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Bright House carries black-owned cable station

The nation's only black-owned cable station has arrived in the Tampa Bay market.

By ADRIENNE P. SAMUELS
Published May 24, 2005

Black Family Channel, backed by millionaire Florida attorney Willie Gary, has quietly been broadcasting on Bright House Networks' Channel 145, available to the network's digital subscribers. It formally debuts today.

"We know we have a very large African-American population in the Tampa Bay area, so it's natural for us to add this type of quality programming," said Dan Ballister, Bright House spokesman. "That's what cable networks have to do - find their niche."

Many of BFC's shows are original and focus on the black experience, ranging from videotaped church services to a gospel video showcase to a black college talent hour. Educational shows for children air in the just-out-of-school hours and young adults are the target audience for Spoken, a poetry show reminiscent of HBO's Def Poetry .

Medical shows carry messages about early detection or preventing conditions such as diabetes and thyroid disease.

The channel's programming is vastly different from the formerly black-owned Black Entertainment Television, now owned by MTV's parent, Viacom. BET had been criticized for showing raunchy videos and shows that critics said perpetuated negative stereotypes.

BFC prides itself on what it calls family-oriented, "responsible programming," said Lisa Morgan, BFC spokeswoman.

Atlanta-based BFC changed its name from Major Broadcasting Cable Network in late 2004 to better reflect the target market. Gary joined with several investors, including boxing legend Evander Holyfield, former Detroit Tiger Cecil Fielder and Marlon Jackson, an older brother of singer Michael Jackson. Comedian Robert Townsend is the president and CEO of productions.

Bright House would not say how many of its more than 1-million Tampa Bay area subscribers receive premium digital service, so it's unclear how many will get BFC. (BET is available as part of the basic-cable package.)

Network TV long has been criticized for its dearth of diversity. But BFC's emergence is really a sign that advertisers are recognizing black Americans' spending power, said J. Fred MacDonald, author of One Nation Under Television: The Rise & Decline of Network TV and professor emeritus at Northeastern Illinois University. Black Americans comprise 13 percent of the population - more than 36-million people, according to the U.S. Census Bureau - and spent $656-billion in 2003, according to Target Market News.

A cable network dedicated to black families "should've been a service of the black community a long time ago," MacDonald said. "But the moral tisk, tisk is ineffectual. You've got to show these guys how they can make money. This is only possible because there are so many channel spaces that you start looking for the little niche audience and you narrowcast instead of broadcast."

Critics of BFC hope it gets more creative programming along the lines of Showtime's and BET's Soul Food or UPN's Girlfriends .

But MacDonald, for one, is pleased that BFC is here, and spreading.

"It's a long time coming," he said.

--Adrienne Samuels can be reached at 727 445-4157 or samuels@sptimes.com Times researcher Caryn Baird contributed to this report.

[Last modified May 24, 2005, 03:00:27]