Pros & Cons
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- Well-curated, independent, international library
- Flexible pricing options
- Offline downloads on mobile platforms
- Merchandise shop and discounts for Black-owned businesses
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- Inconsistent subtitles
- Community is still growing
KweliTV Specs
| Anime | |
| Concurrent Streams | Unlimited |
| Live TV | |
| Offline Downloads on Mobile | |
| On-Demand Movies and TV Shows | |
| Original Programming | |
| Starting Price | $5.99 per month |
People love video streaming services because they let you watch classic shows or buzzworthy new movies from home. You don't need to dig through DVDs or Blu-rays, or hope something is good on live TV. Beyond this convenience, streaming video services also allow small, independent work to reach vast new audiences by breaking down traditional distribution barriers. This is especially true for art from outside the United States. KweliTV (Kweli is Swahili for “The Truth”) gives movies and shows from Africa and the larger Black diaspora a chance to shine. The passion is admirable, and the results are successful, even though it can't fully replace an Editors' Choice winner like Netflix, which also has strong Black representation.
Plans and Prices
A standard KweliTV subscription costs $5.99 per month or $49.99 per year. That's in line with the Black-focused streaming services we've tested; Brown Sugar costs $3.99 per month, and BET+ charges $5.99 per month. However, KweliTV also has some generous, flexible pricing options, and not just the seven-day free trial. The ad-supported plan knocks the price down to $2.99 per month, while KweliKids offers more than 100 kids shows to stream along with kid-friendly ads for only $1.99 per month.
(Credit: KweliTV/PCMag)As with Amazon Prime, KweliTV lets you rent shows and movies a la carte for $3.99 each for 24 hours. That rental pricing is flat and video quality depends on your purchased title. A subscription gives you discounts for dozens of Black-owned businesses (including African Ancestry and Heritage Box), access to KweliTV’s online meet-ups, and the good feelings from knowing 1% of your money goes to a charitable cause.
You can also enjoy the service's "live TV" streams, 24 hours of KweliTV library broken up by ads, for free. Tubi is free with ads, but Hulu charges $9.99 per month and still shows commercials. You can now watch KweliTV’s live TV on your browser, complete with live chat. Note that "live TV" means an ongoing marathon of pre-recorded content, not a true live TV broadcast.
You can download KweliTV's apps on mobile (Android and iOS) and media streaming devices (Amazon Fire devices, Apple TV, Chromecast, and Roku). To use the service on a game console, KweliTV suggests launching it from a browser. KweliTV is also on Comcast's Xfinity X1 and Xfinity Flex.
Movies and TV Shows
As a kid, my family and I stumbled across a film festival celebrating Nollywood, the robust Nigerian film industry. I cherish that memory. KweliTV replicates that same sense of artistic discovery, mixed with cultural nourishment, and blows it out in a way only a video streaming service can. In other words, do you want to expand your imagination of what African filmmaking looks like beyond watching Black Panther on Disney+? KweliTV is the service for you.
This collection of more than 600 movies and shows presents artistic voices from across the globe you would never find this easily anywhere else. There's Africa United, a comedy about young Rwandan soccer players. The Trial of Jeff David is a true crime podcast about former slaves falsely accused of murder in the 1800s. Short films about Ugandan mothers. Documentaries about Cuba’s Black Mozart. Black Enuf is a cartoon about LGBT hip-hop lovers. All sorts of ruminations on the politics of Black hair. KweliTV’s library is exciting, inspiring, and packed full of stuff no other streaming service can offer you. Its curation reminds me of other services that treat film like art, including the Criterion Channel and Mubi.
The inevitable downside of KweliTV’s specific library is all of the content it simply won't have. Not everyone is always up for being challenged by a serious look at the history of Rastafarianism. Sometimes, you just want to zone out with something familiar, whether Brown Sugar's nostalgic collection of Blaxploitation movies or BET+'s library of hit mainstream Black movies and TV shows. Netflix serves all possible audiences, from high-minded documentary viewers to families that love sitcoms to the biggest fans of the trashiest reality TV.
