During much of the time of its existence, it was the only fully black-owned and operated cable television network (BET was bought by Viacom in 2001, and TV One was owned by Comcast and Radio One at the time) in the United States.

The network was started by noted Florida attorney and philanthropist Willie E. Gary, former all-star baseball player Cecil Fielder, four-time heavyweight boxing champ Evander Holyfield, Marlon Jackson of The Jackson 5, and broadcast television veteran Alvin James through their business venture Major Broadcasting Corporation.

[2] BFC would effectively be run by actor/director Robert Townsend, who developed original programming for the network, including its most notable effort—the children's educational game show, Thousand Dollar Bee, in which every kid would participate in sort of tournament rounds of spelling challenges toward which the champion would receive a $1,000 bond for their college education.

Unlike its primary rival, the Viacom-owned BET, Black Family Channel avoided rap and hip hop-based programming (they showed gospel music instead).

[4] On April 24, 2007, BFC announced that they would cease as a cable channel, effective April 30, 2007, as part of a deal in which BFC's programming and subscriber base would be sold to the Gospel Music Channel.