The Black News Channel, a cable news network geared towards a Black audience, is struggling with ratings, leading to the announcement of layoffs. The Wrap secured the memo that President and CEO Princell Hair sent out to his staff informing them of the news.
“I am reaching out to you today with some very unfortunate news about a reduction in our workforce,” Hair said. “As you know, throughout the course of this year, we have been expanding at a rapid rate. At the same time, the U.S. economy is facing some tough challenges, several of which are heavily impacting the media industry and the revenue streams that fuel our emerging enterprise.”
“I am incredibly proud of this team and all that we have built and accomplished. Your work has been outstanding, but we have reached a point where a considerable adjustment is needed in order to protect the health of our business and keep BNC moving forward.”
The network’s leading anchors include Sharon Reed, Mike Hill, Laverne McGee, Del Walters, Marc Lamont Hill, Kelly Wright, and Charles Blow. Furthermore, BNC employs roughly 300 employees, so there’s no clear how many of them will be laid off and whether it will include some of their top talents.
“We kind of felt this was going to happen,” an anonymous staffer said. “Many employees agree the ratings could have been better had the network spent money on promotions. People don’t watch when they don’t know a network exits.”
The Tallahassee-based network offers 24/7 news, sports, and entertainment coverage. BNC was second-to-last place in ratings for 2021, averaging 4,000 viewers throughout the year.
BNC did not immediately reply to a request from TheWrap to comment on the number of laid-off employees.
Eduardo Razo is the Assistant Content Editor for BNM, which includes writing daily news stories on the news media industry. He can be found on Twitter @eddierazo_ or you can reach him by email at eddie1991razo@gmail.com.
They should’ve more money into marketing.????????♂️
Exactly.
Looks like as form of segregation to me!Lets me see here BNC BET Black pagent black dating black caucus black awards historic black colleges , & the list goes on ..