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Bounce TV Co-Founder Martin Luther King III Blasts Time Warner Cable

Mar 19, 2015  •  Post A Comment

Martin Luther King III, one of the co-founders of the African American-focused digital multicast network Bounce TV, sent a scathing letter to Time Warner Cable expressing his displeasure with the company’s decision to drop Bounce from its New York City system.

In the letter, sent today to TWC Group Vice President David Lange, King also expresses disappointment with the lack of carriage by TWC in Los Angeles.

Bounce is carried on subchannels of Univision-owned stations WXTV in New York and KMEX-TV in Los Angeles. King wants Time Warner Cable to carry the signals of those channels.

King writes in the letter: “The more than 14 million African-American television households in the United States are grossly underserved, having just a few dedicated cable channels and no over-the-air networks until we launched Bounce TV in 2011. The fact that African Americans watch more television than the U.S. Average and more than any other measured ethnicity makes this situation even more alarming.”

The letter lists a number of measures of Bounce’s success, noting that the channel is “the #2 most-watched African-American television network, significantly beating TV One, Centric and closing in on BET.”

King notes that despite the success of Bounce TV in reaching an underserved audience, “Time Warner Cable continues to disappoint African Americans in the two biggest cities in the United States. This does not bode well in an emerging America, a nation becoming more diverse by the day.”

The letter concludes: “Bounce has worked diligently to identify and grow best practices for widening the pipeline for underrepresented groups. We remain committed to do so, and are prepared to take further action if necessary, but we are hopeful that you will return Bounce TV to Time Warner Cable in Manhattan as well as add the network in Los Angeles.”

A rep for Time Warner Cable had not responded to a request for comment on this story. [Updated March 20th at 10:10 a.m., PT with this response emailed to us by a representative from Time Warner Cable in corporate communications: “We’ve had discussions, but we have no agreement at this time.”]

Please click here to read the full text of King’s letter.

BounceTV

32 Comments

  1. Shame, Shameful, Shamefully Sad on Time Warner

  2. Let me guess, another “racial injustice?” BET services the black community.

    • That’s one we need several like you all have!!!!

    • Why are you here Jim? In fact, you don’t have to answer, I already know

  3. It would be shame to take bounce off in New York and Los Angeles. There are a vast number of your customers who benefit from this station. To remove it would be a mistake on your part, and you will lose many customers. Please reconsider.

  4. Yes, what a “Shame.” That people won’t be able to see A Low Down Dirty Shame for the 20th time. Along with such great movies as Blues Brothers 2000, C’omn Man, Angel Eyes, and Anaconda. Also for the 30th airing Cop and a Half, The Wiz, and To Kill a Mockingbird. Movies that have been playing since Bounce signed on.

    What a “Mistake” it would be if people could not see such great shows like A Different World, The Parent’ Hood, and Roc. Also Judge Faith, The Black College Quiz, and Fat Albert.

    Please, Please, Please, reconsider Time Warner. How will NY & LA survive without programming like this.

  5. Ignorance. It’s the new skinny. Everyone should want Bounce to stay, not just black people. Good entertainment and original programming takes time to build. THE WB, was trash until Buffy the Vampire slayer and the Steve Harvey Show saved them. BOUNCE IS STILL NEW YOU BIG DUMMY! Just an Fyi… New networks are built on reruns until they can afford original programming…

  6. Yes, it’s so new, it’s been on the air 4yrs. There are enough niche channels on paytv. If they want on a media providers system, then let them pay to be there, just like the shopping and religious channels. Subscribers shouldn’t be forced to support another low rated niche channel with repetitious and looped programming.

  7. It took the WB eight years to build and 3 years to fall off. Yes, pay channels are there so you should pay? That’s Bass awkward. They have very little original programming, it’s very expensive. If you don’t like reruns, go pay for something else. A variety of diverse options are what we are supposed to have. Everything shouldn’t be based on those who can afford to play the game. I will always fight for that.

