*We caught up with former Fox Soul General Manager James DuBose to speak about his forthcoming AVOD platform called In The Black Network, set to launch this fall.
We reported previously DuBose developed many of the Fox Soul’s original shows during his time with the network, and that long list of entertainment will be featured on his new ad-based video-on-demand platform launching in October, Deadline reports. The extensive collection will be available for free via iOS, and Android devices, Apple TV, YouTube, and Samsung media players. According to Deadline, more distribution partners will be announced later.
“So when we originally started Fox Soul, the idea behind Fox Soul, because I knew I couldn’t compete with BET and the TV Ones, the places that have been on for so long, was to, what was the difference? And that was to unmute the voices that I felt had been muted for so long and then allow those voices to speak in their true and authentic way. I felt like we did that over the three and a half years that I was leaving Fox Soul with the Queens and different programs and so forth,” DeBos explained in our exclusive interview.
“And it just became a natural time to transition into In The Black Network,” he continued.
DuBose named his new media platform In The Black “because I want it to be Black owned, Black culture and profitable,” he shared. “And those were the pillars that the network is going to stand on.”
DuBose continued, “But as I continue to strive off of that momentum that I was blessed enough to have and build at Fox Soul, I don’t want you to just watch content In The Black Network, I want you to feel, and I want to bring back that feeling of Black pride, that feeling of being proud of our Blackness and all that comes with that.”
The self-described visionary noted that In The Black aims to be “entertainingly inspiring.”
“I want to inspire you to be the best you. When you watch something, I don’t want you to just walk away, said I was entertained, I want you to walk away with some type of feeling, some type of inspiration,” DuBose said.
“And I think that’s really what’s going to separate In The Black Network from a lot of the others, is that this is not just another Black product for content, we are walking in our purpose. And my purpose is to inspire my community in a way that they try to find their purpose, so they don’t need all the motivation and the quotes on YouTube or social media. Because when you are in your purpose, you’re naturally motivated to get up every day and better yourself. And that’s what In The Black Network really stands for. I want it to be our network as the community,” he explained.
According to DuBose, In The Black Network will be available on “Roku, Samsung, LG, our native app, Apple, Android, Google, and YouTube.”
DuBose has partnered with several content companies for programming, including pocket.watch, Black Waterhorse and Maverick Entertainment, according to Deadline.
“So we’ll do an AVOD, and the reason I chose that is that it’s subscription-based. As you know from even the bigger platforms at the moment, everybody’s making significant cutbacks because right now, the streaming can be a depressing place,” he told EUR.
“I want a service In The Black so that the fact when I’m dead and gone, this will continue to live 30, 40, 50 years down the line. And that is my purpose and that is my goal,” DuBose revealed.
“… one of the things is I want to continue, if you’ve watched Fox Souls, I want to continue having live chats with the community so that there’s a space for you to come and feel like you are in a community and you can talk about what’s really going on, we can hear your voice in realtime. I think that’s very, very important,” he said.
“When you log on, we are going to have areas where you can actually give us feedback on what you are missing as a viewer that you would love to see. And that is how we’re going to service the viewer. That’s why I say this is our content. So if you had something that you were missing, be it financial literacy, be it therapy, if you couldn’t afford to go to therapy, if you need that, I want to be able to give that on In The Black,” he added.
The In The Black Network will not only acquire content but also “produce in-house original content,” DuBose revealed.
“The main thing is finding content creators that could produce outside of house that could bring us the quality. We won’t just put anything on, we want quality so that we feel like we’re giving our community something to be prideful in,” he said.
“In The Black has to be around longer than I will be on this earth, you can’t do that by doing everything yourself, you have to find great content creators who have a passion and walking in their purpose as well,” DuBose stated.
“And that is something that I want to bring to In The Black Network and make it so much easier for Black creators to be able to find homes for their passion and their content because it’s extremely difficult, as you may know, in Hollywood, as it is, to get our content seen, purchased or licensed or acquired. I want to be a place that I can make that a lot easier for a lot of content creators that deserve the opportunity,” he said.
The In The Black Network will launch on October 2.
READ MORE: Former Fox Soul General Manager to Launch AVOD Platform This Fall
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