Black Family Channel (launched in 1999 as MBC Network) was an American cable television network which featured programming aimed at

African-American African Americans, also known as Black Americans and formerly also called Afro-Americans, are an American racial and ethnic group that consists of Americans who have total or partial ancestry from any of the Black racial groups of Africa. ...

audiences. The network's schedule included a variety of programs including religious programs, sports, music, talk shows, and children's programs. During much of the time of its existence, it was the only fully black-owned and operated cable television network ( BET was bought by Viacom in 2001, and TV One was owned by

Comcast Comcast Corporation, formerly known as Comcast Holdings,Before the AT&T Broadband, AT&T merger in 2001, the parent company was Comcast Holdings Corporation. Comcast Holdings Corporation now refers to a subsidiary of Comcast Corporation, not th ...

and Radio One at the time) in the United States. The network was started by noted Florida attorney and philanthropist Willie E. Gary, former all-star baseball player Cecil Fielder, four-time heavyweight boxing champ

Evander Holyfield Evander Holyfield (born October 19, 1962) is an American former professional boxer who competed between 1984 and 2011. He reigned as the undisputed championship (boxing), undisputed champion in the cruiserweight (boxing), cruiserweight division ...

Marlon Jackson Marlon David Jackson (born March 12, 1957) is an American singer and dancer best known as a member of the Jackson 5. He is the sixth child of the Jackson family. Marlon now runs Study Peace Foundation to promote peace and unity worldwide. Earl ...

The Jackson 5 The Jackson 5, later known as the Jacksons, are an American pop band composed of members of the Jackson family. The group was formed in Gary, Indiana in 1964, and originally consisted of brothers Jackie, Ti ...

, and broadcast television veteran Alvin James through their business venture Major Broadcasting Corporation. The channel started off as Major Broadcasting Cable (MBC) Network. The name was rebranded Black Family Channel on October 1, 2004 in hopes that it would better identify the channel's content. BFC would effectively be run by actor/director Robert Townsend, who developed original programming for the network, including its most notable effort—the children's educational game show, ''Thousand Dollar Bee'', in which every kid would participate in sort of tournament rounds of spelling challenges toward which the champion would receive a $1,000 bond for their college education. Unlike its primary rival, the Viacom-owned BET, Black Family Channel avoided rap and hip hop-based programming (they showed

gospel music Gospel music is a traditional genre of Christian music and a cornerstone of Christian media. The creation, performance, significance, and even the definition of gospel music vary according to culture and social context. Gospel music is compo ...

instead). The network was available in up to 16 million households in the United States. In June 2006, the channel started airing

Total Television Total TeleVision productions was an American animation studio founded in 1959 by Buck Biggers, Chester "Chet" Stover, Joe Harris, and Treadwell D. Covington. They were executives in the advertising agency Dancer Fitzgerald Sample who had the a ...

's '' King Leonardo and His Short Subjects'' and ''

Looney Tunes ''Looney Tunes'' is an American media franchise produced and distributed by Warner Bros. The franchise began as a series of animated short films that originally ran from 1930 to 1969, alongside its spin-off series ''Merrie Melodies'', during t ...

'' shorts in the public domain. On April 24, 2007, BFC announced that they would cease as a cable channel, effective April 30, 2007, as part of a deal in which BFC's programming and subscriber base would be sold to the Gospel Music Channel. On May 1, 2007, the deal was closed. The station was an associate member of the Caribbean Cable Cooperative.

Over-the-air coverage

Formerly, the network was also carried on two

low-power television Low-power broadcasting is broadcasting by a broadcast station at a low transmitter power output to a smaller service area than "full power" stations within the same region. It is often distinguished from "micropower broadcasting" (more commonl ...

stations, W23BC serving the Jackson, MS

media market A media market, broadcast market, media region, designated market area (DMA), television market area, or simply market is a region where the population can receive the same (or similar) television station, television and radio broadcasting, ra ...

, and WRCX-LP, which serves the

Dayton, Ohio Dayton () is a city in Montgomery County, Ohio, United States, and its county seat. It is the List of cities in Ohio, sixth-most populous city in Ohio, with a population of 137,644 at the 2020 United States census, 2020 census. The Dayton metro ...

area. W23BC has since affiliated with Colours TV and (more recently)

America One America One was an American television network established in 1995 by USFR Media Group through its America One Television subsidiary.

. WRCX has since affiliated with

Ion Television Ion Television (referred to on-air as simply Ion) is an American broadcast television network and FAST television channel owned by the Scripps Networks subsidiary of the E. W. Scripps Company. The network first began broadcasting on August ...

References

External links

{{commons category, Black Family Channel Television channels and stations established in 1999 African-American television Defunct television networks in the United States African-American television networks Internet television channels Gospel music media Television channels and stations disestablished in 2007 1999 establishments in the United States