Black Entertainment Television LLC,

doing business as A trade name, trading name, or business name, is a pseudonym used by companies that do not operate under their registered company name. The term for this type of alternative name is a "fictitious" business name. Registering the fictitious name w ...

BET Networks, is an American entertainment company that oversees the company's premium cable television channels, including its flagship service

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 ...

. It is a subsidiary of media conglomerate

Paramount Global Paramount Global ( doing business as Paramount) is an American multinational mass media and entertainment conglomerate owned and operated by National Amusements (79.4%) and headquartered at One Astor Plaza in Midtown Manhattan, New York. ...

under its

CBS Entertainment Group The following is a list of major assets that are owned by Paramount Global. Paramount Pictures Corporation (Film) * Paramount Pictures ** Paramount Home Entertainment ** Paramount Television Studios ** Paramount Pictures International ** Para ...

unit.

History

Background

In 1980,

Robert L. Johnson Robert Louis Johnson (born April 8, 1946) is an American entrepreneur, media magnate, executive, philanthropist, and investor. He is the co-founder of BET, which was acquired by Viacom in 2001. He also founded RLJ Companies, a holding compa ...

, who left his position as a cable lobbyist; established his own cable network called Black Entertainment Television; and it was originally a block on the Madison Square Garden Sports Network (later renamed to

USA Network USA Network (simply USA) is an American basic cable television channel owned by the NBCUniversal Television and Streaming division of Comcast's NBCUniversal through NBCUniversal Cable Entertainment. It was originally launched in 1977 as Madi ...

), until it became a separate channel in 1983. In 1991, the network became the first black–controlled TV company to be listed on the

New York Stock Exchange The New York Stock Exchange (NYSE, nicknamed "The Big Board") is an American stock exchange in the Financial District of Lower Manhattan in New York City. It is by far the world's largest stock exchange by market capitalization of its liste ...

. Starting in the late 1990s, the network expanded with the launch of

digital cable Digital cable is the distribution of cable television using digital data and video compression. The technology was first developed by General Instrument. By 2000, most cable companies offered digital features, eventually replacing their previ ...

networks: BET on Jazz (later known as BET Jazz. BET J, Centric, and BET Her), created originally to showcase jazz music–related programming, especially that of black jazz musicians; in 1998, it entered into a

joint venture A joint venture (JV) is a business entity created by two or more parties, generally characterized by shared ownership, shared returns and risks, and shared governance. Companies typically pursue joint ventures for one of four reasons: to acces ...

with

Starz Starz (stylized as STARZ since 2016; pronounced "stars") is an American premium cable and satellite television network owned by Lions Gate Entertainment, and is the flagship property of parent subsidiary Starz Inc. Programming on Starz cons ...

(then–owned by John Malone's

Liberty Media Liberty Media Corporation (commonly referred to as Liberty Media or just Liberty) is an American mass media company controlled by chairman John C. Malone. The company has three divisions, reflecting the company's ownership stakes in Formula On ...

) to launch a multiplex service of the premium channel featuring African American–oriented movies called BET Movies: Starz! 3 (later renamed Black Starz after BET dropped out of the venture following its purchase by Viacom, then–owner of Starz rival Showtime, and now known as Starz InBlack).

Creation

In 2000, Viacom announced plans to purchase BET Holdings Inc. for more than $2.3 billion. The deal closed in 2001, with BET Holdings' networks becoming part of MTV Networks; but was eventually placed under BET Networks. In 2005, Robert Johnson retired as CEO, and was replaced with Debra L. Lee. Around the same time, Viacom was looking into splitting into two entities following multiple issues surrounding the company; which was eventually become upheld in January 2006, with the new Viacom being created as the new parent of MTV Networks, BET Networks,

Paramount Pictures Paramount Pictures Corporation is an American film and television production company, production and Distribution (marketing), distribution company and the main namesake division of Paramount Global (formerly ViacomCBS). It is the fifth-oldes ...

, and

Famous Music Famous Music Corporation was the worldwide music publishing division of Paramount Pictures, a division of Paramount Global since 1994. Its copyright holdings span several decades and includes music from such Academy Award-winning motion pictures ...

(later sold to

Sony Music Sony Music Entertainment (SME), also known as simply Sony Music, is an American multinational music company. Being owned by the parent conglomerate Sony Group Corporation, it is part of the Sony Music Group, which is owned by Sony Entertainmen ...

in 2007); and

CBS Corporation The second incarnation of CBS Corporation (the first being a short-lived rename of the Westinghouse Electric Corporation) was an American multinational media conglomerate with interests primarily in commercial broadcasting, publishing, an ...

