TheGrio is a brand name owned by American media company

Allen Media Group Allen Media Group, alternately known by its former name of Entertainment Studios, Inc. is an American media and entertainment company based in Los Angeles. Owned and founded in 1993 by businessman Byron Allen, the company was initially involved ...

for a

television network A television broadcaster or television network is a telecommunications network for the distribution of television show, television content, where a central operation provides programming to many television stations, pay television providers or ...

and a

website A website (also written as a web site) is any web page whose content is identified by a common domain name and is published on at least one web server. Websites are typically dedicated to a particular topic or purpose, such as news, educatio ...

aimed at

African-Americans 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. ...

History

TheGrio is to "focus on news and events that have a unique interest and pronounced impact within the national African Americans audience,"Ham, Jon (August 10, 2009)
"NBC’s theGrio.com needs diversity training"
'' Carolina Journal Online''. offering what co-founder and Executive Editor David Wilson feels is "underrepresented in existing national news outlets". The website's name is derived from the word ''

griot A griot (; ; Manding languages, Manding: or (in N'Ko script, N'Ko: , or in French spelling); also spelt Djali; or / ; ) is a West African historian, storyteller, praise singer, poet, and/or musician. Griots are masters of communicatin ...

'', the term for a

West Africa West Africa, also known as Western Africa, is the westernmost region of Africa. The United Nations geoscheme for Africa#Western Africa, United Nations defines Western Africa as the 16 countries of Benin, Burkina Faso, Cape Verde, The Gambia, Gha ...

n oral historian and storyteller. The website originally launched in June 2009 as a division of

NBC News NBC News is the news division of the American broadcast television network NBC. The division operates under NBCUniversal Media Group, a division of NBCUniversal, which is itself a subsidiary of Comcast. The news division's various operations r ...

. It was founded by the team who created the

documentary film A documentary film (often described simply as a documentary) is a nonfiction Film, motion picture intended to "document reality, primarily for instruction, education or maintaining a Recorded history, historical record". The American author and ...

'' Meeting David Wilson''. It became a division of

MSNBC MSNBC is an American cable news channel owned by the NBCUniversal News Group division of NBCUniversal, a subsidiary of Comcast. Launched on July 15, 1996, and headquartered at 30 Rockefeller Plaza in Manhattan, the channel primarily broadcasts r ...

in 2013. In 2014, it was sold to its founders. In June 2016,

Byron Allen Byron Allen (born Byron Allen Folks on April 22, 1961) is an American businessman, film and television producer, and comedian. He is the founder of the American media company Allen Media Group (formerly Entertainment Studios), which has intere ...

Entertainment Studios Allen Media Group, alternately known by its former name of Entertainment Studios, Inc. is an American media and entertainment company based in Los Angeles. Owned and founded in 1993 by businessman Byron Allen, the company was initially involved ...

acquired the site. The TV channel was founded as Light TV in 2016 by

reality television Reality television is a genre of television programming that documents purportedly unscripted real-life situations, often starring ordinary people rather than professional actors. Reality television emerged as a distinct genre in the early 1990s ...

producer

Mark Burnett James Mark Burnett (born 17 July 1960) is a British television producer who has won thirteen Emmy Awards including ten Primetime, one Sports Emmy Award and two Daytime Emmy Awards. His other accolades include five Producers Guild of America A ...

and his wife, actress Roma Downey, as an inspirational network as part of his chairmanship of

MGM Television Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer Television, formerly known as MGM/UA Television, is the television studio arm of the American film studio Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer (MGM), specializing in broadcast syndication and the production and distribution of television sh ...

, which operated the network. It was sold to Entertainment Studios in late 2020, and relaunched as TheGrio TV in January 2021, with a Black-specific programming focus. After Entertainment Studios purchased the assets of the bankrupt Black News Channel in late July 2022, that network was merged into TheGrio TV on August 1, including the former's existing cable, satellite and advertiser supported on-demand streaming carriage. Allen claimed to want to add more news and commentary to TheGrio TV's schedule. However, the promised content was never really delivered on its own, and consisted mainly of already existing interviews from other AEG shows and archived BNC content. By the 2024 presidential election, news programming had been reduced to the contractual minimum within the BNC contract.

