New Partnership Brings Films By HBCU Students Free To TUBI-TV

By Rosaland Tyler
Associate Editor
New Journal and Guide

You can now watch films made by HBCU students on Tubi, the free online television and film streaming service. You can now watch films made by HBCU students on Tubi, the free online television and film streaming service.

This month, Tubi debuted the new channel which features films created by students and graduates at Historically Black Colleges and Universities. It is called the “HBCU First Look” channel. It features 100 films from HBCU-affiliated creators, including films submitted to the 2025 HBCU First Look Film Festival hosted by Howard University in November.

“It took about a year to get this deal done,” said Sheila Eldridge, the CEO of Miles Ahead Entertainment, and the founder of the third annual HBCU First Look Film Festival held on Howard University’s campus since its inception in 2023.

“I’m glad that Tubi was open to it when we went to them,” Eldridge said. “Student filmmakers will be able to learn the full process of being able to put a film onto one of these FAST channel programs. With this deal, everyone will win. We were able to create a revenue model so that students also can partake in some of the revenue. That was important to me because we want to see the next Spike Lee, the next Ryan Coogler, or Ava Duvernay.”

Eldridge, a Howard graduate and D.C. native who worked at Howard-operated WHUR-FM radio, said creating a pipeline is crucial.

“This film festival is a career program. The whole concept for it was to create a career opportunity where I can bring HBCU alums and allies together with HBCU students to build a network. Alumni should be giving back and not just monetarily but giving back their knowledge and their time.”

In 2008, Eldridge purchased five radio stations in Augusta, Ga. Prior to that, she established her marketing, public relations, and special events company, Miles Ahead Entertainment and Broadcasting. She hires Howard trained students and other artists.

Her company’s Café Mocha Radio program, hosted by comedian Loni Love, rapper Yoyo, and broadcaster Angelique Perrin, is syndicated in more than 30 markets across the country. With Miles Ahead, Eldridge has worked with entities such as the Apollo Theatre, Coca Cola, Essence, and the National Museum of African American History and Culture.

“I’ve been very blessed, and I believe in the philosophy that if you’ve been blessed then you have to be a blessing to other people, which is really what I hope that this film festival and this initiative will be able to do,” she told HBCU News.com in an interview before last year’s film festival was held at Howard. “I hope it will help propel so many young people,” she said.

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The 2025 film festival featured well-known artists such as Howard alum and actress Lynn Whitfield, director and producer Ryan Coogler.

Tubi is an American ad-supported streaming television service launched in 2014 as Tubi-TV by Farhad Massoudi and Thomas Ahn Hicks. Fox Corp. has owned TUBI since 2020. Headquartered in Los Angeles, it provides a wide range of on-demand content. The free streaming service is supported by advertisements. Its goal is to provide users access to on-demand content without the need for a subscription. It has grown rapidly as viewers have sought low-cost alternatives to paid platforms like Netflix and Hulu.

In 2019, TUBI had over 20 million active users and a growing catalog of titles.

During Black History Month, TUBI is streaming assorted Black movies including ”Murder in Harlem” (1935), and ”The Blood of Jesus” (1941).