First the news…
“The new Atlanta-based TV network Bounce, targeting African-Americans and set to launch this fall, is taking advantage of the digital spectrum broadcast networks have been using since 2009.
The company is majority owned and operated by African-Americans, with Martin Luther King III and former U.N. ambassador and Atlanta Mayor Andrew Young part of the initial ownership team. Bounce will most directly compete against Lanham, Md.-based Radio One, which operates TV One; and New York-based Viacom, which owns BET and Centric.
Bounce has no distribution agreements yet. Executives will spend the next few months getting digital space from TV station groups across the country, preferably in markets with sizable black populations including Chicago, New York and Atlanta.
Getting coverage in enough markets to draw national advertisers will take time, said Chuck Larsen, president of Pacific Palisades, Calif.-based October Moon Television, a consulting firm for producers of TV series to help them with distribution.
“It sounds challenging, but it’s not impossible,” Larsen said.
Bounce at first will focus on old movies, including Spike Lee classics such as “Do the Right Thing” and “Mo’ Better Blues,” Will Smith’s “Ali,” John Singleton’s “Boyz ‘n the Hood” and Denzel Washington vehicles “Glory,” “Philadelphia” and “The Hurricane.”
To super-simplify this, this mean that we are now getting another channel to watch reruns from back in the day. BET did it. TV One did it. Centric does it. And now (cough) Bounce will do it.
And what’s up with the Black STARz channel? They play the same movies that I see on other channels. There were only two Black people in the movie “The Day After Tomorrow” (one was homeless and the other was a tag-along), yet it was somehow considered a “Black” movie?
Followers of this site know that I have been preaching against the sheer stupidity behind the begging for more Black channels on the cable spectrum. Why? Because A: They all pretty much play the same thing. B: It took them YEARS to get enough money to produce serious original programing (BET started out with original programing but went broke quick because of the lack of dollars from advertising–Read Bob Johnson’s book). C: If you are playing pretty much the same things that can be found on the non-exclusive Black channels, what’s the point?
Like many Black folks, I have always loved the idea of having a true television network we can be proud to call our own. I envisioned ORIGINAL high-quality dramas, classy concerts, real news…you get the idea. BET started well, ran to the ghetto and eventually was bought out by Viacom. Now they have access to much needed resources to produce original programing. The upper-tier of the Black community may not approve of BET content, but they cannot deny the fact that we (Black folks) have been faithful members of the audience through it all.
The Black Family Channel started as a great idea, but POOF! It was gone.
TV One was billed as the anti-BET by some. But when I looked at Targetmarketnews.com (a Black site that follows trends within the Black community), last year this was what I discovered~
“Disney is consistently on the list with shows like “Suite Life on Deck”, “Phineas and Ferb”, “Good Luck Charlie”, “Hannah Montana” (shows clearly with no Black themes) making more appearances than ANY single show produced by TV One.”
Plus, when you think of the cost it takes to actually build or rent a building for a station, a full staff, advertising, license fees just to rebroadcast reruns, salaries, etc., it can be almost an impossible task just for something marginal.
In the meantime, people all over the globe have been taking advantage of venues like YouTube, Vimeo, Blip.tv, etc. and are basically broadcasting what they want to see. What started out as quirky sites where people could upload less than serious video are now places where you can find some solid content. Independent filmmakers that wish to gain some publicity of there work can now upload their videos within minutes for the entire world to see–not just a small demographic determined by the cable companies. Stories where unknowns have gained millions of viewers in a matter of days are no longer uncommon in this new media. The technology to produce high quality video has not only become more affordable, but one no longer has to be a rocket scientist to know how to edit. If you really want your work to stand out, you still need the right training and education. But no longer does one have to have ties to Hollywood to produce a decent video.
Some people are taking it a step further by creating their own web-based tv networks. Check out MyCulture.TV. They are just one of many.
On a personal note, my family and I just recently ditched our cable boxes altogether and have gone with a service called Roku. With Roku, we are paid $99 for the box (Boxes start as low as $59). That is a one-time charge. We pay $8 for Netflix, and $8 for Hulu. We have access to literally hundreds of free web-based channels that are based both here and abroad. We have access to many broadcast cable news outlets based here in the states and abroad. Although we do not have access to local news, I get local news online anyway, so there is nothing missed on that front. When we had both high speed Internet and cable television, we were paying about $130 a month for a limited amount of channels–most of which we did not watch.
I almost forgot to mention that we can also get access to all NBA games for $4.99/mo (they also have baseball and hockey if you are into those sports).
Unfortunately, our cable company would not allow us to strip down to just Internet without completely jacking up the cost for Internet-only. So we pay about $50 (for Internet w/basic cable, $8 (Netflix), $8 (Hulu). That comes out to $66.
