BET International (Black Entertainment Television) is an international

television channel A television channel is a terrestrial frequency or virtual number over which a television station or television network is distributed. For example, in North America, "channel 2" refers to the terrestrial or cable band of 54 to 60 MHz, with ...

centred towards black culture. It is available in Africa, along with the Middle East/North Africa region. It was launched on 28 February 2008 in the UK with headquarters in

London London is the capital and List of urban areas in the United Kingdom, largest city of England and the United Kingdom, with a population of just under 9 million. It stands on the River Thames in south-east England at the head of a estuary dow ...

. BET broadcast content from the main Black Entertainment Television channel in the US and

Canada Canada is a country in North America. Its ten provinces and three territories extend from the Atlantic Ocean to the Pacific Ocean and northward into the Arctic Ocean, covering over , making it the world's second-largest country by tot ...

. No UK-originated content was ever produced for the channel.

History

BET International Inc. was given a licence to broadcast in the UK in May 2007 by Ofcom. In 2006 it was announced that

BET Black Entertainment Television (acronym BET) is an American basic cable channel targeting African-American audiences. It is owned by the CBS Entertainment Group unit of Paramount Global via BET Networks and has offices in New York City, Los ...

would hold its first annual Hip-Hop Awards and as part of the announcement they also stated there would be a "Best UK Artist" category, the winner being Sway.

Availability

BET launched on the Sky platform in the UK on 27 February 2008, one day earlier than originally advertised. It began with various BET content, such as ''

106 & Park ''106 & Park'' is an American hip hop and R&B music video show, set up in a countdown format, that was broadcast on weekdays at 6:00 pm ET/5:00 pm CT on BET; it aired on a one-day delay on BET International. It was the network's highest- rate ...

'', '' American Gangster'' and '' College Hill''. The channel is available on Sky channel 194. The channel launched on

Freesat Freesat is a British free-to-air satellite television service, first formed as a joint venture between the BBC and ITV plc and now owned by Digital UK. The service was formed as a memorandum in 2007 and has been marketed since 6 May 2008. Free ...

in August 2008, on channel 140. BET +1 was added to Freesat when it launched in late 2008. These signals are also available for free in the rest of

Europe Europe is a large peninsula conventionally considered a continent in its own right because of its great physical size and the weight of its history and traditions. Europe is also considered a subcontinent of Eurasia and it is located entirel ...

via satellite

Eutelsat 28A Eutelsat 133 West A (formerly Eurobird 1, Eutelsat 28A, and Eutelsat 33C) is a Eutelsat operated Eurobird satellite, used primarily for digital television. It was launched in March 2001, and after a short period testing at 33°E, joined Eutelsat ...

. At the start of July 2009, a temporary HD event channel for the

BET Awards 2009 The 9th BET Awards took place at the Shrine Auditorium in Los Angeles, California on June 28, 2009. The awards recognized Americans in music, acting, sports, and other fields of entertainment over the past year. Comedian, singer, actor Jamie Foxx ...

was carried by

. BET Africa was available in Kenya on Zuku TV on channel 125 and on StarTimes on channel 132. The channel was available on Pan-African Satellite Broadcaster DStv on Channel 135 until 2 April 2015 when it was replaced with a domestic BET feed, which includes local shows alongside BET International's programming. BET International was removed from StarSat in South Africa, and StarTimes across Africa on 30 November 2015. On 4 November 2014, BET +1 closed, and was replaced by 5* +1 on Sky. As of 2018, BET Africa added to GOtv channel 21. As of 5 May 2020, BET was removed from Freesat. It was announced on 30 March 2021 that BET would shut down as a linear TV channel on 8 April 2021 in the UK & Ireland. BET International's content was disbursed among the

My5 My5 (previously Five Download and later Demand 5) is the brand name of video-on-demand services offered by Channel 5 in the United Kingdom. The service went live on 26 June 2008. It is owned by Paramount Global and operated by their Paramoun ...

and

Pluto TV Pluto TV is a free, ad-supported video streaming service owned and operated by the Paramount Streaming division of Paramount Global. Co-founded by Tom Ryan, Ilya Pozin and Nick Grouf in 2013 and based in Los Angeles, California, in the United S ...

streaming services, and will also be carried on

Paramount+ Paramount+ is an American subscription video on-demand service owned by Paramount Global. The service's content is drawn primarily from the libraries of CBS Media Ventures (including CBS Studios), Paramount Media Networks (formerly Viacom Media ...

upon its 2022 pan-European launch. BET goes all digital in UK with My5 shift
Digital TV Europe. 30 March 2021. Retrieved 6 April 2021 The channel still broadcasts in Africa as of October 2022.

Programming

The network aired most of the programming originated and produced by the American BET network, along with select programmes from MTV and VH1. It also carried acquired Black-focused American and British sitcoms which originally aired on terrestrial networks in both countries.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Bet International BET Networks English-language television stations in the United Kingdom Television channels and stations established in 2008 Black British music 2008 establishments in the United Kingdom Television channels and stations disestablished in 2021 Defunct British television channels 2021 disestablishments in the United Kingdom