Get ready to get your Bounce on.
Bounce TV is the latest project from the producer/director team that brought you the “Trois” movies, “Stomp the Yard” and “Takers.” It’s an over-the-air network launching this week in more than 18 cities, geared predominantly toward the African-American audience. (“Over-the-air” means there’s no cost to the channel, as no cable or satellite is necessary and it can be accessed by antenna.)
Former U.S. Ambassador Andrew Young and Martin Luther King III are part of the founding group, which includes Rainforest Films’ Will Packer and Rob Hardy and longtime TV executive Ryan Glover. Upcoming programming includes broadcasts of HBCU football games, a week dedicated to comedian Richard Pryor, several popular black movies – including “The Wiz,” “Do The Right Thing” and “School Daze” – and the re-airing of original episodes of “Soul Train.”
To find Bounce TV in your area, please visit www.BounceTV.com.
We caught up with Packer to discover more about this new venture.
BLACKAMERICAWEB.COM: What do you hope to accomplish with Bounce TV?
WILL PACKER: With Bounce, we want to give viewers an alternative that is not out there in existence anywhere. We want to provide programming and content on a broadcast network aimed at African-Americans. That is a really exciting opportunity for us.
What major cities are you launching in?
We are everywhere from Atlanta to Memphis, Chicago, Philly, Cleveland and Charlotte. There are a lot of major markets, especially where we have an high African-American demographic.
The programming seems to be a mix of black movies, “Soul Train” and more. What else can people expect to see on the network?
They should expect to see a mix of programming on Bounce TV that they haven’t seen in a while and can’t see anywhere else. We have a great lineup of theatrical features – everything from Pam Grier [movies] to “Ali” with Will Smith and other great titles like that. We’ll have “Soul Train.” We’ll have HBCU sports, as well as some original programming that you will start to see on the network after the first 12 months.
Can you tell us anything yet about the original programming and what that will be like?
We’re working on that right now. We’re heavy into the development process of a slate of original programming. We want to provide programming that is different than anything that’s out there. We want to target the upwardly mobile professional African-American demographic that has entertainment choices out there, but maybe not as many that really speak to them and their culture and their lifestyle.
But that begs the question that if you’re looking for an upwardly mobile African-American demographic, wouldn’t those people have cable or satellite?
Our research has shown that there is quite a wide variety of people that can be found across the spectrum in terms of how they receive their programming. It’s actually not the case that just because people can afford cable or satellite that they don’t have digital antennas. You have people that have [both.] We really believe if we build it, they will come, and if we provide an alternative that’s different than everything out there, people will find it.
Is there an online or streaming component to BounceTV?
At first, it will launch primarily over the air, but in this day and age, you have to have an online component to any program that you’re doing, and we will not be the exception to that.