  8. As many African americans they employ they should be ashamed of themselves

  9. Black people as a whole are seen in the world in a negative light due to the history of slavery, the ridiculously high rate of incarceration, and the decimation of African culture and societies by white invaders while also being saddled by a combination of ignorance and opportunistic tactics primarily orchestrated by whites that use fear and racism to further white power structures and agenda. Given these facts, maintaining an african-american station has more than the average amount of pushback and hurdles so its value cannot be understated.

  10. Its so sad wen a black person tryna shine there’s a hater now a person like me cnt afford cable i have n antenna now else I’m going to look at.we the ppl need bounce stop taking stuff from us get your own gosh.

  11. Bounce show great movies and shows!!! Good quality programs!!!

  12. The more they take away..there companys will fail.Were becoming more populated in the black community. The white ppl need us

  13. It’s time that we stop begging white folks to let us in. We need to get with Bill Cosby and work with him in getting our own net work. Its time our money work for us.

  14. How can we help change this

  15. I will do what it take to support Bounce TV.

  16. Black life’s matter, I am just saying!

  17. This is a travesty…..advertisers and sponsors will listen to TV viewers and audiences who protest this OBVIOUS attempt to control the television industry and FORCE AFRICAN AMERICANS OUT OF THE BUSINESS…

  18. bounce TV has just begun. They are so many people still have a need for free TV. Economy hasn’t recovered. And several people are asking for this service. Why not help instead of hurting the people.

  19. This is crazy I love this channel this is all I watch all the show that come on means a lot to me the mack, soul train, Cooley high just to name a few I love this channel please don’t take it away

  20. This is unfortunate I want my Bill Cosby show back too, I miss watching fat Albert, they won’t even show bill Cosby and Sidney poiter movie, it’s like they are attacking African American in secret a new form of Jim Crow is creeping up through our entertainment and through our communities. We need to take a stand

  21. It’s really a shame. NY and LA are two biggest African Americans demographic markets in the USA.
    With a lot TV influence?

  22. Dont judge us for feeling a certain way! Sarcasm and stupid comments like the ones i read shows how childish and dumb u ARE!

  23. #TeamBounce…. I happen to like watching some of the reruns is better than some of the crappola that comes on today. I love to watch Soul Train as well Give it some time.

  24. They would rather have African American people making a fool of themselves on TV, rather than having a show that is actually funny and have a meaning behind it. This makes no sense what so ever.

    Bring the Bounce next work back

  25. I came here to see just MAYBE I do not have the package with time warner that shows Bounce TV and come to this sad news. Smh I think I’m going to change cable companies

  26. I’m so pissed about this to be honest. What’s the big deal whether its African American based or not its a really good channel with really good shows that I like to watch smh guess I gotta find a new cable provider.

  27. I’ve been watching movies on bounce tv & enjoying them. I don’t watch silly sitcoms on any channels. I did not know it is a Blacks channel. It’s still got some good movies hope it stays around don’t understand all the hoop la. UP is a channel that has or had mostly Black movies. It’s a very good channel too. I’m white if that’s a problem, sorry.

  28. BOUNCE TV IS RACIEST AND SHOULD BE TAKEN OFF THE AIR ASAP.

  29. I AGREE !!! SHAME ON THEM…. SO, SAD IT’S BAD ENOUGH THE NEWLY OWNED SPECTRUM WHICH IS NO LONGER IS TIME WARNER TOOK AWAY THE BOUNCE STATION ! BUT THAT WASN’T THE ONLY ONE THEY TOOK A FEW OTHER STATION AND SWITCH AROUND TEXAS WALKER RANGER AND PUT IT ON THIS STATION CALLED…( INSP) AND i MESSED AROUND AND CALLED TO COMPLAIN ABOUT IT AND SOMEONE WAS NICE ENOUGH TO TELL ME WHAT STATION, BUT THEY SAID, I MIGHT HAVE TO CHANGE MY PACKAGE… BUT IF YOU’RE NOT CAREFUL, YOU’LL END UP PAYING FOR FOR IT AND YOU MAY ALREADY HAVE IT ! BUT THEY WANT TELL YOU THAT ! IT’S A MONEY THING !!!IT’S ALL ABOUT THAT MONEY

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