Jay-Z, Diddy jay with Comcast about urban channel

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Comcast is exploring the creation of an urban-focused channel for its video-on-demand platform, On The Money has learned.

That would explain why hip-hop stars Jay-Z and Sean "Diddy" Combs, along with Harvey and Bob Weinstein, were spotted at the cable operator's massive Market Street compound in Philadelphia last week. One source familiar with the meeting said it was both a getting-acquainted session and a chance to bounce around ideas about urban programming.

The presence of the brothers Weinstein was twofold: since they're already acquainted with both Comcast and the rap icons, they served as a perfect conduit for the meeting. And if the project ever gets off the ground, the Weinsteins would be the money guys behind it, this source said.

The source cautioned, however, that the meeting was the first between the parties and there's no guarantee that anything will come of it.

Comcast already owns a 50 percent stake in TV One, an urban-focused cable network that competes with Black Entertainment Television. But the cable operator has been aggressively building out its VOD platform and currently lacks on- demand urban- themed programming.

Moreover, music videos are among the most popular on- demand content, and the idea is to create a VOD version of BET that skews to a younger audi ence. Jay-Z and Diddy would function less as operators than as magnets to attract talent to the new channel. Peter Lauria

Stalking DavosStars such as Brad Pitt and Angelina Jolie were absent from this year's gathering of the rich and powerful in Dav os, Swi tzerland.

But the five- day World Economic Forum - where the hot topics were the Middle East, the environment and the world's poor - attracted a swarm of advertising execs.

It seems Davos, much like Cannes during the annual advertising awards, is a good place to rub el bows with CEOs and snag a client.