Ebony Media Group, the company behind Ebony Magazine, has teamed up with Lionsgate to announce the launch of their joint venture, Ebony TV by Lionsgate.
With access to Lionsgate’s expansive library of titles, the FAST channel will be available on Samsung TV Plus starting on Oct. 11 with programming that includes popular titles such as “The Great Debaters,” starring Denzel Washington and Forest Whitaker; “Snitch,” featuring Dwayne Johnson; “Dear White People,” starring Tessa Thompson; “If Beale Street Could Talk”; Tyler Perry’s “I Can Do Bad All by Myself”; and “Jackie Brown,” starring Pam Grier. The channel will also feature shows such as “Are We There Yet?” and “Kevin Hart: What the Fit.”
By the end of the month, Ebony TV will become available on The Roku Channel, Tubi, and Amazon Freevee.
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“Ebony has long been an outlet our culture could count on for news and entertainment,” said Ebony CEO Eden Bridgeman Sklenar. “Our new partnership with Lionsgate and the launch of Ebony TV is an extension of our brand that will provide our audience with Black-focused programming that furthers our mission to Move Black Forward.”
Ebony TV expands Lionsgate’s FAST Channels catalog which includes 12 total channels from MovieSphere, HerSphere and OuterSphere to single IP channels such as Nashville and Ghost Hunters.
“With the exceptional growth of MovieSphere by Lionsgate over the past year, we are excited to collaborate with Ebony to launch our first FAST channel providing premium Lionsgate content tailored to Black audiences,” said Lionsgate head of domestic channels, Susan Hummel. Hummel also serves as EVP & managing director of the company’s Canada division. “Ebony is the perfect partner to help bring our expansive library to a demographic that has been previously underserved in the FAST space.”