NEW YORK / LOS ANGELES -- The Africa Channel, the U.S.-based television network showcasing the rich and diverse perspectives of Africa's people, will make its official launch in the New York metro area exclusively on Time Warner Cable's New York City Region, September 18th on Channel 87. The announcement was jointly made today by Eric Brown, The Africa Channel's Executive Vice President of Affiliate Sales, and Bob Watson, Vice President, Programming & Business Development, Time Warner Cable's New York City Region.
The New York City launch is the second under the national affiliation agreement between The Africa Channel and Time Warner Cable. The network will be launched across the complete Time Warner New York City Region footprint and will include some 1.1 million of the system's digital subscribers. The Africa Channel launched in Time Warner Cable's LA Metro division on July 29th.
Regarding the announcement, Brown commented, "Obviously, New York is a very important market for The Africa Channel and we are delighted to be launching in the media capital of the U.S. and the world. For the first time ever, Time Warner Cable's New York metro area viewers will be able to enjoy The Africa Channel's rich and diverse slate of programming never before seen in the United States, providing an entertaining and enlightening window into modern day Africa."
"Time Warner Cable's New York City Region is looking forward to adding The Africa Channel to our robust lineup of quality and diversified programming," added Time Warner Cable's New York City's Watson. "We know customers across the New York metro area will enjoy The Africa Channel's unique educational, cultural and entertaining content."
Brown added, "Time Warner Cable has been a great supporter of our network and we plan on pursuing launches throughout their other systems across the country."
The Africa Channel features programming that spans news and information, travel and lifestyle, music, soap operas, talk shows, reality, feature films and special events. Flagship series include the travel series "Africa Within" and "Studio 53"; reality series "Project Fame Africa," and "All You Need is Love"; dramas "Generations," "Jacob's Cross" and "Isidingo"; the interview series "Conversations with Felicia"; the news program "Africa Journal" and daily music series "Africa Music".
The Africa Channel also regularly offers a wealth of news and information programming. Produced by Reuters' team of producers and journalists in Nairobi, Kenya, Africa Journal, a weekly series, aggregates the most important stories, interviews and news from across the African continent. Africa Report offers a comprehensive look at the business opportunities on the continent. Carte Blanche, a flagship series, is known as "The 60 Minutes of Africa" due to its focus on investigative journalism and highly popular newsmagazine format. Now in its 18th successful year, Carte Blanche has accumulated more than 80 local and international awards for excellence in investigative television journalism and is seen in 44 countries throughout the African continent.
Original series created for The Africa Channel include Conversations with Felicia, hosted by author, entrepreneur and African TV icon Felicia Mabuza-Suttle and Africa Music!, a VJ-hosted music series that spotlights the latest sounds to come out of Africa.
The Africa Channel's most recent programming additions include, Jacob's Cross, an episodic drama series set in Nigeria and South Africa; Project Fame, 16 singing contestants from around Africa live and train together while competing for a recording contract; Dance Africa, Talent scouts scour South Africa, Zambia, Mozambique, Kenya and Nigeria in search of the best freestyle dancer on the African continent; and Urban Massive, travels to African's best known cities to profile the top musicians, fashion designers, trendsetters and hottest local nightspots and also puts the continent's local DJs and artists in the limelight and showcases them at the top of their game.
A complete daily schedule including program information and clips are available at www.theafricachannel.com.
About Time Warner Cable's New York City Region Time Warner Cable's New York City Region serves over 1.4 million customers in four NYC boroughs (Manhattan, Queens, Staten Island and western Brooklyn), Mt. Vernon, Hudson Valley (Orange, Sullivan, Ulster Counties and parts of Dutchess, Greene and Delaware Counties) and Bergen and Hudson Counties, New Jersey. Visit timewarnercable.com/nynj
Time Warner Cable is the second-largest cable operator in the U.S., with technologically advanced, well-clustered systems located mainly in five geographic areas — New York State (including New York City), the Carolinas, Ohio, southern California (including Los Angeles) and Texas. As of June 30, 2008, Time Warner Cable served approximately 14.7 million customers who subscribed to one or more of its video, high-speed data and voice services, representing approximately 33.6 million revenue generating units.
About The Africa Channel The premiere of The Africa Channel on September 1, 2005, marked a milestone in U.S. television history. For the first time, American audiences were able to experience the daily successes, celebrations and challenges of people living throughout Africa, all via a general entertainment network. The Africa Channel airs the best English-language programming from the continent, including news and information, travel and lifestyle, music, soap operas, talk shows, reality, feature films and special events. The commercially-supported channel is seen on cable systems in Los Angeles; Houston and Ft. Worth, Texas; Washington, D.C.; Atlanta and Macon, Georgia; Detroit, Michigan; New Orleans, Baton Rouge and Lafayette, Louisiana; Hampton Roads, Virginia; Inland Empire, California; Memphis, Tennessee; the Bahamas, Trinidad, Jamaica and Barbados in the Caribbean; and on SKY in the United Kingdom. The network was founded by longtime television industry executives James Makawa, Jacob Arback and Richard Hammer. Initial partners include former United Nations Ambassador Andrew Young and his company, Goodworks International; Weller/Grossman Productions; and NBA stars Dikembe Mutombo and Theo Ratliff. For more information, please visit
The media gatekeeepers are very strict with what they show on national television. The NFL can't even get a national deal that can be shown on generic cable channels (ESPN, BET, USA, SPIKE, MTV, etc). But there's a cultural side to this too. The media wants to continue the illusion of a crazy, grief-plagued, starved continent. Always wanting money given to them from the rich Western world. They don't want to show anything positive about Africa or they already would be doing it.
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