Web and Mobile Apps
KweliTV’s web interface is dense since the company wants to ensure nothing it offers gets overlooked. Still, it's a bit more streamlined and professional-looking since the last time we tested it. The top bar lets you browse, watch live TV, or return home. The side menu bar has more links for browsing, reading the site's mission, seeing payment plans, downloading apps, buying merchandise, and meeting up for events. The main page highlights one title up top and lets you browse through rows of genres below, along with your own watchlist. KweliTV has a lengthy list of genres, including Award-Winning, Experimental, and Animation, and tags for specific parts of the world like Africa, the Caribbean, and the Middle East. After all, Africa isn’t a country; it’s a continent containing massively varied cultures spread across the globe.
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(Credit: KweliTV/PCMag)Click on a show or movie to see more of its details. You can see the runtime and country of origin, which is useful information when deciding on an international short film. KweliTV makes it easy for independent filmmakers to submit their work, and you can view the profiles of each author and filter your searches for their material. You can watch trailers, browse related videos, share what you're watching on social media, and leave a comment alongside the official description. Amazon Prime, Mubi, and Shudder also allow comments. KweliTV even has a Discord-esque community server, KweliClub, where you can talk about Black film and other topics. However, I saw very little discussion while testing the service.
I experienced no playback issues over my home Wi-Fi connection. Some films let you adjust the video quality up to 1080p, but full HD streaming support is inconsistent. You can speed up playback, go full-screen, or switch to a picture-in-picture mode. You can also enable an autoplay feature that surprises you when it’s time to watch something new. Customer service is always available if you experience issues.
(Credit: KweliTV/PCMag)On mobile platforms (I tested on an iPhone), you gain the ability to skip forward and back 15 seconds but lose the ability to adjust streaming quality. You also get mobile downloads for offline viewing, a great feature on apps like Disney+ and Max. You can concurrently stream on unlimited devices, something we rarely see.
You can show your love in KweliTV's merchandise store by buying shirts, hoodies, and hats. It's nice to see that merchandise stores for streaming services can be for more than just anime fans looking to prove how much they love Goku. KweliTV also has a rewards program that gives you points for renewing your subscription, following a social media page, or watching content. You can redeem those points for prizes such as gift cards and store discounts.
(Credit: KweliTV/PCMag)Accessibility and Parental Controls
KweliTV's library includes heavy documentaries and cartoons for children, so it's meant for a variety of audiences. Unfortunately, there are no parental controls. Your account is just for managing your payment options and customizing an avatar picture. At least shows targeted at kids and teens are separated into their own tab and subscription tier.
Accessibility features are also lacking. Some viewers need subtitles no matter what, but even if you aren't hard of hearing, you may have trouble understanding the thick accents in some of these shows and movies. Unfortunately, your options are very inconsistent. Some films let you turn on closed captioning; others do not. Movies in non-English languages typically have subtitles baked in. The choice seems to be up to the individual author. That may make it easier for filmmakers to submit their work, but we would like to see KweliTV create and enforce a standard.
Can You Watch KweliTV With a VPN?
A VPN is one of the best tools for staying safe online. Changing your virtual location to another state or country can improve your privacy. That said, a potential side effect could be that your video streaming service stops working, as it's only meant to be viewed in one region.
Fortunately, given KweliTV's focus on international content, I was glad to see the service played nice while I connected to Proton VPN servers in the US and abroad from my Windows test device. That could change in the future as companies get better at blocking VPN traffic, but that seems like it would go against KweliTV's ethos.
Verdict: KweliTV Brings International Art to Your Home
KweliTV makes the argument for why we need so many different streaming services. Some films and filmmakers, particularly those from underrepresented groups, need strong advocates. KweliTV gives you no excuse not to check out what African and global Black cinematic art offers. The flexible pricing, discounts, and swag just sweeten the deal. That said, our Editors' Choice winner, Netflix, also has an admirable collection of original Black movies and TV shows, complemented by a massive mainstream library.