So think about it for a moment. All of that whining and complaining over how po’ Black folks can’t afford cable television because of the rising costs and here we have a solution that can literally cut your bill more than half. So again I ask “Why were we fighting for a handful of channels from Comcast again?”
Make no mistake about it, Internet-based television is something that is growing by leaps and bounds. FINALLY, people like me can now watch the programing I want to see, when I want to see it. This brave new world presents a golden opportunity for Blacks to set the tone for both entertainment and informative television for decades to come. Unfortunately, people like Martin Luther King III and Andrew Young want us to stay on the bus and hope and pray for the day we can get a decent seat.
===
Also check out boxee.tv. If you have the right kind of computer that can connect to your television, you can download the software for free and not need to buy an actual box.
From front of the bus to the back of the bus: Why they will never get it when it comes to television
by Duane on April 5th, 2011 at 8:36 pmFirst the news…
To super-simplify this, this mean that we are now getting another channel to watch reruns from back in the day. BET did it. TV One did it. Centric does it. And now (cough) Bounce will do it.
And what’s up with the Black STARz channel? They play the same movies that I see on other channels. There were only two Black people in the movie “The Day After Tomorrow” (one was homeless and the other was a tag-along), yet it was somehow considered a “Black” movie?
Followers of this site know that I have been preaching against the sheer stupidity behind the begging for more Black channels on the cable spectrum. Why? Because A: They all pretty much play the same thing. B: It took them YEARS to get enough money to produce serious original programing (BET started out with original programing but went broke quick because of the lack of dollars from advertising–Read Bob Johnson’s book). C: If you are playing pretty much the same things that can be found on the non-exclusive Black channels, what’s the point?
Like many Black folks, I have always loved the idea of having a true television network we can be proud to call our own. I envisioned ORIGINAL high-quality dramas, classy concerts, real news…you get the idea. BET started well, ran to the ghetto and eventually was bought out by Viacom. Now they have access to much needed resources to produce original programing. The upper-tier of the Black community may not approve of BET content, but they cannot deny the fact that we (Black folks) have been faithful members of the audience through it all.
The Black Family Channel started as a great idea, but POOF! It was gone.
TV One was billed as the anti-BET by some. But when I looked at Targetmarketnews.com (a Black site that follows trends within the Black community), last year this was what I discovered~
Plus, when you think of the cost it takes to actually build or rent a building for a station, a full staff, advertising, license fees just to rebroadcast reruns, salaries, etc., it can be almost an impossible task just for something marginal.
In the meantime, people all over the globe have been taking advantage of venues like YouTube, Vimeo, Blip.tv, etc. and are basically broadcasting what they want to see. What started out as quirky sites where people could upload less than serious video are now places where you can find some solid content. Independent filmmakers that wish to gain some publicity of there work can now upload their videos within minutes for the entire world to see–not just a small demographic determined by the cable companies. Stories where unknowns have gained millions of viewers in a matter of days are no longer uncommon in this new media. The technology to produce high quality video has not only become more affordable, but one no longer has to be a rocket scientist to know how to edit. If you really want your work to stand out, you still need the right training and education. But no longer does one have to have ties to Hollywood to produce a decent video.
Some people are taking it a step further by creating their own web-based tv networks. Check out MyCulture.TV. They are just one of many.
On a personal note, my family and I just recently ditched our cable boxes altogether and have gone with a service called Roku. With Roku, we are paid $99 for the box (Boxes start as low as $59). That is a one-time charge. We pay $8 for Netflix, and $8 for Hulu. We have access to literally hundreds of free web-based channels that are based both here and abroad. We have access to many broadcast cable news outlets based here in the states and abroad. Although we do not have access to local news, I get local news online anyway, so there is nothing missed on that front. When we had both high speed Internet and cable television, we were paying about $130 a month for a limited amount of channels–most of which we did not watch.
I almost forgot to mention that we can also get access to all NBA games for $4.99/mo (they also have baseball and hockey if you are into those sports).
Unfortunately, our cable company would not allow us to strip down to just Internet without completely jacking up the cost for Internet-only. So we pay about $50 (for Internet w/basic cable, $8 (Netflix), $8 (Hulu). That comes out to $66.
So think about it for a moment. All of that whining and complaining over how po’ Black folks can’t afford cable television because of the rising costs and here we have a solution that can literally cut your bill more than half. So again I ask “Why were we fighting for a handful of channels from Comcast again?”
Make no mistake about it, Internet-based television is something that is growing by leaps and bounds. FINALLY, people like me can now watch the programing I want to see, when I want to see it. This brave new world presents a golden opportunity for Blacks to set the tone for both entertainment and informative television for decades to come. Unfortunately, people like Martin Luther King III and Andrew Young want us to stay on the bus and hope and pray for the day we can get a decent seat.
===
Also check out boxee.tv. If you have the right kind of computer that can connect to your television, you can download the software for free and not need to buy an actual box.