Television network

Light TV and

This TV This TV (also known as This TV Network and alternately stylized as thisTV) was an American free-to-air television network owned by Allen Media Broadcast Networks, LLC, part of the Allen Media Group division of Entertainment Studios. Originally ...

were both sold by MGM TV in October 2020 to the Allen Media Group division of

. On December 3, 2020, it was announced that the network would be relaunched as TheGrio.TV on January 15, 2021, carrying lifestyle and entertainment programming of interest to the

Black American African Americans, also known as Black Americans and formerly also called Afro-Americans, are an Race and ethnicity in the United States, American racial and ethnic group that consists of Americans who have total or partial ancestry from an ...

community as an extension of the website. That same day, Light TV's satellite transponder space was taken over by Entertainment Studios, which stopped carrying programming in the interim and instead transmitted a

test pattern A test card, also known as a test pattern or start-up/closedown test, is a television test signal, typically broadcast at times when the transmitter is active but no program is being broadcast (often at sign-on and sign-off). Used since the ear ...

promoting the launch of TheGrio (later a looping launch promo), while MGM continued to carry a stream of Light TV through the network's website.

Fox Television Stations Fox Television Stations, LLC (stylized as FOX TV STATIONS; also known as FTS) is a group of television stations in the United States owned-and-operated by Fox Corporation. It owns LiveNOW from Fox, Fox Local, and Fox Soul. It also oversees ...

confirmed its stations would be a part of TheGrio's charter launch group, and much of its affiliate body transferred over through the month-long dark period, though some stations departed for other networks. The network officially relaunched as TheGrio on January 15, 2021, that year's

Martin Luther King Jr. Day Martin Luther King Jr. Day (officially Birthday of Martin Luther King Jr., and often referred to shorthand as MLK Day) is a federal holiday in the United States observed on the third Monday of January each year. King was the chief spokespers ...

, and that same day MGM handed over the domain of Light TV to Entertainment Studios, ending the stream of Light TV. On January 1, 2025, at 5am EST, TheGrio's digital subchannel distribution ended. The channel remains available on cable providers and FAST channel providers, with the cable version currently carrying a loop of Black sitcoms from the 1970s to the 1990s distributed by

Sony Pictures Television Sony Pictures Television Inc. (abbreviated as SPT) is an American television production company, production and broadcast syndication, distribution studio. Based at the Sony Pictures Studios complex in Culver City, California, it is a division o ...

, with the FAST channel version on services such as Allen's Local Now carrying past AEG content. This was because the Fox-owned stations have entered into a distribution agreement with Allen Media Group's rival broadcaster

Sinclair Broadcast Group Sinclair, Inc., doing business as Sinclair Broadcast Group, is a publicly traded American telecommunications conglomerate that is controlled by the descendants of company founder Julian Sinclair Smith. Headquartered in the Baltimore suburb o ...

to add the company-owned

sketch comedy Sketch comedy comprises a series of short, amusing scenes or vignettes, called "sketches" or, "skits", commonly between one and ten minutes long, performed by a group of comic actors or comedians. While the form developed and became popular in ...

network TBD (now

Roar A roar is a type of animal vocalization that is loud, deep and resonating. Many mammals have evolved to produce roars and other roar-like vocals for purposes such as long-distance communication and intimidation. These include various species of ...

) on 5 of its stations made in December 2024.

Programming

From 2016 until 2021, TheGrio TV (as Light TV) featured several series and movies meant to fit the network's family-oriented approach, including content from the MGM film and TV library or acquired through outside sources.

Infomercial An infomercial is a form of television commercial that resembles regular TV programming yet is intended to promote or sell a product, service or idea. It generally includes a toll-free telephone number or website. Most often used as a form of di ...

s were added to the Light TV lineup in 2019, occupying all of the overnight hours and into the early morning.

Light TV (2015–2021)

The then-new over-the-top (OTT) faith-based channel was under development as early as September 2014 when MGM purchased 55% of One Three Media and LightWorkers Media, owned by Hearst Entertainment,

and Roma Downey, and consolidated them into United Artists Media Group. With MGM purchasing Hearst and Burnett and Downey's shares in UAMG, the channel was still a planned streaming service. However, Hearst and Burnett and Downey retained their stakes in the channel. MGM announced the formation of Light TV on December 15, 2015, with a launch planned for December on thirteen major market stations owned by

. The network launched on January 20, 2016 with two stations, and the rest of the group's stations. The network was intended to carry new and original content from LightWorkers as part of Burnett's chairmanship of MGM's television division, but never ended up carrying any new content, only featuring rerun and library content already seen on MGM's

(a film-oriented network) and MGM HD, along with low-cost barter programming such as '' Heartland'', which was already in wide syndication across multiple channels, and other generic inspirational or family-friendly content. By 2019, the network added paid programming which made up its late night and early morning schedule, reducing its programming commitment further.

