[2] J. C. Watts had planned to launch a news network focusing specifically on black American cultural topics since the mid-2000s, and had several rounds of unsuccessful capital-raising in developing the project.

[11] On January 5, 2022, thirteen current and former female employees filed a class action gender discrimination lawsuit against BNC in the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Illinois, accusing network management of paying female employees significantly lower salaries compared to male staffers, harboring a misogynistic work environment in which female staffers felt forced to conform to behavioral gender stereotypes, and retaliating against employees who formally lodged complaints about the pay disparities and personal treatment.

)[12][13] In response, BNC sent out a memo to their current employees informing them of the network's intent to file a motion for dismissal of the lawsuit.

[14] On March 25, 2022, it was reported that the channel would be shutting down imminently after Khan withdrew his funding following a failed attempt to sell the network.

Allen plans to add more news and commentary into TheGrio's schedule as part of the retransmission consent stipulations made in BNC's carriage contracts.