Two cable networks serving primarily black audiences will offer vastly more coverage of the Democratic National Convention in Denver next month than ever.

When Sen. Barack Obama becomes the first African-American candidate for the presidency of the United States to be nominated by a major party, BET and TV One will provide significant coverage.

Especially on Aug. 28, the 45th anniversary of Martin Luther King's "I Have a Dream" speech, "We're taking in the historical impact of the evening, of special interest to our community," said BET's Washington bureau chief, Pamela Gentry.

"We wouldn't be doing anything this year if Obama weren't the nominee," TV One president Jonathan Rodgers said. "TV One was created to give African-Americans choice, and this is what our viewers are interested in. This is an historic event for all Americans, but especially for African-Americans. We feel it is not only our obligation, but our privilege."

TV One, which was in its infancy four years ago and did not offer coverage related to the election, will devote prime time to coverage for four nights, Aug. 25-28, including a casual post-convention show. (In the Raleigh market, TV One is available as channel 101 on Time Warner digital cable.) The coverage will be based from a set close to the Pepsi Center for interviews and roving cameras at parties and events around town.

"With all due respect to Sen. Clinton, if she were the nominee, we would not be covering the DNC. This is a moment in time that is unique for African-Americans," Rodgers said.

BET, which four years ago offered limited coverage of the nominating convention, will provide five hours of coverage from Denver this year.

BET's Gentry expects to have three or four correspondents on the floor of the convention, with live daily inserts in prime time. Obama's nomination acceptance speech will be carried live.

TV One's coverage will call upon XM Satellite Radio personality Joe Madison and CN8 anchor Arthur Fennell as hosts. The "somewhat irreverent" live news/entertainment show following the coverage will feature radio personality Jackie Reid along with celebrity husband-and-wife team Michael Eric Dyson and Marcia Dyson, actor Hill Harper, comedian Cheryl Underwood, the Rev. Al Sharpton and TV One chef/on-air personality G. Garvin.

Garvin's first assignment will be to "tell people where they can find fried food in Denver," Rodgers said.

The overnight shift, midnight to 3 a.m. EDT, is the highest-rated period for TV One, so, given the time zone, "We're going to hit our sweet spot when we do this show out of Denver," Rodgers said.

BET has been following Obama's run to the nomination, starting June 3 with live coverage of the speech the candidate delivered in St. Paul, Minn., when he clinched the delegates needed to win. Beyond the five hours of planned convention coverage, BET will add related features into already scheduled prime-time programs.

The more established BET, an offshoot of Viacom, aims for the 18- to 34-year-old audience and has 87 million subscribers.

TV One, which targets 25- to 54-year-olds, has roughly 43.2 million subscribers.

Denver's Citizen Pictures, under CEO Frank Matson, will handle the production for TV One.

"Their connections are great," Matson said of TV One. Because of executive producer connections, he expects to be able to land on-air visits from Barack and Michelle Obama, Hillary Rodham Clinton and Hollywood notables such as Will Smith.

Neither niche network plans coverage of this year's Republican National Convention, and neither is apologetic about that.

"This is a huge event in the history of African-Americans. We are a network that's proud of the fact that 93 percent of our audience is black," Rodgers said.

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