Thursday, March 28, 2024

Jaguars Owner to ‘Save’ Bankrupt Black News with $1.6 Million in Funding

Black News Channel
Black News Channel

*Shahid Khan, the billionaire who has been financing the Black News Channel since 2018, will loan the network funds so the media outlet can keep operating. 

As previously reported, the Black News Channel/BNC has run desperately low on funds and is on the verge of shutting down entirely. The company filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy and is now operating on a smaller scale. The BNC had a staff of 230 — a vast majority of whom are people of color — and most are now out of work. Many of them still haven’t been paid for work done just before the bankruptcy, Bloomberg reports.

During a hearing on Tuesday, U.S. Bankruptcy Judge Karen Specie said the television network can borrow about $1.6 million from an entity affiliated with Khan while it searches for a buyer. The cash will let BNC pay vendors and a few remaining employees.

Prior to this latest development, Khan (the owner of the NFL Jacksonville Jaguars) reportedly decided to stop investing in the news outlet.

READ MORE: BNC – Black News Channel Shuts Down & Doesn’t Pay Staff – Where’s Marc Lamont Hill, Charles Blow, and J.C. Watts ? (WATCH)

BNC - Mike Hill Sharon Reed Pricell Hair
This image released by BNC shows Mike Hill, left, and Sharon Reed posing with Black News Channel president & CEO Princell Hair.

Here’s more from Bloomberg:

Instead of liquidating, the company filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy and has since worked to keep operating on a much smaller scale. Just 17 employees remained when it filed for bankruptcy, a fraction of the more than 300 people working for the Tallahassee-based broadcaster six months ago, but BNC in the last week moved to rehire seven employees that’ll help the channel stay on the air, according to court papers. 

BNC had about $500,000 of cash on hand at the end of last month compared with debts of more than $25 million, court papers show. Despite valuable distribution deals with cable and Internet television providers, the company has struggled to turn a profit in light of higher-than-expected costs and disappointing revenues since it started broadcasting in 2020, Vice President of Finance Maureen Brown said in a sworn declaration.

Owners tried to sell Black News Channel to Byron Allen’s Entertainment Studios, but those efforts were unsuccessful, the news site noted.

Nielsen data showed that the news outlet has an average audience size of less than 10,000 viewers despite a reach of 50 million satellite and cable households.

Potential bidders have contacted the company about buying the operations and keeping it afloat, according to court papers. 

“We think this case is going to rise and fall within the next sixty days,” Christopher Schreiber, a lawyer for Khan’s investment entity, said in the hearing. “Hopefully within that time we’re going to have a sale.”

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