In a television marketplace with increasingly diverse programming offerings, The Africa Channel continues to connect the culture and lifestyle of the African continent to U.S. audiences.

The 18-year-old independent network’s lineup of Africa-based lifestyle and food shows, scripted series and movies can be viewed on multiple platforms including cable, through deals with Comcast, Charter Communications and Cox Communications; via agreements with free ad-supported TV platforms such as Xumo Play, Pluto TV and Tubi; and through subscription VOD service Demand Africa.

Navigating the network’s operations is veteran international programming executive and Africa Channel chief operating officer Narendra Reddy. The former independent producer and NBCUniversal executive spoke with Multichannel News about the network’s distribution and programming fortunes in an evolving multiplatform television universe.

What are some of the distribution challenges The Africa Channel faces in a crowded television marketplace? Despite the increase in the number of platforms, there is a much smaller subset of platforms that are designed and built to reach specific communities, in particular the African diaspora. Our distribution strategy is to essentially go to where our audiences are, so we are working with the traditional cable and satellite providers. We’ve also expanded our reach into the virtual MVPD platform, including agreements with Roku and Amazon, as well as with FAST and AVOD aggregators such as Xumo, Pluto, Tubi, Samsung and others. I also personally believe that there is also a strong play for us in the subscription video-on-demand market [with Demand Africa].

What is behind the increasing interest in Africa-based television, music and fashion here in the U.S.? My mantra and what I’ve been advocating is that Black audiences are not monolithic. We’re seeing genres including [Africa-based] lifestyle, music, sports, travel and food all gaining a lot of resonance now across cultural lines. We believe that there is a Pan-African identity that can connect with 150 million people of the diaspora.

Having said that, what then is Africa Channel’s target audience sweet spot? I will just say broadly, our audience is people of African descent who have made their home voluntarily or involuntarily outside of the continent of Africa. The secondary audience is those who have an interest in travel, lifestyle and culture, particularly that of Africa and its people.

Will The Africa Channel eventually look to develop original programming? Based on our current economics, I would say that 70% of the content is carefully curated and licensed programming from across the continent and the diaspora. We’ve also been producing programming that speaks about the people who’ve made other countries their home, whether it’s in the U.K. or the U.S. We’ve created an upcoming series called African Royale that follows the life of a young American heiress who is honoring the legacy of her royal Nigerian heritage but who’s also navigating an independent life in America. Over the last year, we’ve been developing a slate of scripted coproductions through our production arm,
[TAC] Studios. 

Given your history in the business, do you feel that today’s television
environment is the most welcoming to diverse content? Yes, and not just for the sake of increasing on-screen diversity, but because there are so many interesting diverse stories to tell. The streamers have helped make the world a smaller place when it comes to programming. Given the increased polarization in our audiences today, I do believe that there is an opportunity for media companies and storytellers to use the medium to build bridges in this country. 

The Africa Channel has promoted veteran media executive Narendra Reddy to executive vice president and general manager.

Reddy, formerly executive vice president of content & Global Operations for TAC, will be responsible for all operations related to The Africa Channel, including its recently announced production arm TAC Studios, said network officials.

Prior to joining TAC in 2014, Reddy served as general manager for Dream Works Animation India, a division of DreamWorks Animation, SKG, providing oversight for all aspects of the studio’s operations as well as being involved with global strategic planning for the company. 

"Narendra has been instrumental over the last 12 months in laying out a compelling vision for The Africa Channel,” said Elrick Williams, TAC's President & CEO in a statement. “In this short period of time he has demonstrated leadership, fiscal responsibility and a results-driven attitude that makes him a great asset to our senior leadership team. I look forward to working closely with him as we continue to expand TAC¹s footprint globally."

Multicultural-themed programming is riding a wave of ratings and critical success on TV, but that rising tide isn’t lifting all boats.

From Emmy Award-winning shows like Netflix’s Orange Is the New Black and its multicultural cast, to ratings hits like Fox’s Empire, Starz’s Power and ABC’s Fresh Off the Boat and Black-ish, ethnically diverse TV content is hot. But even in such a TV climate, executives at independently owned multicultural networks said their services still struggle to gain widespread distribution.

Even with a growing base of multicultural subscribers who watch more hours of television than white viewers — along with an increase of young, multicultural millennials who are either cord-cutters or cable-nevers — distributors aren’t rushing to sign up networks that target the industry’s current and future subscribers, executives said.

“Overall, 40% of the population is multicultural, so what all that means is multicultural is now the new mainstream,” said Tonia O’Connor, chief commercial officer and president of content distribution for Univision Communications, which also handles distribution duties for four-year-old, male-targeted El Rey Network and young, Hispanic audience-targeted news service Fusion.

“It’s good business to be in this business,” O’Connor said. “Whether distributors have come to embrace it yet or not, they absolutely have to in order to continue to have any growth in the future — they can no longer ignore the multicultural consumer or opportunity.”

A HOT CATEGORY

While most television observers recognize today’s lineup of quality content from cable, broadcast and over-the-top digital services like Netflix as a new Golden Age of Television, it’s also arguably the most prolific time for multicultural programming.

This comes as the U.S. grows more diverse, and as diverse groups grow more influential determining in how and when entertainment content is delivered.

