theGrio

TheGrio is to "focus on news and events that have a unique interest and pronounced impact within the national African Americans audience,"Ham, Jon (August 10, 2009). [http://www.carolinajournal.com/mediamangle/display_story.html?id=5571 "NBC’s theGrio.com needs diversity training"]. Carolina Journal Online. offering what co-founder and Executive Editor David Wilson feels is "underrepresented in existing national news outlets".

The website's name is derived from the word griot, the term for a West African oral historian and storyteller.Mayes, Julia (October 3, 2011). [http://www.nbcnewyork.com/news/local/Positively_Black__NBC_Launches_The_Grio_New_York.html "Positively Black: NBC Launches The Grio"]. 4 NBC New York.

The website originally launched in June 2009 as a division of NBC News.[http://www.c-spanvideo.org/program/307624-5 "The Grio Web Site"]. C-SPAN Video Library, August 20, 2012.[http://www.today.com/video/today/50693393 "TheGrio reveals annual Top 100 list"]. Today, February 4, 2013. It was founded by the team who created the documentary film Meeting David Wilson. It became a division of MSNBC in 2013. In 2014, it was sold to its founders.{{Cite web | last = Jordan Chariton | title = NBC News Selling TheGrio.com | work = TVNewser | access-date =August 22, 2014 | date =August 14, 2014 | url = http://www.mediabistro.com/tvnewser/nbc-news-selling-thegrio-com_b235383 }} In June 2016, Byron Allen's Entertainment Studios acquired the site.{{Cite web | last = Debbie Emery | title = Byron Allen's Entertainment Studios Acquires TheGrio | work = TheWrap | access-date =August 22, 2014 | date =June 14, 2016 | url = http://www.thewrap.com/byron-allens-entertainment-studios-acquires-thegrio/ }}

The TV channel was founded as Light TV in 2016 by reality television producer Mark Burnett and his wife, actress Roma Downey, as an inspirational network as part of his chairmanship of MGM Television, which operated the network. It was sold to Entertainment Studios in late 2020, and relaunched as TheGrio TV in January 2021, with a Black-specific programming focus.

After Entertainment Studios purchased the assets of the bankrupt Black News Channel in late July 2022, that network was merged into TheGrio TV on August 1, including the former's existing cable, satellite and advertiser supported on-demand streaming carriage. Allen claimed to want to add more news and commentary to TheGrio TV's schedule.{{cite press release|title=Black News Channel is now theGrio|publisher=TheGrio|date=1 August 2022|url=https://thegrio.com/2022/08/01/black-news-channel-is-now-thegrio/|access-date=4 August 2022}} However, the promised content was never really delivered on its own, and consisted mainly of already existing interviews from other AEG shows and archived BNC content. By the 2024 presidential election, news programming had been reduced to the contractual minimum within the BNC contract.

Light TV and This TV were both sold by MGM TV in October 2020 to the Allen Media Group division of Entertainment Studios.[https://deadline.com/2020/10/allen-media-group-buys-two-networks-mgm-1234605235/ "Allen Media Group Buys Two Networks From MGM,"] from Deadline, 10/28/2020 On December 3, 2020, it was announced that the network would be relaunched as TheGrio.TV on January 15, 2021, carrying lifestyle and entertainment programming of interest to the Black American community as an extension of the website.{{Cite web|last=Haring|first=Bruce|date=2020-12-04|title=Byron Allen's Light TV Will Transition To 'TheGrio.TV' Next Month To Kick Off MLK Day Weekend|url=https://deadline.com/2020/12/byron-allens-light-tv-will-transition-to-thegrio-tv-next-month-to-kick-off-mlk-day-weekend-1234650261/|access-date=2020-12-04|website=Deadline|language=en-US}}

That same day, Light TV's satellite transponder space was taken over by Entertainment Studios, which stopped carrying programming in the interim and instead transmitted a test pattern promoting the launch of TheGrio (later a looping launch promo), while MGM continued to carry a stream of Light TV through the network's website. Fox Television Stations confirmed its stations would be a part of TheGrio's charter launch group, and much of its affiliate body transferred over through the month-long dark period, though some stations departed for other networks.{{cite news|url=https://tvnewscheck.com/programming/article/fox-oos-adding-thegrio-tv-to-subchannels/|title=Fox O&Os Adding TheGrio.TV To Subchannels|last=Miller|first=Mark K.|date=8 December 2020|work=TVNewsCheck|access-date=9 December 2020|archive-date=August 20, 2022|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220820063006/https://tvnewscheck.com/programming/article/fox-oos-adding-thegrio-tv-to-subchannels/|url-status=live}} The network officially relaunched as TheGrio on January 15, 2021, that year's Martin Luther King Jr. Day, and that same day MGM handed over the domain of Light TV to Entertainment Studios, ending the stream of Light TV.

