Florida A&M University is bringing the first Black news network to TV screens next year.
The Black Television News Channel, based in Tallahassee, Fla., will be available in 14 cities beginning in February 2018. The all-Black owners held a ribbon-cutting ceremony commemorating the impending launch Friday, Feb. 24.
Former Mayor John Marks spoke to WCTV-TV and was moved to tears over the historically Black university housing BTNC.
“This has been a long time coming,” he says to the news station. “I really feel so proud to be a part of what I know is going to be revolutionary as well as evolutionary.”
BTNC will dismiss stereotypes and poor imagery of the Black community and students are excited about its potential impact.
“For it to be owned by African-Americans and then cater to African-Americans, that’s just big for me alone,” FAMU student Nathan Vinson says. “We will speak and you will hear us. It’s definitely something major for the African-American community as a whole.”
