Starz Finally Puts Its Two Halves Together in 'Fightland'

Of all the companies most harmed by the streaming revolution, independent cable networks, which had only recently come into their own in the late aughts, have suffered the most catastrophic losses. However, one cable network, Starz, isn't going down without a fight. For one thing, it has managed to survive this far, which has surprised industry watchers. Furthermore, over the last decade, the network has come to realize that middle-class Black audiences are massively underserved in the streaming revolution. It's now combining that with its original aim to attract female viewers with British softcore shows to create the series Fightland.

(Netflix has plenty of Spanish and Korean programming, but little in the way of high-end Black programming, something that's expected to change with its foray into the African continent.)

Other than FX (whose CEO, John Langraf, freely admits would probably have folded by now had it not been part of the Fox package deal Disney gobbled up in 2019), the leading cable channels that were known for high-end fare (AMC, TNT, Sundance, Epix, and Starz) have all found themselves with no viewers on linear and few sign ups on streaming. The situation has gotten so bad at Starz, its parent company, Lionsgate, spun the network off in a desperate gamble to survive, despite its massive ongoing Power franchise from Curtis Jackson (also known as 50 Cent), which helped the network assemble a steady audience from minority viewers.