African-Americans watched more than 44 hours of live and time-shifted TV a week during fourth-quarter 2015, well above the 31-hour average for all adults, according to the recent Nielsen Total Audience Report. Hispanics nearly double all viewers in minutes spent watching video on smartphones, while Asian-Americans use multimedia devices to view television nearly a full hour more than the general public does.

Given those realities, the assumption would be that multichannel-video providers would be aggressive in launching networks aimed at the growing, highly influential multicultural audience. But network executives said some distributors have yet to recognize the value of multicultural content.

Most high-profile shows with appeal to multicultural audiences air on mainstream networks backed by major media companies, Africa Channel executive vice president of content and global operations Narendra Reddy said, adding that independently-owned multicultural channels don’t have the budget or staff to develop and market such programming. But that doesn’t mean Africa Channel’s scripted movies and reality shows originating from the continent are any less valuable or appealing to multicultural viewers, Reddy said.

He added that most favored nations language in contracts, restrictions on social-media marketing and promotion of content on the Web, and a lack of negotiating power during contract talks have hampered Africa Channel’s ability to gain distribution as an independent network.

“Even if the heads of programming for these various distributors believe that this content that we have will resonate with audiences, basically they’re forced to carry networks from the companies that have far greater leverage than we do,” Reddy said.

That doesn’t sit well with multicultural viewers who respond favorably to content targeted toward them. According to a recent Horowitz Race, Diversity and Media survey, 64% of multicultural millennials said they found television shows featuring a mainly multicultural cast appealing, compared to 44% of white viewers.

Yet beyond a few select shows, network executives say such images are rare on the current lineup of cable channels.

STILL AN UNDERSERVED AUDIENCE

“A multicultural cable subscriber today sees his or her dollar being mainstream, but the reality is when they look at what’s being offered they’re seeing that there’s just not that much there,” said Mark Walton, president of sales and marketing for One Caribbean Television. “Even though you may see an article or some conversation around all of this, from the consumer’s perspective it gets back to ‘I have 500 channels and I only have four or five that are addressing some of the interests I have.’ ”

One Caribbean Television, which offers entertainment, news and weather content from such Caribbean nations as the Bahamas, Antigua and Barbuda, Jamaica and Barbados, is currently offered on RCN with the network in distribution talks with several other operators. One Caribbean targets the nearly 10 million to 20 million African-Americans who have some connection to the Caribbean, as well as mainstream viewers who travel and have interest in the region.

“The consumer is paying X dollars but is getting X minus dollars in terms of value to them,” Walton said. “In order to breach that gap and reduce churn, you have to have the offerings that that consumer wants.”

Network executives said they recognize that MVPDs are under pressure to curb programming costs and adjust programming packages to prevent younger subscribers from churning or shifting to over-the-top subscription VOD services.

“[Distributors] might not be as confident to take risks on launching multicultural-themed channels,” Miguel Santos, general manager for Asian-American targeted network Myx TV, said. “The business environment is di_ cult — they’re seeing some churn, so it’s making a lot of MVPD executives risk-averse. They don’t really see at the moment the value of multicultural channels.”

One executive who said she does recognize the value of multicultural content is Verizon Fios executive director of content strategy and acquisition Michelle Webb. She told the Horowitz Associates Cultural Insights Forum in March that the telco is looking to balance that with finding the best ways to offer the most choice to consumers.

“It’s all about managing demand and bandwidth considerations,” she said.

Aspire TV has seen some small but noteworthy movement on the distribution front, vice president of business affairs and channel operations Melissa Ingram said. The African-American-targeted network, founded by basketball hall of famer Earvin “Magic” Johnson, has seen its subscriber rolls grow to 34 million viewers since its 2012 launch; it projects it will be in 37 million homes by year-end.

“Not only is [the multicultural] audience is requesting this type of programming but … from a business standpoint, affiliates are starting to understand the importance of having diverse content,” she said. “They’ve seen the success of shows like Empire and they’ve seen a movement by subscribers demanding such content, which is forcing these large distributors to understand the importance and value of it and to get more content like that on their systems.”

As networks continue to push for linear distribution, others are exploring the Web in an eff ort to generate interest and awareness for their brands. Networks such as Myx TV, Fuse and One Caribbean Television use apps to give viewers a chance to check out video content from the networks, as well as some live programming.

BOOSTING ONLINE REACH

“If you want to reach a younger audience, you have to be available on all of the relevant devices, and you have to have content that’s available on-demand,” Fuse Media CEO Michael Schwimmer said. “Obviously, you have to be able to balance that with the network’s role within the pay TV ecosystem, but I think that it’s all doable and important. Anybody that doesn’t have a strong digital presence does so at their own risk.”

Myx TV’s Santos believes networks targeting multicultural millennials in particular may find online distribution a more attractive way of exposing the brand to key audiences. Asian-Americans, especially, tend to watch content online on various mobile devices, so anyone looking to reach that audience would fare well in the digital space, according to Santos.

Myx TV is considering launching an OTT service in the near future, although Santos would not disclose a time frame. “OTT is possibly the key to diversifying entertainment,” he said. “Given the competitive environment and the uncertainty within the industry, it would behoove us to look at all options to really get our content out.

“In the end, the power is with the viewer, and they will decide where they want to watch their content — if they want to watch it over the top we should be there, and if they want to watch it on a linear platform we should be there, too.”