BET Soul (formerly VH1 Soul) is an American

pay television Pay television, also known as subscription television, premium television or, when referring to an individual service, a premium channel, refers to Subscription business model, subscription-based television services, usually provided by multichan ...

network that first launched on August 1, 1998, and is currently owned by

Paramount Global Paramount Global (Trade name, d/b/a Paramount) is an American multinational mass media and entertainment Conglomerate (company), conglomerate controlled by National Amusements and Headquarters, headquartered at One Astor Plaza in Times Square, ...

BET Media Group Black Entertainment Television LLC (Trade name, doing business as the BET Media Group, and formerly known as BET Networks) is an American television company currently owned by American media conglomerate Paramount Global under its CBS Entertainmen ...

. The channel showcases Caribbean, African, R&B,

funk Funk is a music genre that originated in African-American communities in the mid-1960s when musicians created a rhythmic, danceable new form of music through a mixture of various music genres that were popular among African-Americans in the ...

soul The soul is the purported Mind–body dualism, immaterial aspect or essence of a Outline of life forms, living being. It is typically believed to be Immortality, immortal and to exist apart from the material world. The three main theories that ...

neo soul Neo soul (sometimes called progressive soul) is a genre of popular music. As a term, it was coined by music industry entrepreneur Kedar Massenburg during the late 1990s to market and describe a style of music that emerged from Soul music, soul ...

hip hop Hip-hop or hip hop (originally disco rap) is a popular music genre that emerged in the early 1970s from the African-American community of New York City. The style is characterized by its synthesis of a wide range of musical techniques. Hip- ...

jazz Jazz is a music genre that originated in the African-American communities of New Orleans, Louisiana, in the late 19th and early 20th centuries. Its roots are in blues, ragtime, European harmony, African rhythmic rituals, spirituals, h ...

and

Motown Motown is an American record label owned by the Universal Music Group. Founded by Berry Gordy, Berry Gordy Jr. as Tamla Records on January 12, 1959, it was incorporated as Motown Record Corporation on April 14, 1960. Its name, a portmanteau ...

music in various decades from the 1970s to the 2020s. Soul was originally a commercial-free service, along with sister channel VH1 Smooth, and part of the "

MTV MTV (an initialism of Music Television) is an American cable television television channel, channel and the flagship property of the MTV Entertainment Group sub-division of the Paramount Media Networks division of Paramount Global. Launched on ...

Digital Suite" 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 previo ...

channels (which was sold only to cable providers to give them an advantage over satellite services). The first video shown on the channel was " Boogie Wonderland" by

Earth, Wind & Fire Earth, Wind & Fire (abbreviated as EW&F or EWF) is an American band formed in Chicago, Illinois in 1969. Their music spans multiple genres, including jazz, R&B, soul, funk, disco, pop, Latin and Afro-pop. They are among the best-selling ba ...

. On December 28, 2015 (few months after MTV Jams' rebrand as "BET Jams"), management of the channel was moved to

BET Networks Black Entertainment Television LLC (Trade name, doing business as the BET Media Group, and formerly known as BET Networks) is an American television company currently owned by American media conglomerate Paramount Global under its CBS Entertainmen ...

. It was subsequently rebranded as BET Soul that same day, and became a sister channel to BET (the network itself removing music videos after the ending of ''106 & Park'' last year). The move would be part of a series of programming and management shifts within then-parent company Viacom in the coming years. In 2019, the legacy assets of Viacom and

CBS Corporation CBS Corporation was an American multinational media company with interests primarily in commercial broadcasting, publishing and television production. It was split from Viacom on December 31, 2005, alongside an entirely new Viacom; both ...

would be reunited in a merger between the two companies that led to the formation of ViacomCBS, later to be rebranded as

. On November 9, 2022, oversight of

VH1 VH1 (originally an initialism for Video Hits One) is an American basic cable television network that launched on January 1, 1985, and is currently owned by the MTV Entertainment Group unit of Paramount Global's networks division based in New Y ...

would move to the later-renamed BET Media Group. The move reunited two networks, while also splitting them from MTV and its other formerly-branded sibling channels ( VH1 Classic and VH1 Country).

References

External links

Official site
{{Paramount Global African-American television Music video networks in the United States BET Networks Television channels and stations established in 1998 English-language television stations in the United States African-American television networks American corporate subsidiaries