TALLAHASSEE, Fla.—The Black News Channel has announced that it will launch its streaming service BNC GO on September 13. 

The 24/7 BNC GO streaming service will go live on 200 million internet-connected devices via agreements with Amazon Fire TV, Pluto, Roku, Tubi, Samsung, Vizio and other platforms. 

It will feature 18 hours of original content every weekday from 6 a.m. to 12 a.m. ET. providing a dynamic rundown of trending news, interviews with special guests, branded segments and live shots from the hottest events, the company said. 

"As we continue to expand BNC's reach and breadth of offerings, we're excited to launch this all-new streaming product," said Princell Hair, president and chief executive officer of BNC. "As younger viewers increasingly shift their content consumption to digital programming, BNC GO provides another opportunity for Black and Brown audiences to stay connected and engage with our network's unique and culturally specific storytelling."

TALLAHASSEE, Fla.—Launching a new network is difficult enough, but almost immediately having to adapt to a global pandemic raises those challenges to a new level. That was the situation that faced Black News Channel, which debuted in February of this year.

The pandemic raised the importance of communication between BNC staff as they transitioned to remote production. Thankfully, BNC Chief Audio Engineer Darnell Bryant said that communication was a top priority from the beginning when BNC was building its facility, for which it relied on Clear-Com and its technology, which proved equally effective as things went remote.

For its initial setup, BNC equipped its facility with Clear-Com’s Eclipse Matrix platform with analog four-wire, Dante, MADI and E-IPA enabling AES 67, its V-Series intercom panels, FreeSpeak II wireless beltpacks and LQ with SIP telephone. 

Clear-Com also helped train BNC staff on the equipment, many of whom were new to the industry. This gave Clear-Com Applications Engineer Jonathan Sorenson the opportunity to make the learning curve easier for BNC.

The staffers took the training in stride and worked with Sorenson to improve their setup by adding elements like external phone lines with IFB and different kinds of Dante and MADI program input and routing. “It’s all just learn by doing, and both companies are able to take advantage of our relationship together to do that,” Sorenson said.

When the pandemic struck, the relationship established with BNC and Clear-Com helped make the transition as smooth as possible.

“I was able to go to them and say, ‘Hey, this is what other people are doing, you have all the tools so let’s change things around and do it,’” said Sorenson. “They were very adaptive in their workflow to be able to allow for that.”

Part of that adaptive process is the use of Agent IC, which BNC talent use to communicate remotely by providing their traditional intercom hard panel and making it accessible through an application at home.

“This is my first time working with Clear-Com and their products, and I am beyond amazed by their customer service, the knowledge of equipment and everything else they bring to the table. Just an overall wonderful experience,” said Bryant.

BNC expects to continue its relationship with Clear-Com as the network expands.

BRIDGEVILLE, Pa.—When the lights turned on for the Black News Channel in February, it did so using Brightline LEDs.

An African-American news network, Black News Channel’s 2,000-square-foot main set features a lighting grid of around 70 lights. This includes Brightline’s L1.2 and L1.4 SeriesONE LED soft light fixture, as well as Flex-T LED lights. An additional 20 L1.2 and L1.4 fixtures were used in BNC’s green screen virtual studio. The lights are controlled with DMX programming.

“Brightline has great control options on their fixtures, so you can make sure you’re not spilling light on the RGB elements and spoiling the color,” said lighting designer Bill Holshevnikoff.

For more information, visit www.brightlines.com. 

TALLAHASSEE, Fla.—Black News Channel, the nation’s only African-American news network, launched today, Feb. 10, from its state-of-the-art network operations center in Tallahassee, Fla., and bureaus around the country.

“The launch of Black News Channel will be not only historic, but also transformational,” said CEO and co-founder Bob Brillante. “We will shed more light on the stories that demonstrate our commonality, rather than those that highlight our differences.”

“I have traveled around the country participating in interviews, serving on panel discussions and sharing BNC’s mission and commitment to telling a more complete story of the African-American community,” said BNC chairman and co-founder J.C. Watts Jr. “There is growing interest and anticipation about the Black News Channel, as well as a palpable level of excitement about our launch.”

