Since its debut, Bounce TV has continued to grow. The African-American network has now announced that is will produce its first original non-scripted series.

Bounce, which claims to be the fastest growing black network in television, will begin production on the network’s first-ever original reality series which will center around the daily lives of the Grammy-nominated family gospel group, forever JONES.

According to the press release, Bounce TV has ordered an initial six episodes of forever JONES with production beginning later this month in Shreveport, LA, the band’s hometown. The show will debut forever JONES this summer.

A forever JONES Holiday will dig deeper into the daily lives and challenges of this close-knit, faith-based family and address how they balance religion with success.

Will you watch? Get to know forever Jones with a video clip available after the jump.

Pablo Calvog/Shutterstock.com

African-American television network Bounce TV has just signed a major distribution deal to partner with Univision Communications Inc., the leading media company serving Hispanic America, to broadcast Bounce TV as a multicast channel of their stations in San Francisco, Boston, Miami, Denver, Sacramento, Raleigh, and Tampa. This might be the first time an African-American broadcast company and a Hispanic media company have joined forces at this level. Univision Television Group owns and/or operates 62 television stations in major US Hispanic markets and Puerto Rico, will carry Bounce TV.

This deal, according to a press release, will drive Bounce TV’s coverage to 86 percent of African-American television homes and 68 percent of the total United States. Bounce TV will now also be in available all of the top ten markets and 24 of the top 25 African-American markets. All this comes on the heels of Bounce’s one-year anniversary operation on Sept. 26. Bounce TV, which is majority African American-owned, airs 24 hours daily, seven days a week on the signals of local television stations. Its founding group and board of directors include Martin Luther King III and Ambassador Andrew Young.

While all of the terms of the Bounce-Univision deal have not been disclosed, both sides seem excited about the joint venture. “This unique agreement brings together the leading over the air broadcaster targeting the Hispanic viewer and the only over the air network targeting African Americans,” commented Jeffrey Wolf, executive vice president of distribution, Bounce TV in the press release. “Our partnership with Univision extends Bounce TV’s extraordinary reach even further, reinforcing our position as the fastest growing African-American network.”

Univision Television Group president, Kevin Cuddihy, added, “Bounce TV is the perfect companion for Univision as we continue to serve the New American Reality. It is a meaningful network that will serve African American audiences in our communities joining Univision to create a powerful one-two combination for viewers and advertisers.”

This year, Bounce also announced its first motion picture licensing agreement with Lionsgate through which the network broadcast a package of African American-skewing Lionsgate movies.

Bounce is continuing to rise fast. This latest deal should speed up its growth even more.

Martin Luther King, III with Lenfest Broadcasting President Jon Gorchow at the December announcement that Bounce was heading to Philly. Image: AP Photo/Matt Rourke

Have you seen Bounce TV yet? Well, a growing number of you have being watching it. Bounce TV, the network focused squarely on programming for African-American audiences, is readying for its one-year anniversary on September 26. And the network has announced a slew of new business deals.

Since its founding in 2011 by Martin Luther King III and civil rights legend Ambassador Andrew Young, Bounce TV says it has reached up to 80 percent of African American homes. It is currently in 17 of the top 20 African-American markets and in more than 60 percent of total U.S. television households. So if you’re living in New York, Los Angeles, Chicago, DC, Atlanta or Philly, for example, no doubt you’ve caught Bounce TV.

In 10 days, Bounce TV will go on the air in Detroit, Phoenix, Minneapolis and Orlando too. Bounce TV also released news that it has inked its first motion picture licensing agreement with Lionsgate that will allow Bounce to broadcast a package of African American-skewing Lionsgate movies, such as  Halle Berry’s Academy Award-winning performance in Monster’s Ball and Pride starring Terrence Howard and Bernie Mac.

“I am very proud of our network and the amazing growth it has enjoyed. Bounce TV’s rapid expansion validates the need for free programming for our under-served community,” said King, a member of Bounce TV’s board of directors, in a press statement.

Bounce TV targets African Americans primarily between the ages of 25 and 54 with movies, live sports, documentaries, original series and more. It airs 24 hours per day, seven days a week on the digital signals of local television stations.

With African Americans watching more television than other segments of the population, according to Nielsen research, Bounce TV may well be on is way to becoming the  major TV network.

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.

askdro.com

Bounce TV has gotten the ball rolling in cities across the country including New York, Los Angeles, Washington, DC, Philadelphia and Atlanta. And now, the first ever broadcast network specifically targeted to African Americans is coming to Detroit’s ABC affiliate WXYZ-TV this fall.

According to a Business Review press release, with its new position in Detroit, Bounce TTV will now reach 75 percent of African American homes and almost 55 percent of the total households in the US.

“We are thrilled that Bounce TV will be seen on such a strong station as WXYZ in such a critical market as Detroit,” Jeffrey Wolf, Bounce TV Executive Vice President of Distribution said in a press statement.

WXYZ reaches over 1.9 million households in nine counties in Detroit’s television market. Bounce TV will target African Americans between the ages of 25-54 with a mix of original series, theatrical motion pictures, documentaries, specials, faith-based programming, live sports and off-net series.

“Bounce TV is a very meaningful programming option for our digital spectrum and an ideal way to serve the 390,000 African-American households throughout Southeast Michigan,” Ed Fernandez, the E.W. Scripps Divisional General Manager and WXYZ-TV Vice-President and General Manager said in a press statement.  “We are delighted to be their exclusive home in Detroit.”

