Trustee Holloway Launches Two New Multicultural Family Channels

Two multicultural family channels by and for people of color developed by Emerson Trustee Doug Holloway ’76 launched last month on ROKU TV and online.

UKW Media and Urbn-TV will offer English-language movies, shorts, documentaries, series, and animated programs for primarily Black, Asian, Latinx, Indigenous, and People of Color with an urban sensibility, according to a statement from the channels. The channels are free and advertiser supported.  

“We understand the power of images in the media. We want kids to grow up seeing people who look like them on the screen,” CEO Holloway said in the statement. “We intend to present a robust lineup of primarily independent multicultural programming that evokes a lifestyle of wellness and productive outcomes.”

A veteran of cable and broadcast television, former president of multi-channel distribution at ION media networks, NBC Universal, and a founder of the SyFy Channel, Holloway said he had been dreaming of creating a channel tailored to BIPOC audiences for the past eight years.

Holloway co-founded UKW Media and Urbn-TV with COO Judy Kim, CEO of Trigold Entertainment and a former executive at Paramount Pictures and Warner Bros. Studios.

“UKW Media and Urbn-TV gives creators of color a platform to tell their stories in an authentic and compelling manner,” Kim said.

UKW Media targets families and young people with movies, sitcoms, talk shows, health programming, animation, and children’s programs; Urbn-TV offers content for adults. Both include content produced by filmmakers of color, as well as from historical archives.    

Last year, Holloway, as president of Rhythm-A-Ning Entertainment (RAN Ent), released Palo Alto, a recording of a surprise 1968 concert by jazz icon Thelonious Monk and his regular touring band at a high school in California. RAN Ent is the film and music production arm of Monk’s estate.