BNC currently can be seen on Spectrum, XFinity X-1 Platform and Dish Network. Plans call for availability on Sling, Vizio Smart TVs, Xumo and Roku Channel. Together, the platforms will bring BNC to more than 100 million homes.

BNC currently can be seen on Spectrum, XFinity X-1 Platform and Dish Network. Plans call for availability on Sling, Vizio Smart TVs, Xumo and Roku Channel. Together, the platforms will bring BNC to more than 100 million homes.

More information about BNC is available on the news network’s website.

TALLAHASSE, Fla.—As we established the foundational tools for Black News Channel (BNC), it was critical for our team to find a solution tailored to our workforce to effectively manage the workload and overall workflow of this new network. Over the years, I came to understand that many have not figured out how to properly monetize their websites and create a stable income through their content. As such, I aspired to do something different than our colleagues and competitors in the market to ensure profitability and operational success.

Since we are launching as a new network we have the advantage of exploring new products, rather than rely on legacy workflow management tools implemented years ago. We could set the pace to identify tools made to maximize our workflow and lead to a better end product with every broadcast we produced, whether on cable, online or OTT. We needed a simple, functional and executable process that met our ultimate goal as a business of driving revenue. Why complicate matters with a workflow that doesn’t make sense for the business model?

FINDING FUEL

We settled on Bitcentral’s FUEL, a digital streaming and monetization platform that would provide an incredible experience to our viewers while also generating revenue.

We already planned to use Bitcentral’s Core News for live news production and Central Control for master control. FUEL stood out as a newer product, having launched in August 2018, with options to streamline our digital operations. FUEL would give us access to a seamless interface and integration from creation to execution to implementation, with a continuous flow from Central Control to digital.

A BETTER EXPERIENCE

FUEL enhances content on digital platforms—for us this includes our website, social media channels and other OTT platforms. FUEL allows us to create something different, with a plan to direct people to our website for content, dictating how we would execute and pursue our commercial content structure.

FUEL advances exposure through OTT and other digital platforms from day one. The integration of FUEL with other traditional workflow management products gives the flexibility and opportunity to reach extra eyeballs on multiple platforms. Instead of a limited audience or a particular type of viewer, our reach extends to different technologies, apps and devices.

We access the same playing field as some of the more established networks out there and are competitive as a result.

FUEL has proven to be a big success. After implementing the platform, hours viewed, session length and ad impressions all increased significantly. Viewers access content in a seamless stream, with the ability to start watching whenever and wherever, controlling the content they’re watching with ease. Our producers and master control operators have complete control, and the ability to deploy content and ad inventory quickly and simply.

In my role at BNC, I consider myself a risk manager, minimizing our financial risks while maximizing operations and workflow. It’s critical to understand what functions well and what fits the business model. FUEL isn’t rocket science; it makes complete sense. FUEL is foundational to our success as we create an ecosystem and technical environment to maintain growth and flexibility, and prepare for the future.

Kenny Elcock is the director of engineering & operations for Black News Channel (BNC), the nation’s only African American news network dedicated to covering the unique perspective of African American communities. In his role, Elcock designs and integrates network systems to deliver quality programming and enhance viewer experience. Learn more atwww.blacknewschannel.com.

For more information, visitwww.bitcentral.com/fuel.

HUNTSVILLE, Ala.—With a launch scheduled for Nov. 15, Black News Channel, a 24/7 news channel geared toward African American audiences, is teaming with PESA to assist with the distribution of its news programming to an estimated 33 million cable TV and satellite households in top African American TV markets.

BNC is going with PESA’s Cheetah router, a 576 router that is paired with a DRS audio router to provide dual outputs, minimizing the need for distribution amplifiers and reducing the amount of setup and cabling required. The audio routers also BNC to embed and de-embed audio as needed.

“We were looking for an open standards-based system that will meet our needs today and provide us with a future-ready platform for tomorrow,” said Kenny Eclock, director of engineering and operations for BNC.

BNC is headquartered in Tallahassee, Fla., and has bureaus in Washington, D.C., Atlanta, New York, New Orleans, Chicago and Los Angeles.