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Source: Shadowandact.com

Today Bounce TV announced the launch of a new original series, “Family Time,” on what is ironically the 20-year anniversary broadcast of the last episode of The Cosby’s—the show considered by many to be the greatest black family sitcom that ever lived.

Hopes aren’t very high for the show which centers around the experiences of The Stallworths, a working class two-parent, two-children African American family who scratches off a lottery ticket and jumps to middle class overnight. That’s likely because of the network (Bounce) and the actors who are lesser known (Omar Gooding, Angell Conwell, Jayla Calhoun, and Bentley Kyle Evans, Jr.), but I think there’s another element at play when it comes to apprehension about black family sitcoms. For as much complaining as we do about our current depictions on TV and our pleas for a quality family sitcom, the shows just don’t get our support and I think it’s partly because they aren’t reflections of our reality.

Most people said they wanted to give “Reed Between the Lines” a chance, and though poor writing made it understandably hard to do so, outside of that there was a sense that the Reed’s weren’t a “real” family, that they weren’t handling or dealing with issues the way a real black family would, particularly Malcolm-Jamal Warner’s character as a black father. Some of that can be summed up as pure ignorance about the non-monolithic reality of black life but that conundrum begs the question of whether we want black family sitcoms so that life imitates art or whether we’re missing the mark by not having art truly imitate life?

I understand and support the plea for black family shows. Black life is overly represented as a sea of baby mamas and daddy’s lacking any family unit at all, which unfortunately reflects a lot of the reality of society. Somehow when we put together these rosy depictions of the small percentage of black families that consist of two professional parents raising respectable children it’s almost too picture perfect for viewers to get into and without viewers the shows don’t last and we’re stuck back in the same cycle trying to get clearance for another show destined to last one season.

When I think about the success of “Modern Family,” I think, there’s a model black sitcoms could learn from. Aside from being hilariously funny, the families reflect family units that have become the majority in society today. People love the show because one of the families on the show likely is their family. In many ways, rather than being innovative, many black sitcoms attempt to come along and reinvent The Cosby’s and while that format worked great during the 80s, 20+ years later it’s just not totally representative of black life today.

By no means should we give up on putting together strong representations of black families in sitcoms today, but they need to be contemporary and they need to come out from under the shadow of “The Cosby Show,” “The Jeffersons,” “What’s Happening,” and “Good Times.” Those shows were genius because they spoke to their era, we need to do the same in 2012. We can prove that two parent homes exist, we can show that blended families don’t have to mean mess custody battles and unpaid child support, we can show that black families adopt. There are a lot of modern positive examples of black life, what we need are innovative writers and producers who can paint that picture in a way that’s relatable and inspirational.

Do you think there’s a chance for the return of popular black sitcoms on major networks?

Brande Victorian is a blogger and culture writer in New York City. Follower her on Twitter at @be_vic.

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(Huffington Post) — This week marks another historic milestone in black media, with the launch of Bounce TV, the nation’s first-ever, free broadcast television network marketed exclusively to African-American audiences. Founded by entertainment industry luminaries and businessmen Andrew Young, Martin Luther King III, Andrew “Bo” Young III, television executives Ryan Glover and Jonathan Katz and filmmakers Rob Hardy and Will Packer, the channel targets African Americans primarily between the ages of 25 and 54 with 24-hour programming that includes movies, live sporting events, documentaries and inspirational faith-based programs.  ”It was one of those once-in-a-lifetime opportunities when we approached by Ambassador Andrew Young, Martin Luther King III and Ryan Glover. They had this idea and this concept that was past its germination stage,” said Packer, the network’s Chief Strategy and Marketing Officer. “They came to myself and Rob and said, ‘Listen, this is what we want to do. This has the potential to be historic. We want you guys to be apart of this launch, first African-American broadcast network. We want you to bring the same energy and perspective and the same marketing that you have brought to your projects that have been successful.’ And we said, ‘You know what, just the potential of a project like this, how could we say no? How could we not be apart of it?”

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(Reuters) — When the country’s first broadcast network focused on African-Americans launches at noon Monday, it will do it not with new, original shows, but with “The Wiz,” Sidney Lumet’s 33-year-old “Wizard of Oz” update featuring Michael Jackson, Diana Ross and Nipsey Russell.  The choice offers a hint at the largely safe, comforting approach of the new network, which counts Martin Luther King III among its founders.  Bounce hopes to establish its identity with an early slate of films that includes old and new classics, inspirational stories, and showcases for African-American icons. It will also air specials, sports, documentaries and faith-based programs.

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(Atlanta Business Chronicle) — New African-American television network Bounce TV will launch in Atlanta on Sept. 26 on WATL-TV channel 36.  The deal marks Atlanta-based Bounce TV’s first agreement with Gannett . It also has affiliation agreements with Belo Corp. , Nexstar Communications, LIN TV Corp. and Raycom Media . The Atlanta-based network expects to be available in at least half of the country by its national launch on Sept. 26.

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(TheWrap) – Bounce TV, a new broadcast network geared toward African-American viewers, will debut on September 26, the network announced Tuesday.  The network, founded by Martin Luther King III and others, will debut at noon with a with a 24-hour, daily programing mix of movies, sports, documentaries and original programing.

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