Current programming

Below is a current list of programming broadcast on TheGrio: * '' America's Court with Judge Ross'' (November 1, 2021) * ''Animal Rescue'' * '' Comics Unleashed'' (November 1, 2021) * ''Equal Justice with Judge Eboni K. Williams'' * '' Funny You Should Ask'' * HBCU GO sports – coverage of college athletics at

historically black colleges and universities Historically Black colleges and universities (HBCUs) are institutions of higher education in the United States that were established before the Civil Rights Act of 1964 with the intention of serving African Americans. Most are in the Southern U ...

, especially

college football College football is gridiron football that is played by teams of amateur Student athlete, student-athletes at universities and colleges. It was through collegiate competition that gridiron football American football in the United States, firs ...

and the bands of those teams * ''Justice for All with Judge Christina Perez'' * ''Justice with Judge Mablean'' (November 1, 2021) * ''Masters of the Game'' * ''Supreme Justice with Judge Karen Mills'' (November 1, 2021) * ''The Verdict with Judge Hatchett'' (November 1, 2021) * ''We the People with Judge Lauren Lake'' * ''Wild Times at the San Diego Zoo''

Former programming

* '' The First Family'' * ''Jeremiah'' * '' Mr. Box Office'' * ''TheGrio News with Eboni K. Williams'' * ''TheGrio News with Marc Lamont Hill'' Light TV * '' The Adventures of Paddington Bear'' (2016–2019) * '' All Dogs Go to Heaven: The Series'' (December 22, 2016 – September 29, 2019) * '' Are You Smarter than a 5th Grader?'' (2016–2019, 2020–January 14, 2021) * '' The Busy World of Richard Scarry'' (December 22, 2016 – October 2, 2020) * '' The Country Mouse and the City Mouse Adventures'' (December 22, 2016 – October 2, 2020) * '' Flipper'' * '' Flipper – The New Adventures'' * '' Franny's Feet'' (2017–September 30, 2019) * ''

Green Acres ''Green Acres'' is an American television absurdist sitcom starring Eddie Albert and Eva Gabor as a couple who move from New York City to a country farm. Produced by Filmways as a sister show to ''Petticoat Junction'', the series was first br ...

'' (2016–2018; October 1, 2019 – January 14, 2021) * '' Heartland'' * '' Heathcliff'' (October 6, 2018 – September 30, 2019) * '' Highway to Heaven'' (December 22, 2016 – January 14, 2021) * ''

Inspector Gadget ''Inspector Gadget'' is a media franchise that began in 1983 with the DIC Entertainment animated television series '' Inspector Gadget''. Since the original series, there have been many spin-offs based on the show, including additional animated ...

'' (December 22, 2016 – October 5, 2018 & October 1, 2019 – April 2020) * '' It's About Time'' (October 5, 2019 – January 14, 2021) * ''

Madeline ''Madeline'' is a media franchise that originated as a series of children's books written and illustrated by Ludwig Bemelmans. The books have been adapted into numerous formats, spawning telefilms, television series and a live action feature fi ...

'' (December 22, 2016 – September 30, 2019) * ''

Mister Ed ''Mister Ed'' is an American television sitcom produced by Filmways that aired in syndication from January 5 to July 2, 1961, and then on CBS from October 1, 1961, to February 6, 1966. The show's title character is a talking horse which orig ...

'' * '' My Mother the Car'' (October 5, 2019 – January 14, 2021) * '' Naturally, Sadie'' (October 1, 2019 – April 2020) * '' The Patty Duke Show'' (September 3, 2018 – January 14, 2021) * '' The Pink Panther Show'' (December 24, 2016 – September 29, 2019) * '' Sea Hunt'' * '' Wimzie's House'' (December 22, 2016 – September 30, 2019)

References

External links

* * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Grio Digital television in the United States Television channels and stations established in 2016 Lists of American television network affiliates African-American television networks African-American mass media Allen Media Group American news websites Internet properties established in 2009 2016 mergers and acquisitions