Image: UBC-TV.com
This fall, Harlem entrepreneur Peggy Dodson will launch a new broadcast network featuring “multicultural programming,” UBC-TV. The “Urban Broadcast Co.” will begin with four hours of prime-time programming each day. All shows will come from Harlem.
Among the shows, UBC-TV will air shows on a range of topics including beauty and style, health and small business. The channel will also show American Basketball Association games, a news/talk program called A Different Perspective hosted by local journalist Felipe Luciano, and there are plans for a Soul Train/American Bandstand-style program called The UBC Mix Dance Show.
The channel will be available “in most urban centers” and on demand via Time-Warner, Dish Network and Comcast. Dodson started the channel with $600,000 of her own money and a stable of investors.
The network is the latest in a line of broadcast channels targeting black audiences announced over the past year or so. Bounce TV, founded by Martin Luther King III, Ambassador Andrew Young and Andrew “Bo” Young III among others, launched in the fall. It continues to add programming and geographic locations where it can be viewed.
Little Rock, AR-based Soul of the South Network will be launching soon, available in Atlanta, Orlando, and Orlando where it says it will reach 62 percent of African-American households. We’ve got a promo video from the network’s website below.
And back in February, Diddy announced plans for a music-focused network called Revolt to launch at year’s end. The network was one of those chosen by Comcast (which pledged during government lobbying over the acquisition of NBCUniversal) to air a number of networks owned by minorities.