On January 1, 2025, at 5{{nbsp}}am EST, TheGrio's digital subchannel distribution ended. The channel remains available on cable providers and FAST channel providers, with the cable version currently carrying a loop of Black sitcoms from the 1970s to the 1990s distributed by Sony Pictures Television, with the FAST channel version on services such as Allen's Local Now carrying past AEG content. This was because the Fox-owned stations have entered into a distribution agreement with Allen Media Group's rival broadcaster Sinclair Broadcast Group to add the company-owned sketch comedy network TBD (now Roar) on 5 of its stations made in December 2024.{{Cite web |date=December 17, 2024 |title=Sinclair Expands Broadcast Network Footprint of TBD TV Through Partnership With FOX in Top 10 DMAs |url=https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20241217846928/en/Sinclair-Expands-Broadcast-Network-Footprint-of-TBD-TV-Through-Partnership-With-FOX-in-Top-10-DMAs |access-date=April 29, 2025 |website=Business Wire}}

From 2016 until 2021, TheGrio TV (as Light TV) featured several series and movies meant to fit the network's family-oriented approach, including content from the MGM film and TV library or acquired through outside sources.{{cite web|title=MGM Launches Light TV on Fox Owned Stations and Affiliates|url=http://www.broadcastingcable.com/news/distribution/mgm-launches-light-tv-fox-owned-stations-and-affiliates/161207|periodical=Broadcasting & Cable|publisher=NewBay Media|date=November 16, 2016|access-date=November 28, 2016}}{{cite web|url=http://chicagoradioandmedia.com/news/8570-faith-based-light-tv-coming-to-fox-32-2-in-december|title=Faith-Based LIGHT TV Coming To FOX 32.2 In December|work=Chicagoland Radio & Media|date=November 16, 2016|access-date=February 3, 2017}} Infomercials were added to the Light TV lineup in 2019, occupying all of the overnight hours and into the early morning.

The then-new over-the-top (OTT) faith-based channel was under development as early as September 2014 when MGM purchased 55% of One Three Media and LightWorkers Media, owned by Hearst Entertainment, Mark Burnett and Roma Downey, and consolidated them into United Artists Media Group.{{cite news|last1=Busch|first1=Mike Fleming Jr, Anita|title=MGM Buys 55% Of Roma Downey And Mark Burnett's Empire; Relaunches United Artists|url=https://deadline.com/2014/09/mgm-roma-downey-and-mark-burnetts-united-artists-838595/|access-date=March 6, 2017|work=Deadline|publisher=Penske Business Media|date=September 22, 2014}} With MGM purchasing Hearst and Burnett and Downey's shares in UAMG, the channel was still a planned streaming service. However, Hearst and Burnett and Downey retained their stakes in the channel.{{cite news|last1=Lieberman|first1=David|title=MGM Taps Mark Burnett To Run TV Operation After Buying Out JV Partners|url=https://deadline.com/2015/12/mgm-mark-burnett-run-tv-operation-united-artists-media-group-roma-downey-hearst-1201666743/|access-date=March 6, 2017|work=Deadline|publisher=Penske Business Media|date=December 14, 2015}}

MGM announced the formation of Light TV on December 15, 2015, with a launch planned for December on thirteen major market stations owned by Fox Television Stations.{{cite news|last1=Busch|first1=Anita|title=Roma Downey, Mark Burnett And MGM Launch Light TV With Fox Stations On Board|url=https://deadline.com/2016/11/roma-downey-mark-burnett-mgm-light-tv-faith-based-network-fox-1201855425/|access-date=April 3, 2016|work=Deadline|date=December 15, 2015}} The network launched on January 20, 2016{{cite news|last1=Bouma|first1=Luke|title=Three New Over-the-Air TV Networks Recently Launched - Cord Cutters News|url=http://cordcuttersnews.com/three-new-air-tv-networks-recently-launched/|access-date=March 6, 2017|work=Cord Cutters News|date=March 3, 2017}} with two stations, and the rest of the group's stations.