(the legal successor to the original Viacom), gaining

CBS CBS Broadcasting Inc., commonly shortened to CBS, the abbreviation of its former legal name Columbia Broadcasting System, is an American commercial broadcast television and radio network serving as the flagship property of the CBS Entertainm ...

Paramount Television The original incarnation of Paramount Television was the name of the television production division of the American film studio Paramount Pictures, that was responsible for the production of Viacom television programs, until it changed its name ...

, UPN,

CBS Radio CBS Radio was a radio broadcasting company and radio network operator owned by CBS Corporation and founded in 1928, with consolidated radio station groups owned by CBS and Westinghouse Broadcasting/Group W since the 1920s, and Infinity Broad ...

, and

Paramount Parks Paramount Parks was the operator of Paramount's Kings Island, Paramount's Kings Dominion, Paramount's Great America, Paramount's Carowinds, and Paramount Canada's Wonderland, which annually attracted about 13 million patrons. National Amusemen ...

(later sold to

Cedar Fair Cedar Fair, L.P., formally Cedar Fair Entertainment Company, is a publicly traded master limited partnership headquartered at its Cedar Point amusement park in Sandusky, Ohio. The company owns and operates eleven amusement parks, nine included- ...

in 2007). By 2007, the network had launched two more music–oriented networks, BET Hip–Hop and BET Gospel. BET also launched a batch of original programming by this time, including reality shows '' Baldwin Hills'' and '' Hell Date'', competition show '' Sunday Best'', and town hall–style discussion show ''Hip Hop vs. America''. BET's president of entertainment

Reginald Hudlin Reginald Alan Hudlin (born December 15, 1961) is an American film screenwriter, director, producer, and comic-book writer. Along with his older brother Warrington Hudlin, he is known as one of the Hudlin Brothers. From 2005 to 2008, Hudlin was ...

resigned from the network on September 11, 2008. He was then replaced by Stephen Hill, who is also executive vice president of music programming and talent. BET announced in March 2010 that Ed Gordon would return to the network to host "a variety of news programs and specials". In 2015, it gained editorial control of VH1 Soul & MTV Jams respectively, renaming it under the BET brand, while downplaying modern hip-hop music on BET Hip-Hop due to the control of MTV Jams, effectively becoming an archival Hip-Hop music channel. In March 2017, president of programming Stephen Hill and executive vice president of original programming Zola Mashariki both stepped down. Connie Orlando, senior vice president of Specials, Music Programming, and News was named the interim president of programming. In July 2017, Viacom signed new film and television development deals with

Tyler Perry Tyler Perry (born Emmitt Perry Jr., September 13, 1969) is an American actor, comedian, filmmaker, and playwright. He is the creator and performer of the Madea character, a tough elderly woman. Perry's films vary in style from orthodox filmma ...

following the expiration of his existing pact with Discovery, Inc. in 2019. As part of this deal, Perry would produce ''

The Oval The Oval, currently known for sponsorship reasons as the Kia Oval, is an international cricket ground in Kennington, located in the borough of Lambeth, in south London. The Oval has been the home ground of Surrey County Cricket Club since ...

'' and '' Sistas'' for BET and co–own the network's newly launched streaming service,

BET+ A bet is a gambling wager. Bet or BET may also refer to: Arts and entertainment * Bet Lynch, a fictional character from the British ITV soap opera ''Coronation Street'' * Elizabeth "Bet" Yeager, protagonist of '' Rimrunners'', a science fiction ...

Cable channels owned by BET Networks

Year in parentheses denotes when channel was created. *

(1980) *

BET Her BET Her (formerly Centric) is an American basic cable television network owned by Paramount Media Networks. The network is a spin-off of BET with a focus on general entertainment targeting African-American women. The channel originally launched ...

(1996) *

BET Gospel 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 ...

(2002) *

BET Hip-Hop 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 ...

(2002) *

BET Jams BET Jams is an American pay television network controlled by BET Networks and owned by Paramount Media Networks. The channel features hip-hop and urban contemporary music videos. The network, formerly known as MTV Jams, was rebranded under the ...

(2002) - formerly MTV Jams *

BET Soul BET Soul is an American pay television network that is controlled by the BET Networks division of Paramount Global, which owns the network. The channel showcases R&B, funk, soul, neo soul, hip hop, jazz and Motown music from various decades. T ...

(1998) - formerly known as VH1 Soul * VH1 (1985)

Notes

References

External links

* {{Paramount Global American companies established in 1983 Broadcasting companies of the United States Cable network groups in the United States Companies based in New York City Mass media companies established in 1983 Paramount Media Networks Paramount International Networks 2001 mergers and acquisitions