With start-up Bounce challenging his own TV One and Viacom’s established BET, Radio One CEO Alfred Liggins says the new digital broadcast network is adding to the completion in targeting African-American viewers. However, he doesn’t think much of the newbie’s business model.
With only one revenue stream, advertising, as opposed to the dual track of advertising and cable subscription fee payments for TV One and BET, Liggins questions whether the new competitor has much chance of success. Quality content, he noted in his quarterly conference call, costs money. But even if Bounce doesn’t post much in the way of ratings, he says it will still take some ad dollars away from the two established cable networks.
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Bounce has been signing major broadcast stations as affiliates to carry its programming on digital multicast channels. Most recently it announced a deal in its home market, Atlanta, with Gannett’s WATL-TV, whose main signal is the market’s MyNetworkTV affiliate. Gannett also owns WXIA-TV (NBC) Atlanta.
