SB.TV

SB.TV
Company typePrivately held
IndustryEntertainment, music
Genre
Founded2 November 2006
(active from 25 August 2010 onwards)[1]
FoundersJamal Edwards
Headquarters145-157 St John Street,
London, United Kingdom
Area served
United Kingdom, United States
Websitesbtv.co.uk

SB.TV Global Ltd, also known as SB.TV or SmokeyBarz, is a British music media and creative cultural industry company founded by Jamal Edwards. The platform was created on 2 November 2006, and has its origins in urban music. Most of the content can be seen on its own YouTube channel, or on the official SB.TV website and includes freestyle raps and music videos. SB.TV has diversified into events and have curated stages at Bestival, Wireless, Outlook and other festivals.[2] SB.TV were also invited to film interviews with a host of leading politicians at 10 Downing Street, including the Prime Minister David Cameron.[3] Edwards has also built a relationship with the Royal Family and first interviewed Prince Charles in 2013.[4]

The popularity of the channel among London's underground scene has led to features in RWD, The Observer, Time, Forbes, The Guardian, The Independent, Dazed & Confused, the Sunday Times Style magazine, Vanity Fair, Vogue and GQ while founder Jamal Edwards was on the front cover of Wired, Intelligent Life and the Emirates In-flight magazine. SB.TV also has assistant production credits from when Edwards was working as a junior runner for the BBC, and Tiger Aspect Productions as well as joining the young persons panel at The Guardian's new technology conference activate summit alongside Martha Lane Fox and others.[5][6] SB.TV has been credited with 'discovering' Ed Sheeran whose music was aired exclusively on the channel in February 2010 – a full year before he achieved worldwide fame.[7][8]

  1. ^ "SBTV Global Ltd". Company Check. 10 November 2011. Archived from the original on 5 March 2012. Retrieved 10 November 2011.
  2. ^ "SB.TV to Host Stage at Yahoo! Wireless". Archived from the original on 2015-05-29. Retrieved 2015-05-29.
  3. ^ SBTV. "SB.TV - Jamal Edwards interviews David Cameron at Downing St - Spirit of London Awards 2011 - SBTV". SBTV. Archived from the original on 2015-05-29. Retrieved 2015-05-29.
  4. ^ Burrell, Ian (27 September 2013). "The Jamal Edwards effect: Generation success - the media savvy stars taking over the world (wide web)". The Independent. London. Archived from the original on 25 September 2015. Retrieved 11 September 2017.
  5. ^ Spicer, Kate, Sunday Times Style: "He is typical of many entrepreneurial satellite characters who are turning grime into not just a sound, but a movement.. Ed Balls’s Department for Children, Schools and Families wants precisely Edwards’ (ME) breed of ingenuity to infect some of the hardest to reach kids in the country".
  6. ^ Ajilore, Joseph, "The rise and rise of a new media mogul – Jamal Edwards of SBTV" Archived 2011-09-17 at the Wayback Machine, Your Hidden Potential (YHP), 27 May 2011: "SB.TV has since reached over 70 million viewers on YouTube becoming one of the most subscribed channels on YouTube attracting people from all over the world."
  7. ^ "Jamal Edwards, music entrepreneur and YouTube star, dies aged 31". Sky News. Retrieved 21 February 2022.
  8. ^ "Home-made TV from London to change everything". Flashes & Flames. Archived from the original on 2015-11-15. Retrieved 2015-12-04.