LOS ANGELES (KNX) — Black News Channel, the cable television news service launched in 2019, is shutting down its broadcast operations as soon as Friday, according to two people familiar with the source who spoke to the Los Angeles Times.
Majority owner Shad Khan failed to meet payroll on Friday, the Times said. That financial misstep followed a warning delivered to employees the day before that paychecks would be delayed.
The Black-centered news network is primarily staffed by Black and other employees of color. After laying off dozens of employees in the past few months, the closure now puts an additional 230 staffers out of work. Confirmation of their last working day was expected to be announced later Friday.
Khan no longer saw the BNC as a worthy investment, according to sources who briefed the L.A. Times on the matter. Other owners, including Byron Allen’s Entertainment Studios, have reportedly been pitched taking ownership of the national network. But so far, no offers have been made.
The Black News Channel declined comment to the newspaper on its sourced information.
The failure to meet payroll and the expected announcement of a shutdown stunned and angered employees at the channel. Many of the staffers came to BNC from larger, established news organizations because they believed in the mission of a TV service that provided news and information for a diverse audience.
"I'm sad to see it go," a veteran television broadcaster with friends at BNC told KNX News. "I feel bad for the people who went there. [They're] screwed."
The channel reached more than 50 million cable and satellite households, but was unable to generate a significant audience.The average audience for BNC was fewer than 10,000 viewers, according to Nielsen data, though it had been growing in recent months.
But BNC, which delayed its launch a few times, had to overcome some early stumbles. When Watts announced the network, he signaled that it would have a conservative slant, which likely turned off a large segment of the potential audience. He touted a possible show with right-wing radio host and former California gubernatorial candidate Larry Elder.
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