Yahoo News Ebony Media Group To Launch Ebony TV By Lionsgate; FAST Channel To Target Black Audiences
Ebony Media Group has partnered with Lionsgate to launch Ebony TV by Lionsgate, a new FAST channel geared to Black audiences.
Channels targeting Black viewers make up just 2% of all available FAST channels in the U.S., even though African Americans represent 14% of the U.S. population. Starting tomorrow, Ebony TV will be available on Samsung TV Plus (channel 1054), followed by additional platforms including The Roku Channel, Tubi, and Amazon Freevee by the end of the month.
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Some of the programming planned for Ebony TV that’s been curated from Liongate’s 18,000-title library includes The Great Debaters starring Denzel Washington and Forest Whitaker; the Dwayne Johnson starrer Snitch; Dear White People with Tessa Thompson; If Beale Street Could Talk, starring KiKi Layne; I Can Do Bad All by Myself, starring Taraji P. Henson; and Jackie Brown, starring Pam Grier. The channel will also feature shows such as Are We There Yet? and Kevin Hart: What the Fit.
“Ebony has long been an outlet our culture could count on for news and entertainment,” said Ebony CEO Eden Bridgeman Sklenar. “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.”
“With the exceptional growth of MovieSphere by Lionsgate over the past year, we are excited to collaborate with Ebony to launch our first FAST channel providing premium Lionsgate content tailored to Black audiences,” continued Lionsgate Head of Domestic Channels and EVP & Managing Director, Canada Susan Hummel. “Ebony is the perfect partner to help bring our expansive library to a demographic that has been previously underserved in the FAST space.”
Lionsgate’s FAST channel lineup includes MovieSphere, HerSphere and OuterSphere as well as single IP channels such as Nashville and Ghost Hunters.
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