Afrotainment

The Afrotainment family of channels is a New York-based network of 9 linear television channels and digital properties (AFRO, Afrotainment, Afrotainment Music, Afro Sports, ABO, OUI TV, TV9JA, HAITI HD, YEBO) broadcasting Afro-Centric content in North America. Afrotainment family channels are available on Comcast, DISH Network, Altice USA, Verizon FIOS, Frontier Communications, Bell Fibe, Videotron, Roku, Amazon Fire TV and Apple TV.

Afrotainment
CountryUnited States
SloganYour Premier in Afro-centric Home Entertainment
HeadquartersNew York, NY, United States (also has office in Orlando, Fl)
Programming
Language(s)English
Picture format480i (SDTV)
1080i (HDTV)
Ownership
OwnerSoundview Africa
Links
Websitewww.afrotainment.us
www.afros.tv
Availability
Cable
Available on some U.S. and Canada cable systemsChannel slots vary
Satellite
Dish NetworkChannel 9859
(Afrotainment SD)
Channel 9868
(Africa Box Office SD)
Channel 9870
(Afrotainment Music SD)
Channel 9871
(Oui TV SD)
DirecTVChannel TBA
IPTV
Verizon FiOSChannel 265
(AFRO)
Channel 266
(ABO)
Streaming media
RokuYEBO
Mizik
OYEEE
AFRICA24 Music
NAIJA Music
CAMER Music
Apple TVYEBO
Amazon Fire TVYEBO

History

Afrotainment was created in 2005 by Yves Bollanga, a former IBM Software Engineer and Shafquat Chaudhary [1] Afrotainment, besides being a company involved in TV transmission is also a TV production company that creates Afrocentric content: Films, Scripted and Unscripted content, talk-show, Late night comedy and much more.

  • On June 22, 2005, Afrotainment launched 3A TELESUD its first channel on DISH Network. Initial launch on DISH Network was followed by 3 more carriage agreement between 2008 and 2011 for the following TV channels: Afrotainment Movies, Afrotainment Music, TV9JA and OUI TV
  • On October 13, 2011, Afrotainment Launched its first channel on Cable: Afrotainment Plus, which includes the best of all Afrotainment programming, which includes African movies, Series, reality shows, talk shows, and highly coveted African soccer. Afrotainment Plus is available on IO Africa offering on Channel 1101
  • On September 19, 2013, Afrotainment launched 4 new channels in Canada on Bell Fibe TV. This agreement marks its first expansion outside of the United States.[2]
  • On December 5, 2014, Afrotainment launched Haiti HD a network targeting the Haitian community on Bell Fibe TV Canada.[3]
  • On August 2015, Afrotainment launched YEBO, an OTT music video on demand app on Amazon Fire TV, Roku, Apple TV [4]
  • On March 3, 2016, Afrotainment launched 2 channels (AFRO and ABO) on Verizon FIOS.[5][6]
  • On October 30, 2016, Afrotainment launched Haiti HD on Videotron in Canada [7]
  • On June 28, 2017, Afrotainment launched AFRO, its Polycultural Black channel on Sling TV in the Lifestyle Plus package.[8][9][10][11][12] The channel was removed on June 26, 2019.[13]
  • On November 15, 2018 Comcast announced an agreement to launch AFRO on Xfinity[14][15][16][17][18][19][20][21][22][23][24][25][26][27][28]

Programming

Afrotainment airs films and TV Series from the African and Black diaspora from all over the world. Afrotainment is also producing several hours of content from its Orlando TV Studios: Point of View, a daytime woman talk show; Afrotainers an Entertainment News show, Afrohits Top 10, a chart of the Top10 best Afro-centric Music videos, The Lowdown a Late night Comedy show, Journey an interview like talk show. As per African soccer, Afrotainment broadcast CAF Champions League, CAF Confederation Cup, CAF African Nation Championship, and CAF Youth Championship.

Channels

Soundview Africa currently owns and operates the following 8 TV channels:

  • AFRO - Polycultural Black Television channel
  • Afrotainment - Afro-centric general entertainment service, broadcasting in High-definition; programming includes TV series, films, talk shows and reality series.
  • Afrotainment Plus - Cable centric service featuring the best programming from Afrotainment & Afrotainment Music.
  • Afrotainment Music - Afro-centric music service featuring music from the African continent. Programming includes music videos, live performances and entertainment programs.
  • Africa Box Office (ABO) - Afro-centric movie service featuring the best in film from the African continent. It airs over 100 new movies every year from Nollywood and other movie houses throughout Africa.
  • TV Naija - General entertainment service aimed at Nigerian community, airs TV series & music from Nigeria.
  • Oui TV - Cameroonian, Ivorian and African sitcoms and Dramas in French
  • YEBO - Afro-caribbean music video onDemand (Apple TV, Amazon Fire, Roku)

Events

Every September the cream of the African music industry gathers at an Afro-glam red carpet event at the Afrotainment Studio in New York to recognize African talent as award winners are announced and celebrated. The Afrotainment Museke Online Africa Music Awards is multicasted Live on the Afrotainment family of channels nationwide in the US and also viewable online.

