Lauren McCoy, Kevan Smith, Fred Hickman, Laverne
McGee, Anthony Amey and Rarione Maniece.
*For the most part, no one will even notice because for the most part no one even knew it existed. Unfortunately, the Black News Channel/BNC is shutting down or will have already shut down by the time you read this. Yep, it’s like that. As soon as today, Friday (03-25-22), the Los Angeles Times reported, citing two people familiar with the matter.
Those people told the Times that Shad Khan (the owner of the NFL Jacksonville Jaguars) did not want to continue investing in the news outlet. The Times’ story also says BNC employees were told on Thursday that their paychecks would be delayed and the company did not make payroll the following day (today).
The bottom line is that BNC’s staff of 230 — a vast majority of whom are people of color — are out of work. They have been told benefits will last through next week and there will be no severance, according to one person briefed on the plans.
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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.
According to the Times, employees were angry and surprised by the anticipated announcement. The development comes only a couple of years after Black News Channel, which was co-founded by \former Congressman J.C Watts, launched in 2020.
Here’s more via The Hill:
The news outlet was established to provide news coverage to people of color and included Khan’s $50 million investment. Black News Channel hired many employees that came from notable news organizations who agreed with the company’s mission, the Times noted.
One of the news outlet’s top executives, Princell Hair, previously led CNN’s U.S. operations.
A Black News Channel representative declined to comment to the Times about the matter.
So far, there’s been no response from BNC about the Times story.
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