Ebony magazine’s parent company, Ebony Media Group, and Lionsgate said they are working together to launch a new free, ad-supported streaming television (FAST) channel called Ebony TV by Lionsgate.
The channel is set to debut on Samsung TV Plus on October 11. By the end of the month, it will also be available on Roku, Tubi and Amazon Freevee.
Ebony TV by Lionsgate will feature content from the Lionsgate library that celebrates Black culture, the companies said.
Movies on the channel will include: The Great Debaters, Snitch, Dear White People, If Beale Street Could Talk, Tyler Perry’s I Can Do Bad All by Myself and Jackie Brown.
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.”
Channels targeted at Black audiences make up just 2% of all available FAST channels in the U.S., while African Americans represent 14% of the U.S. population.
“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,” Lionsgate head of domestic Channels and executive VP and managing director, Canada, Susan Hummel said. “Ebony is the perfect partner to help bring our expansive library to a demographic that has been previously underserved in the FAST space.”
