EBONY Media Group & Lionsgate Launch FAST Channel

EBONY Media Group, the parent company of EBONY Magazine, has partnered with Lionsgate to launch EBONY TV.

Powered by a curated schedule of content from Lionsgate’s library, the new FAST channel offers programming from an African American point of view. EBONY TV features films, comedies and popular series that celebrate Black culture.

Programming highlights include The Great Debaters, starring Denzel Washington and Forest Whitaker; Snitch, starring Dwayne Johnson; Dear White People, starring Tessa Thompson; If Beale Street Could Talk, starring KiKi Layne; Tyler Perry’s I Can Do Bad All by Myself, starring Taraji P. Henson; and Quentin Tarantino’s Jackie Brown, starring Pam Grier. The channel also offers shows such as Are We There Yet? and Kevin Hart: What the Fit.

EBONY TV is available starting October 11, first on Samsung TV Plus, followed by additional platforms including Roku, Tubi and Amazon Freevee by the end of the month.

Channels targeted at Black audiences make up just 2 percent of all available FAST channels in the U.S., while African Americans represent 14 percent of the country’s population.

“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.’”

Susan Hummel, Lionsgate’s head of domestic channels and executive VP and managing director for Canada, added: “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. EBONY is the perfect partner to help bring our expansive library to a demographic that has been previously underserved in the FAST space.”