Launch HN: BlackOakTV (YC S21) – Netflix for black people • Hacker News Board

Re: Launch HN: BlackOakTV (YC S21) – Netflix for black people

#501

Post by PepeLa » Fri, Aug 06, 2021, 4:30 PM UTC

disneygibson wrote: post #152

This just makes me sad. We seem to be returning to a segregated society with separate services for every ethnic group. It’s not the “melting pot” idea of America that I was raised with, where everyone contributes their own unique culture to a unified American whole. That was the brilliance of American identity, which is now fracturing at an accelerated rate.

> It’s not the “melting pot” idea of America that I was raised with

I remember that song from Schoolhouse Rock too. But if as an adult you sincerely believe the US has actually been a "melting pot" at any point in history, you are deeply misinformed. What about Native American genocide, slavery, the Chinese Exclusion Act, Jim Crow, internment of Japanese-Americans, redlining, or mass incarceration sounds like a "melting pot" to you?

Re: Launch HN: BlackOakTV (YC S21) – Netflix for black people

#502

Post by Miner49er » Fri, Aug 06, 2021, 4:30 PM UTC

TheAdamAndChe wrote: post #409

Uzo0312 wrote: post #96

Earlier quoted context omitted.

That's a great point. I think both things probably need to be done. We took the distribution route, because ultimately we believe it's the direct relationship with the consumer that will allow for this to work. As a production company, you're a step away from the end-user, so you're at the mercy of a distribution company that has more than just the black audience to worry about. But if a company is solely focused on…

You are right about focusing on tiny niches is more profitable. The trouble is that this is corrosive to our society. Our extremely multicultural nation historically depended on popular media to create a homogeneous base from which to build our interactions upon. This product is advancing the corrosion of that base and separating us further.

I think we're already well past the point of return on that. It's not the 90s anymore where everyone watches the same 2 sitcoms or whatever. There's YouTube, Twitch, and like a dozen different streaming services out there. People don't all watch the same stuff anymore.

I assume you are just as critical of things like Crunchyroll?

Re: Launch HN: BlackOakTV (YC S21) – Netflix for black people

#503

Post by emerged » Fri, Aug 06, 2021, 4:30 PM UTC

bluedino wrote: post #305

nablaone wrote: post #86

"And black creators often did not get the same chance at success that their mainstream counterparts did, leading to some black creators filing lawsuits against YouTube. Despite YouTube's good intentions, systemic biases in how non-black users treated black creators, as well as the economic realities of Black people only representing 10% of the U.S. audience, have led to YouTube never doing quite enough to address thi…

Non-black viewers are less likely to watch videos with black people in them.

Which is made worse and worse by this type of tech which explicitly says such content is for black people.

Re: Launch HN: BlackOakTV (YC S21) – Netflix for black people

#504

Post by tekromancr » Fri, Aug 06, 2021, 4:30 PM UTC

dcow wrote: post #450

chemeng wrote: post #100

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Yes, it’s very interesting that “X for Women” seems non-controversial to most people, but “X for [underserved group]” brings out the trolls en masse.

I think it’s because gender plays an important roll in society whereas race ~~does~~ should not. Society doesn't benefit from segregating and victimizing. Society does benefit, generally, from a strong female population.

Race plays an incredibly powerful role in society. Every aspect of your lived experience is shaped by it, in fact.

From what resources you are likely to have available to you in childhood; how you are treated by the justice system; what jobs are available to you; your ability to get a mortgage despite having good credit.

Re: Launch HN: BlackOakTV (YC S21) – Netflix for black people

#505

Post by Uzo0312 » Fri, Aug 06, 2021, 4:30 PM UTC

pierre wrote: post #427

Congrats on the launch, but you are attacking a difficult market, with a strong 'political' risk/factor as we can see in this thread. If I remember correctly there was a similar startup in YC S15 ( https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=9903229 ) that shutdown 2 years after ( https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=15292534 , https://techpoint.africa/2017/09/22/afrostream-shut-down/ ). In streaming content is king and ove…

Yes! We've talked with that founder, and he certainly let us know it's a hard business. I think the important thing for us to find an audience for the content we're starting with. We identified a niche within black audiences that we think is particularly underserved, and we're trying to meet their demand. If we can get them, it gets us to a pretty decent level, and with that MRR, we can move into another niche, and then another, and then another...

Re: Launch HN: BlackOakTV (YC S21) – Netflix for black people

#506

Post by runbathtime » Fri, Aug 06, 2021, 4:31 PM UTC

kadabra9 wrote: post #171

essem wrote: post #75

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Racial segregation is a stretch. They do not block you from subscribing if you're not black.

Realistically though, how many white people would pay for a platform with all black content, one that they are told is explicitly not for them?

It is a big market actually. Kendi has made a lot of money off of the amount of whites that enjoy and pay to be told they are bad ppl with white privilege.

Re: Launch HN: BlackOakTV (YC S21) – Netflix for black people

#507

Post by rapind » Fri, Aug 06, 2021, 4:31 PM UTC

afavour wrote: post #17

I can't help but feel like everyone commenting here read the headline, brushed straight past the lengthy explanation and went directly to outrage in the comment box. This is a streaming service set up to elevate content by black creators, to make up for the fact that the mainstream media under-represents those people. I'm struggling to see the outrage on a cultural level and on a startup level I can absolutely imagin…

> ... and make you think about the ways in which Netflix does not serve black people.

Or also just get you to talk about it, because controversial.

Re: Launch HN: BlackOakTV (YC S21) – Netflix for black people

#508

Post by [deleted] » Fri, Aug 06, 2021, 4:32 PM UTC

MattGaiser wrote: post #149

nix23 wrote: post #136

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Out of curiosity, do all black people in the US have the same cultural background? Or is it just the skin color?

Slavery crushed a lot of them into a cultural group with a shared history no matter where their ancestors originally came from or their cultural backgrounds. There are of course those who immigrated later.

[deleted]

Re: Launch HN: BlackOakTV (YC S21) – Netflix for black people

#509

Post by endisneigh » Fri, Aug 06, 2021, 4:33 PM UTC

disneygibson wrote: post #351

endisneigh wrote: post #332

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The lie you’ve been fed is that America was ever integrated.

The melting pot is a goal and a living idea, not an idealized time in the past. And yes, groups of white Americans that were hostile to each other a century ago are now so integrated that it’s not even thought about. An Italian Catholic marrying a German Protestant was a huge deal in 1900. Today it is nothing.

Your example of European immigrants is noted but isn’t really relevant to the racial tensions between Blacks and Whites.

Re: Launch HN: BlackOakTV (YC S21) – Netflix for black people

#510

Post by blueblisters » Fri, Aug 06, 2021, 4:33 PM UTC

How do you solve the problem of discovery? You have a decent sized catalog for just having graduated from an accelerator. But, say, for someone who doesn't know any of these shows, but could potentially be looking for black-focused content, how do they go about finding something they like? Are any of the shows you host known independently outside the platform?