Black News Channel, a 24-hour television news channel took to the air five days ago.
BNC is aimed at serving the African American community with news and information geared toward their lives and points of view.
The network headend is in Tallahassee, Florida.
Among the issues the network looks to address is positive accomplishments African Americans are making on a daily basis.
Speaking with the Bradenton Herald BNC Founder and Chairman J.C. Watts outlined his vision: "We are more than athletes and entertainers, and on the hard news side, we’re more than crime."
Watts, a former Republican congressman from Oklahoma, sees BNC as focused solely on news, unlike other channels which feature programming geared for the black audience.
"For every 17-year-old African American male that you show me that's being carted off in handcuffs on the 10 o'clock news ... I can show you 50 17-year-old African American males that get up every morning trying to figure out, 'How am I going to make my mother proud of me.' That's the story doesn't get told enough," Watts says.
Watts says BNC is project he's worked on for years and really began to materialize following an investment by Shahid Khan, the owner of the Jacksonville Jaguars.
Currently, the network employs roughly 60 people and is looking to staff more in bureaus across the country.
With a projected viewership of 33-million BNC is currently available in New Orleans, New York, Los Angeles and Atlanta.
The network is currently streaming on Spectrum, Xfinity X1 and Dish Network.
More streaming availability is in the pipeline.
For more about Black News Channel, Click Here.
