Comcast Helps Broaden the African American Voice Through Afro and CLEO TV #Comcast #Afro #CleoTV

New Channels on Comcast Broadenin the African American Voice

After Comcast merged with NBC Universal in 2011, they were given several guidelines by the Justice Department. Comcast is not only making good on these guidelines but has officially fulfilled it’s distribution requirement to broadly distribute 10 new Independently-owned channels. Eight of the channels were required to be owned and operated by people of multicultural decent. Thursday, March 14, Comcast held a launch event and celebrated that AFRO and CLEO TV are both now available for Comcast customers to watch on Xfinity.

Blogger Elle and Graphic Designer David Cavins
Blogger Elle Cole and Graphic Designer David Cavins

I had the honor of being able to attend the launch celebration event in Washington, DC at the Newseum. There were many of the AFRO and CLEO TV stars in attendance. Please see the photos below for more details:

It’s great to see more television shows for people who are from diverse backgrounds.

Some of the shows that viewers can look forward to seeing are:

Founder of Afro TV - Yves Bollanga and Blogger Elle Cole

Yves Bollanga

CEO of Afrotainment

Afro

Afrotainers

Erika Washington is the host of the entertainment television show called Afrotainers, which shares the latest news, gossip, hottest fashion, photos, movies, and TV shows as it relates to Afro-centric entertainment.

Kaya Chipungu

Sandy Laborde

Candice Blake

Point of View

A daytime talk show hosted by multi-ethnic women.

Journey

Is a talk show with guests from various walks of life who are on a journey. The show is hosted by Gigi who is a Puerto Rican Afro-Latina.

James Yon

That Other Show

That Other Show with James Yon is for comedy lovers. James uses his personality to connect with people on a personal and direct level.

Katrina Lee-Jones

Style Check

Unique, lively, creative, and with loads of sophistication hosts, Katrina and CL, keep viewers in tune with all things related to fashion and the hottest trends.

Cathy Hughes, founder of Urban One Inc.

CLEO TV

Jernard Wells

New Soul Kitchen

I can’t wait to watch New Soul Kitchen. Two chefs, Chef Jernard Wells and vegan chef Porsche Thomas, provide ways to cook soul food in a healthy way.

Syleena Johnson, Trina Braxton, and Rashan Ali

Sister Circle

Is a talk show hosted by four African American women:

  • Quad Webb-Lunceford, from the reality show “Married To Medicine” reality-TV breakout star
  • Syleena Johnson, best known as a Grammy-award nominated singer and “R&B Divas” reality-TV star
  • Rashan Ali, TV Host, sports reporter, and radio show host
  • Trina Braxton, Entrepreneur and “Braxton Family Values” reality-TV star and singer

Tai Beauchamp

Lens of Culture

(Airs August 2019) – If you love traveling and watching travel shows then Tai Beauchamp and Elton Anderson’s show is for you. They will share a creative reality travel show that increases the knowledge of various places around the world and encourages viewers to one day see these places on their own.

Blogger and Podcaster Elle Cole with Keisha Boyd Executive Director of Multicultural Products at Comcast

Widening the African American Voice

Honestly, these African American-centered channels are not new ideas. For example, a few African American channels that you may be familiar with are: Own, TV One, Aspire, Bounce, etc, so the concept isn’t new, but CLEO TV is marketing to a whole new generation, millennial and Gen X women like me. On one hand, I’m super excited about a network that can deliver a voice I’m familiar with. On the other hand, I’m nervous because having a channel geared towards African American women can feel like a tall order. Simply because we are opinionated and the expectations may seem too high and almost unattainable when starting out.

David Cohen

Senior Executive Vice President and Chief Diversity Officer at Comcast

Highly Anticipating

Nonetheless, they definitely have a new supporter, I’m looking forward to tuning in to see how each show freshly delivers new unique content. As long as there is a robust marketing initiative to get the word out there that the channel exists, I don’t think there will be anything to worry about. It can be difficult trying to convenience people to give your content a try without previous knowing who you are, but after meeting many of the network’s talents their positive personalities when engaging with fans will give them an advantage.

Frankly, I believe the founders of Afro (Yves Bollanga) and CLEO TV’s (Michelle Rice) are looking to change the way people in our multicultural world consume TV. So please tune in and tell a friend about their upcoming shows.

Candice and Katrina

Not Yet Available, But I’d Like to See

One show, they don’t have that I would love to see is an African-Inspired health awareness show with young doctors and health professionals that help give African Americans insight into health issues that primarily affect African American Citizens.

Learn More

To learn more about the 10 independently owned channels now distributed on Comcast visit: Comcast Sets TV One’s Cleo TV, Afro as Latest Independent Channel Launches

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