Ok, so you want BET to do better with their programming. You want HBCU games, you want cooking shows, you want travel shows, you want home decor shows for us and by us, huh? Okay, so here's a thread ya'll

Want home decor and interior design shows? Unboxed with Nikki Chu is TWO seasons in on @TVaspire. She helps celebrities and regular folks repurpose and style their homes: https://www.aspire.tv/series/unboxed-with-nikki-chu/

Over on @mycleotv Jake and Jazz Smollett have Living by Design. Jazz does most of the interior design, Jake cooks and builds unique pieces at an affordable price. It's a cute 30 minute show too: https://mycleo.tv/show/living-by-design/

. @butterandbrown started off as a web series but now they are two seasons in on Aspire. Seth and Leslie are essentially the homies in my head. They make good drinks, cook good food and have celebrities in the kitchen with them. https://www.aspire.tv/series/butterbrown/

There's a new cooking show on @mycleotv called New Soul Kitchen that features Chef Jernard Wells cooking a lot of southern comfort foods and Chef Porsche Thomas making the VEGAN twists on comfort foods. Each episode is 15ish minutes. https://mycleo.tv/show/new-soul-kitchen/

Need a travel show? Lens of Culture aired their first season last year and they've traveled in the US and abroad. It's hosted by @taibeau and @eltonandersonjr. The Palm Springs episode is my favorite so far: https://mycleo.tv/show/lens-of-culture/

Also @TVaspire has been airing HBCU sports for three years already. Last year they started No Huddle in partnerships with @HBCUGameday. You can watch past games here: https://www.aspire.tv/series/hbcu-sports/

Also, @mycleotv has a show highlighting Black women leaders across various industries called Cleo Speaks. They've interviewed Pinky Cole of Slutty Vegan, Estelle and more. https://mycleo.tv/show/cleo-speaks/

Joseph Johnson is a James Beard award winning chef and he has a show called Just Eats with Chef JJ where he cooks everything from brisket to brunch and invites Black leaders and entertainers to join him. https://mycleo.tv/show/just-eats-with-chef-jj/

Aspire also has a Black owned marketplace where you can support the community and the marketplace features interviews from Black entrepreneurs: https://mktplc.aspire.tv/ 

And quiet as it's kept, Aspire and CLEO were airing the Parkers and Girlfriends and all of our favorite 90s shows WAY before Netflix. They even have a bunch of Black independent films on. Aspire has even aired the American Black Film Festival (ABFF).

ACCESS is an issue. These channels are available on xfinity and I'm not sure about other providers. So how can we support + help them expand?

Buy building their brand. How do we do that?

Follow them on social media: @TVaspire @mycleotv
Stream their content on their site

Also, we can:

Share that these channels exist with our friends and fam
Try to find other channels and WEB channels that we can support.

When you have an increase in engagement, it helps you pitch to investors for financial support and marketing help.

Also follow the CREATIVES who run and host the show. They are dope. They create content for US. We have to support them. I tagged a lot of them in previous posts.

@TVaspire's slogan is literally "See Yourself Here", ya'll. We have to support it so we can get more content.

Since finding them, our TV at home STAYS on these channels:

@mycleotv: https://mycleo.tv/  (Cleo is a TV one network!)

@TVaspire: https://www.aspire.tv/ 

IF you know of other black networks, PLEASE send them my way so I can share!

Hi friends- of course, I want to add @bouncetv and @Tvone. While they have more visibility than Aspire and Cleo, we gotta support EVERYONE. And support means *watch* so those ad dollars can come in.

(Also with all the good true crime on @Tvone, WE need an accompanying podcast!)

I'm aware none of these are on BET. I think we can demand more of BET AND support these new channels. And that support might allow the channels to expand providers.

But nostalgia for BET to return to its 90s format is gonna make you miss the great content already available.