Major Broadcasting Cable Network will step into the nightly-news arena on its
own network Friday, before spinning off its own all-news channel in early
2004.
MBC revealed Tuesday morning that it will premiere its hour-long newscast
April 4, running at 7 p.m. EST.
MBC Network News -- offering the day's top news stories and developing
trends from an African-American perspective -- will be co-anchored by former CNN
Headline News journalist Gordon Graham and Val Bracy. MBC will also produce a
weekend wrap-up program and news updates when warranted.
On premiere night, the newscast will be followed by Memphis: Then and
Now, a documentary about the city's status 35 years after the assassination
of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.
Gospel Video Countdown, the series currently presented at that hour, will
begin at 6 p.m. as of April 7.
Rival Black Entertainment Television presents its own journalism venture,
BET Nightly News, anchored by Jacque Reid, weeknights at 11 p.m. EST.
MBC's program also "will highlight the positive aspects of the urban culture,
which viewers may not see on other evening newscasts," CEO Willie Gary said in a
prepared statement.
The launch date of MBC Network News coincides with the channel's
first-ever upfront event for the advertising community and press, taking place
in New York.
There, Gary and other MBC officers will debrief attendees on the network's
2002-03 season plans and update the status of MBC News-The Urban Voice, the
all-news network announced earlier.