References

[29] [30] [31] [32] [33] [34] [35] [36] [37] [38] [39] [40]

  1. Gundan, Farai. "Meet Yves Bollanga, The Man Televising African Home Entertainment in the USA". Forbes. Retrieved 2018-02-16.
  2. Channels, Afrotainment. "Afrotainment launches 4 channels on Bell Canada". PRLog. Retrieved 2018-02-16.
  3. Webmaster, Afro. "Afrotainment Channels - AFROTAINMENT launches Haiti HD on Bell Canada". www.afrotainment.tv. Retrieved 2018-02-16.
  4. Webmaster, Afro. "Afrotainment Channels - Afrotainment launches YEBO, an OTT music video on demand app". afrotainment.us. Retrieved 2018-02-16.
  5. Webmaster, Afro. "Afrotainment Channels - The Afrotainment Family of Channels launches 2 HD channels on Verizon". www.afrotainment.tv. Retrieved 2018-02-16.
  6. "Verizon Launches Afrotainment Channels | Multichannel". www.multichannel.com. Retrieved 2018-02-16.
  7. Webmaster, Afro. "Afrotainment Channels - Afrotainment expands in Canada with the launch of HAITI HD on Videotron". afrotainment.us. Retrieved 2018-02-16.
  8. "AFRO brings polycultural television to Sling TV's Lifestyle Extra - What's On Sling". What's On Sling. 2017-06-28. Retrieved 2018-02-16.
  9. Webmaster, Afro. "Afrotainment Channels - AFRO, a Polycultural Black Television Network, debuts on Sling TV". afrotainment.us. Retrieved 2018-02-16.
  10. AFRO, a Polycultural Black Television Network, debuts on Sling TV
  11. "Sling TV Adds a New Channel to Its Lifestyle Extra Add-On - Cord Cutters News". Cord Cutters News. 2017-06-29. Retrieved 2018-02-16.
  12. "Sling TV Welcomes All-Black Television Network AFRO-SRMagOnline". Soul Reflectionz. 2017-06-28. Archived from the original on 2018-02-07. Retrieved 2018-02-16.
  13. "What happened to the Afro Channel?". www.sling.com. Retrieved 2019-06-26.
  14. https://corporate.comcast.com/stories/comcast-announces-agreements-with-two-new-african-american-majority-owned-independent-networks
  15. https://variety.com/2018/tv/news/comcast-cleo-tv-afro-independent-channel-launch-1203029441/
  16. https://www.multichannel.com/news/comcast-launch-two-african-american-owned-channels-january
  17. https://www.blackenterprise.com/comcast-new-black-tv-networks/
  18. http://www.cablefax.com/programming/comcast-to-launch-two-new-african-american-majority-owned-nets
  19. https://deadline.com/2018/11/comcast-launching-african-american-cable-networks-afro-and-cleo-tv-nbcuniversal-diversity-1202502566/
  20. https://www.vibe.com/2018/11/comcast-will-unveil-two-networks-geared-toward-african-american-viewers-in-2019
  21. https://atlantablackstar.com/2018/11/18/comcast-unveils-winners-of-competition-to-launch-cable-networks-dedicated-to-black-media-consumers/
  22. https://face2faceafrica.com/article/yves-bollanga-afro-tv-finds-new-home-comcast-historic-move
  23. http://www.phillytrib.com/news/business/comcast-adds-african-american-networks-to-lineup/article_81e28562-5060-5784-a1c2-bce6d00a7491.html
  24. https://www.marketwatch.com/press-release/comcast-announces-agreements-with-two-new-african-american-majority-owned-independent-networks-2018-11-15
  25. https://www.ontheryse.com/cleo-tv-and-afro-to-join-comcasts-xfinity-tv-in-january-2019/%5B%5D
  26. https://www.spglobal.com/marketintelligence/en/news-insights/trending/kvzor6nj-7s1ecwsoee3hg2
  27. http://naturallymoi.com/2018/11/comcast-partners-with-cleo-tv-and-afro-to-promote-diverse-content/
  28. https://www.instagram.com/theshaderoom/p/BqNdDSRBMFg/?hl=ms
  29. "Cowboy, Afro Join Sling". The Savvy Screener. 2017-07-05. Retrieved 2018-02-16.
  30. Afrotainment expands to africa with the launch of oui tv on startimes
  31. Afrotainment provides bridge between africa europe new
  32. "Africa 24 partners with Afrotainment Family of Channels | NexTV News". NexTV News. 2015-03-05. Retrieved 2018-02-16.
  33. "Afrotainment to launch Oui TV on StarTimes platform". Digital TV Europe. 2015-08-12. Retrieved 2018-02-16.
  34. "Cablevision Buttresses International Channel Lineup With Pair Of African Channels | Multichannel". www.multichannel.com. Retrieved 2018-02-16.
  35. "AFRO debuts on Sling TV". www.triangletribune.com. Retrieved 2018-02-16.
  36. "Cameroon-Info.Net:: Forbes Magazine Presents Yves Bollanga, The Man Televising African Home Entertainment in the USA". www.cameroon-info.net (in French). Retrieved 2018-02-16.
  37. "Cameroon-Info.Net:: Cameroun/USA - Télévision: Le cinéma camerounais s'exporte aux Etats-Unis grâce à "OUI TV"". www.cameroon-info.net (in French). Retrieved 2018-02-16.
  38. "Yves Bollanga, Bringing Afro-Caribbean Content to Mainstream U.S. Television". ACRAH. 2013-05-07. Retrieved 2018-02-16.
  39. "Yves Bollanga". BizNis Africa. 2014-01-07. Retrieved 2018-02-16.
  40. dish-network-adds-french-african-channel Dish Network adds french african channel
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