I was a member of a collaborative space in San Antonio, Texas.  The organization that will remain nameless offered members $25,000 to startup and kickstart their business.  I was one of a few African American businesses that had a membership there.  When TAAN TV attempted to apply for the startup capital, we were immediately told that they wouldn’t be interested in investing in TAAN TV.  They told me that I should start a YouTube Channel and told us that there was no need for a channel that targeted the African American community.  Needless to say, I didn’t listen to them.

Even before I was turned down for startup capital, I worked for a local Internet company in San Antonio, Texas, and saw how the Internet could support some type of television platform, I just didn’t know how the technology could work.  That was in 1995.  So I decided to register the domain name, The African American Network and kept it.  I’ve owned the name for almost 26 years.  What foresight!

When I was growing up, I didn’t like history because I didn’t see very many successful African Americans in the history books.  I didn’t really like television because there were not very many positive stories or shows about African Americans.  Most of the content was either negative, portrayed African Americans as uneducated, working in low-level positions, or making fun of African American people.

Instead of complaining about why there were no positive shows about African Americans, I decided to create a platform where I controlled the content, the length of the shows, and a platform that provided African Americans with a voice and means to tell their own stories.  And thus the African American Network was born.

Now, we are one of the leading providers of original content for African Americans and content produced/created by African Americans.

TAAN TV is changing the way African Americans see themselves and is changing the perception of how others see us.  TAAN TV – The African American Network has a Local Feel with a Global Reach!

TAAN TV is a digital television network dedicated to providing programming on-demand and via live streaming.  We provide original programming produced by TAAN TV, talk shows that include sports, politics, community-based, and more; music shows, independent films, as well as remote coverage, and on-location broadcasting.