Struggling NUE-TV (New Urban Entertainment Television) officially closed its
doors last week, ending a three-year run to compete against Black Entertainment
Television for the African-American cable marketplace.
NUE-TV founder Dennis Brownlee confirmed Monday that the entertainment and
lifestyles channel, which was in front of 2 million households, was officially
off the air.
The service positioned itself as a family-oriented entertainment service
targeted to the African-American audience and a competitor to
then-music-video-heavy BET.
But while NUE secured distribution deals with such MSOs as AT&T
Broadband, Time Warner Cable and Cox Communications Inc., it failed to come up
with approximately $15 million to keep the network running.
An expected major investment from radio broadcaster Radio One never
materialized, nor did potential deals with AOL Time Warner Inc. or Comcast
Corp.
Other NUE investors included music mogul Quincy Jones, veteran cable
executive Leo J. Hindery Jr., Hubbard Broadcasting Inc., SFX Entertainment Inc.
and Prudential Insurance Co. of America.