The network was intended to carry new and original content from LightWorkers as part of Burnett's chairmanship of MGM's television division, but never ended up carrying any new content, only featuring rerun and library content already seen on MGM's This TV (a film-oriented network) and MGM HD, along with low-cost barter programming such as Heartland, which was already in wide syndication across multiple channels, and other generic inspirational or family-friendly content. By 2019, the network added paid programming which made up its late night and early morning schedule, reducing its programming commitment further.{{cite news|url=https://www.hollywoodreporter.com/tv/tv-news/he-makes-you-feel-like-youre-questioning-your-sanity-mark-burnetts-disruptive-reign-at-mgm-4094460/|title="He Makes You Feel Like You're Questioning Your Sanity": Mark Burnett's Disruptive Reign at MGM|last=Masters|first=Kim|date=19 November 2020|work=The Hollywood Reporter|access-date=4 August 2022}}

Below is a current list of programming broadcast on TheGrio:{{Cite web|url=http://www.lighttv.com/LIGHT_SCHEDULE_AUGUST_24_UPDATE.pdf|title=LIGHT_SCHEDULE_AUGUST_24_UPDATE|date=2017-08-01}}

• America's Court with Judge Ross (November 1, 2021)
• Animal Rescue
• Comics Unleashed (November 1, 2021)
• Equal Justice with Judge Eboni K. Williams
• Funny You Should Ask
• HBCU GO sports – coverage of college athletics at historically black colleges and universities, especially college football and the bands of those teams
• Justice for All with Judge Christina Perez
• Justice with Judge Mablean (November 1, 2021)
• Masters of the Game
• Supreme Justice with Judge Karen Mills (November 1, 2021)
• The Verdict with Judge Hatchett (November 1, 2021)
• We the People with Judge Lauren Lake
• Wild Times at the San Diego Zoo

• The First Family{{Cite web|url=https://lighttv.com/schedule/|title = GrioTV Schedule - Check What's on}}
• Jeremiah
• Mr. Box Office
• TheGrio News with Eboni K. Williams
• TheGrio News with Marc Lamont Hill

Light TV

• The Adventures of Paddington Bear (2016–2019)
• All Dogs Go to Heaven: The Series (December 22, 2016 – September 29, 2019)
• Are You Smarter than a 5th Grader? (2016–2019, 2020–January 14, 2021)
• The Busy World of Richard Scarry (December 22, 2016 – October 2, 2020)
• The Country Mouse and the City Mouse Adventures (December 22, 2016 – October 2, 2020)
• Flipper
• Flipper – The New Adventures
• Franny's Feet (2017–September 30, 2019)
• Green Acres (2016–2018; October 1, 2019 – January 14, 2021)
• Heartland
• Heathcliff (October 6, 2018 – September 30, 2019)
• Highway to Heaven (December 22, 2016 – January 14, 2021)
• Inspector Gadget (December 22, 2016 – October 5, 2018 & October 1, 2019 – April 2020)
• It's About Time (October 5, 2019 – January 14, 2021)
• Madeline (December 22, 2016 – September 30, 2019)
• Mister Ed
• My Mother the Car (October 5, 2019 – January 14, 2021)
• Naturally, Sadie (October 1, 2019 – April 2020)
• The Patty Duke Show (September 3, 2018 – January 14, 2021)
• The Pink Panther Show (December 24, 2016 – September 29, 2019)
• Sea Hunt
• Wimzie's House (December 22, 2016 – September 30, 2019)

{{reflist}}

{{Commons category|TheGrio}}

• {{official website|http://www.theGrio.com/}}
• {{cite web |url= https://www.nbcnews.com/id/wbna23761008 |title= MSNBC will air the world premiere of 'Meeting David Wilson,' Friday, April 11, 9 p.m. ET |date= Mar 22, 2008 |publisher= NBC News }}
• {{cite web |url= http://www.nbcumv.com/mediavillage/networks/nbcnews/thegriocom |title= TheGrio.com |publisher= NBC Universal Media Village |url-status= dead |archive-date= Oct 5, 2013 |archive-url= https://web.archive.org/web/20131005013128/http://www.nbcumv.com/mediavillage/networks/nbcnews/thegriocom }}

{{Broadcast Television}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Grio}}

Category:Digital television in the United States

Category:Television channels and stations established in 2016

Category:Lists of American television network affiliates

Category:African-American television networks

Category:African-American mass media

Category:Allen Media Group

Category:American news websites

Category:Internet properties established in 2009

Category:2016 mergers and acquisitions