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Ebony Partners With Lionsgate To Create A TV Channel For African Americans

Phyllis Coley @phyllis_coley

LionsgateThe Ebony magazine brand has expanded into television with the Oct. 11 launch of Ebony TV by Lionsgate, a FAST channel targeting African-American viewers. FAST channels are streaming services that allow users to enjoy content for free. Usually, these services mimic a traditional linear TV experience, but they can also leverage some VOD content. In a FAST service, everything is supported by ad revenue (instead of a subscription-based model like Netflix or a hybrid model like Hulu’s subscription-and-ad-supported tier).

Created in partnership with Lionsgate, Ebony TV by Lionsgate will feature curated content from Lionsgate’s 18,000-title library, Ebony Media Group announced. 

The new TV offering debuts on Samsung TV Plus (channel 1054). Other platforms will be added by the end of the month, including Roku, Tubi, and Amazon Freevee.

The company notes that channels targeting Black audiences constitute 2% of available FAST channels, while African Americans are 14% of the U.S. population.

Last year, Ebony attempted to buy Black News Channel out of bankruptcy. But that channel was purchased by Allen Media Group and merged with theGrio. 

Only 2% of all available FAST channels in the U.S. target African Americans, who represent 14% of the U.S. population.

“EBONY has long been an outlet our culture could count on for news and entertainment,” said Ebony CEO Eden Bridgeman Sklenar. 

Sklenar adds, “Our new partnership with Lionsgate and the launch of EBONY TV is an extension of our brand that will provide our audience with Black-focused programming that furthers our mission to Move Black Forward.”

Ebony TV by Lionsgate will offer films that celebrate Black culture, including The Great Debaters, starring Denzel Washington and Forest Whitaker; If Beale Street Could Talk, starring KiKi Layne; Tyler Perry’s I Can Do Bad All by Myself, starring Taraji P. Henson, and Quentin Tarantino’s Jackie Brown, starring Pam Grier.

Ebony was founded in 1945 and revived in digital form in 2021.