Bounce TV Lands First National Sponsor

Nascent TV network Bounce TV, which was announced 17 weeks ago, has begun to secure major national advertising partners, announcing today that Toyota USA is its first national sponsor.

“We are proud to be associated with this historic beginning and we believe that Bounce TV’s mission to reach an underserved audience is a very attractive enhancement to our ongoing efforts to reach African-American consumers,” said Dionne Colvin, national marketing media manager for Toyota, USA.

Bounce TV’s charter sponsorship agreement with Toyota USA was brokered by the network’s media sales firm ACE Media Corp. and Toyota USA’s multicultural advertising agency Burrell Communications Group in Chicago.

“The birth of Bounce TV will provide the perfect platform for Toyota USA to reach the highly coveted multicultural audience efficiently and effectively,” said Andrea Holmes Thompkins, president-CEO of ACE Media Corp.

Bounce TV will target African Americans primarily between the ages of 25 and 54 with a programming mix of theatrical motion pictures, live sporting events, documentaries, specials, inspirational faith-based programs, off-net series, original programming and more.

The network will air 24 hours a day, seven days a week as a digital terrestrial network designed for carriage on subchannels of television stations. Martin Luther King III and Ambassador Young are part of Bounce TV’s founding group and board of directors.

Bounce TV has secured affiliation agreements with Gannett Broadcasting, Belo Corp., Nexstar Communications, LIN TV Corp. and Raycom Media. Those agreements make Bounce TV available in Atlanta, Houston, Cleveland/Akron, Charlotte, Cincinnati, Indianapolis, Hartford/New Haven, Norfolk, Dayton, West Palm Beach, Birmingham, Memphis, Louisville and Richmond, among other markets. Bounce TV said it expects to be available in 50% of the country at launch, with more markets added by the end of the year.