Comcast to Offer $1 Million in Grants to Emerging Black Filmmakers

Comcast NBCUniversal celebrates the one-year anniversary of Black Experience on Xfinity by announcing plans to offer $1M in the form of ten $100K grants to emerging Black filmmakers.

Home to the largest curated collection of independent Black film on demand, Black Experience on Xfinity features high-quality content from many of Xfinity's existing network partners, while investing millions of dollars in emerging talent from the top Black film festivals.

Curated by industry leaders, the channel is the only one of its kind endorsed by African American Film Critics Association (AAFCA), the world's largest group of Black film critics that gives annual awards for excellence in film and television.

Black Experience on Xfinity offers one-stop access to a collection of content that showcase the breadth of Black culture. Available at home on Xfinity X1 and Flex, and on-the-go with the Xfinity Stream app, the Black Experience on Xfinity will entertain, educate, and uplift, featuring Black actors, writers, producers, and directors.

At home, Xfinity subscribers can visit channel 1622 or simply say "Black Experience" into THE VOICE Remote. And for the first time, consumers nationwide will be able to enjoy the ultimate in Black storytelling with the availability of the Black Experience collection on Comcast's new XClass TV, easily accessible through the platform's home screen and voice remote.

"The launch of Black Experience on Xfinity has been a major investment in the Black creative community and one of the many ways we are leveraging the scale and reach of our platforms to amplify voices that need to be heard," said Keesha Boyd, Executive Director, Multicultural Video & Entertainment, Xfinity Consumer Services. "In recent years, we have expanded our offering of Black programming to millions of additional Xfinity customers. The Black Experience Channel on Xfinity allows us to shine a spotlight on our existing content partners, while also investing in and distributing original programming from emerging Black content creators and talent."

Black Experience uniquely blends programming from across the Xfinity content catalog, spanning networks, free and ad-supported video streaming services, streaming music providers and more. Customers are able to choose from a selection of sample content from existing partners like TVOne, Cleo, AspireTV, REVOLT, Afro, KweliTV, The Africa Channel, BET, BET Her, Impact, UP Faith & Family, OWN and more, which has allowed these partners to reach millions of new viewers. Xfinity subscribers also have access to all-new, premiere content by new and up-and-coming Black content creators, available only to Xfinity customers included with their service.

Since its launch, Black Experience on Xfinity has funded more than 25 Black creators and organizations on and off screen, and in 2021, more than three million viewers watched over 11 million hours of content on Black Experience.

"It was a pleasure to partner with Black Experience on Xfinity in 2021 on the exclusive premiere of the documentary film Twenty Pearls to tell the story of the founders of Alpha Kappa Alpha Sorority, Inc., the first Black sorority, and the generations of notable women that followed in their footsteps," said award-winning filmmaker Deborah Riley Draper. "This is an important part of history for all of us to know and understand, and our work with the Black Experience on Xfinity channel helped facilitate the discovery of this story for new audiences from diverse generations and backgrounds."

"The African American Film Critics Association is proud to partner for a second year with the Black Experience Channel on Xfinity. Black stories are very important and through our relationship with Black Experience on Xfinity, we have been able to introduce content creators and talent, both in front and behind the camera, to Xfinity's vast audience of subscribers.

AAFCA looks forward to its expanded relationship with Xfinity this year that includes the 2022 AAFCA Film Awards and the 2022 AAFCA TV Honors, plus our summer screening series and short film exhibitions centering on underrepresented creators," shared Gil Robertson IV, CEO, African American Film Critics Association.

Xfinity delivers the best entertainment to customers, including thousands of hours of diverse programming from more than 100 networks and streaming services, via its X1 and Flex devices. X1 provides the most comprehensive library of entertainment on one platform - aggregating live TV, On Demand, and popular streaming apps from a growing collection of networks and streaming services.

Xfinity Flex is a 4K streaming device included with Xfinity Internet that extends the best features of X1 to customers who prefer only a broadband experience, giving them one integrated guide to access all of their favorite streaming video and music apps, as well as a TV interface to manage their Xfinity WiFi, mobile, security and automation services - all of which is controllable with the award-winning Xfinity voice remote.

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