in lafayette louisiana about palestinian and other middle eastern concerns . the palestinian american host hesham tillawi is known for vocalizing criticism against israel s treatment of arabs and muslims . the anti defamation league called his show a megaphone for holocaust deniers and white supremacists seeking to broadcast their hatred and anti semitism into american homes with a who s who of notable american antisemites including david duke willis carto edgar j. steele mark weber and bradley smith . 5 another program shown on bridges tv american pilgrimage featured rabbi brad hirschfield visiting homes and mosques of leading imams and muslim religious thinkers across north america in cities including halifax detroit san francisco new york city and washington d.c. the series has been described as groundbreaking and has been characterized as having a charlie rose meets charles kuralt format . 6 world heavyweight champion muhammad ali a subscriber and spokesperson for the network said bridges tv gives american muslims a voice of their own on the airwaves for americans of all races and religions to hear . 2 network official expressed the opinion that a channel like bridges tv was long overdue and market research sponsored by the network revealed american muslims willingness to pay as much as 10 per month above and beyond their current cable television or satellite television fee for the channel . 1 leadership edit muzzammil s. hassan founder 7 and ceo of bridges tv expressed belief that moderate muslims can not identify with the extreme stereotypes often depicted in hollywood productions and said they think they are not accurately portrayed ... bridges tv gives american muslims a voice and will depict them in everyday real life situations . 1 hassan also said he hoped the bridges tv network would balance negative portrayals of muslims following the attacks on september 11 2001 . 3 murder edit in february 2009 hassan was arrested and charged with beheading his estranged wife aasiya zubair who also worked for bridges tv . 3 4 8 9 her decapitated body was found at the tv station . 4 10 11 dr. khalid qazi president of the muslim public affairs council of western new york and a friend of the couple said that hassan was worried about the station s future ... he was stressed and added domestic violence is despicable and islam condones it in no way whatever . 4 8 shortly after the arrest of muzzammil hassan bridges tv posted the following notice on their website bridges tv is deeply shocked and saddened by the murder of aasiya zubair hassan and subsequent arrest of muzzammil hassan . our deepest condolences and prayers go out to the families of the victim . we request that their right to privacy be respected . 12 in the aftermath of aasiya zubair hassan s death bridges tv shut down its news operations for three months although it continued to present other programming . the news operation has since resumed and the network continues to operate although on a smaller scale than previously projected . 13 as of may 2010 the network reported that it was carried in 4 million homes in two dozen markets . 14 hassan was convicted in february 2011 of second degree murder . 7 references edit a b c d news aljazeerah.info first american muslim television channel announced by bridges network a b press release bridges tv debuts american muslim television network in english nationwide on november 30 2004 a b c cnn founder of islamic tv station accused of beheading wife february 16 2009 a b c d catholic online u.s. muslim beheads wife 2 17 2009 anti defamation league hesham tillawi current issues national jewish center for learning and leadership american pilgrimage a b tv boss muzzammil hassan found guilty of beheading wife bbc news . february 7 2011 . a b new york daily news muslim tv mogul muzzammil hassan s alleged beheading of wife aasiya hassan may be honor killing february 17th 2009 buffalo news 02 13 09 muslim tv exec accused of beheading wife in ny ap 2009 02 17 neale gulley february 7 2011 . western new york man found guilty of beheading wife . reuters . archived from the original on february 7 2011 . bridges tv accessed 17 february 2009 jay tokazs bridges tv rebuilds from tragedy buffalo news february 13 2010 . bridges tv survives crime of ny founder s death ap at salon.com may 3 2010 . external links edit bridges tv v t e american religious television broadcast v t e religious broadcast television networks in the united states english networks 3abn al karma tv amazing facts tv byutv catholictv cbn ctn cornerstone television daystar ewtn family channel gcn geb god s learning channel god tv hillsong channel hope channel hope church channel iqra tv llbn sonlife telecare tbn tbn salsa smart lifestyle tv tct tln ubn walk word wht music juce tv the worship network children s and teen 3abn kids the family channel smile of a child tv entertainment insp spanish networks 3abn latino aliento vision almavisi n aviva tv ctni enlace esperanza tv familia tv fe tv hccn iglesia jemir red advenir tele vida abundante tvida vision cable satellite christian almavision catholictv credotv gmtn la familia cosmovision insp kids & teens tv la familia network liberty channel safetv channel tvu music television jewish national jewish television jewish life television jewish broadcasting service the jewish channel muslim bridges tv retrieved from https en.wikipedia.org w index.php title bridges tv & oldid 729578150 categories defunct american television networksislamic television networkstelevision channels and stations established in 2004television channels and stations disestablished in 2012 navigation menu personal tools not logged intalkcontributionscreate accountlog in namespaces article talk variants views read edit view history more search navigation main pagecontentsfeatured contentcurrent eventsrandom articledonate to wikipediawikipedia store interaction helpabout wikipediacommunity portalrecent changescontact page tools what links hererelated changesupload filespecial pagespermanent linkpage informationwikidata itemcite this page print export create a bookdownload as pdfprintable version languages deutsch edit links this page was last modified on 13 july 2016 at 05 01 . text is available under the creative commons 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