WE tv, UMC Reteam on Bonus Content for ‘Marriage Boot Camp: Hip Hop Edition’ Season 2

Todd Spangler

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AMC Networks is touting the benefits of cross-pollinating content and promos across its TV and streaming properties.

In the latest bit of synergy, the programmer’s WE tv announced the continuation of its partnership with sister company UMC (Urban Movie Channel) to produce a second season of “confessional” episodes for WE tv reality series “Marriage Boot Camp: Hip Hop Edition” to be exclusively available to UMC subscribers.

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The 10-episode season 2 of “Marriage Boot Camp: Hip Hop Edition” is slated to appear on WE tv in early 2020. According to WE tv president Mark Juris, the “confessional” bonus episodes have boosted subscriber growth at UMC, while the collaboration also has raised awareness of WE tv among the streaming service’s base. (The company has not disclosed how many subscribers UMC has signed up to date.)

“This is another good example of our company using content in a variety of ways to strengthen our distinct platforms and build viewer relationships,” said Juris.

WE tv’s Thursday primetime programming block includes franchises “Braxton Family Values” and “Growing Up Hip Hop,” and the network is typically the top-rated cable network for African-American adults and women on Thursday nights. UMC has also featured “Growing Up Hip Hop” and “Braxton Family Values.” WE tv is currently airing UMC series “Beyond the Pole” on its linear network, UMC’s first original reality series, which follows six exotic dancers from Atlanta on their journeys out of the strip-club world.

AMC Networks acquired UMC as part of the company’s majority-stake acquisition of RLJ Entertainment last year. UMC, first launched in 2014, costs $4.99 per month (after free seven-day trial) or $49.99 per year. Programming on UMC includes: “A House Divided,” an original drama series starring Demetria McKinney, Lawrence Hilton Jacobs, Paula Jai Parker and Brad James; “Craig Ross Jr.’s Monogamy,” which returns for its second season later this fall; and TV shows including OWN’s “Black Love” and UPN’s “All of Us.”

AMC has cross-promoted content with other platforms in its portfolio, including releasing “State of the Union” on SundanceTV and the Sundance Now streaming platform and “A Discovery of Witches” on Shudder, Sundance Now and AMC’s linear nets.

Separately, last week AMC Networks’ Acorn TV streaming service for British and international TV announced that it now has over 1 million subscribers in the U.S. and Canada. Overall, AMC Networks has said that across Acorn, UMC, Shudder and Sundance Now it has more than 2 million streaming subscribers.

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