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"BET" redirects here. For other uses, see BET (disambiguation).
BET
CountryUnited States
HeadquartersWashington, D.C.
Ownership
OwnerBET Networks (Viacom)

Black Entertainment Television (commonly referred to by its acronym B.E.T.) is an American cable network based in Washington, D.C. and targets young black and urban audiences in the United States. Robert L. Johnson founded the network in 1980. Most programming of the network comprises mainstream rap and R&B music videos and urban-oriented movies and series.

Its urban music programming includes 106 & Park, a show taped before a live audience counting down the top videos requested by viewers and inviting rap and R&B artists to promote their music. The Deal is BET's flagship program for rap music, and the network also regularly shows a block of R&B videos under the banner BET Now. BET has been the target of criticism and protests for broadcasting videos that are accused of promoting immorality.[1][2] Additionally, the channel shows syndicated television series, original programs, and some public affairs programs. On Sunday mornings, BET broadcasts a lineup of network-produced Christian programming; other, non-affiliated Christian programs are also shown during the early morning hours daily.

History

BET: Black Entertainment Television was founded in 1980 by Robert L. Johnson, it offered movies, specials, news, music and inclusive programming targeted toward the African-American audience. Originally it only aired gospel, funk, jazz and soul music and added the hip-hop format in the mid-1980s in order to gain audience away from its competitor MTV which was responsible for selling hip hop to suburban audience, in 1989 it added its first hip-hip show Rap City which was created to compete with MTV's Yo! MTV Raps which premiered a year earlier. Rap City succeeded as it outlived Yo! MTV Raps and ran on BET for straight 19 years. In the 1990s it made a partnership with Starz Media to distribute movies through the premium channel called BET Movies: Starz! which was co-owned until 2001. In 1999 BET was purchased by MTV's parent company, Viacom, for $3 Billion, as was BET Networks which was responsible for the end of its partnership with Starz (Viacom owned Starz rivals Showtime and The Movie Channel at the time). The change took affect in 2000, and afterwords the network began adding more similar elements as of MTV which many accused the network of "selling out", adding the daily top video countdown show 106 & Park akin to MTV's TRL, airing much more reality shows such as College Hill, Baldwin Hills and Harlem Heights and The Game similar to MTV's own reality shows The Real World and The Hills.

Sister network

The spin off channel BET J, originally called BET On Jazz (later BET Jazz), is available in 28 million homes on DirecTV, Verizon FiOS, and other digital cable providers. Programs include My Two Cents with Keith Boykin, Bryonn Bain, Crystal McCreary Anthony and Staceyann Chin, The Best Shorts hosted by Abiola Abrams, Living the Life of Marley about Ky-Mani Marley, My Model is Better Than Your Model with Eva Pigford and The Turn On hosted by Charlotte Burley.

Competitors

BET's success, and the controversy over its content, has spawned a few smaller competitors aiming toward the African-American market. Although some like NUE TV (New Urban Entertainment Television) and Black Family Channel (formerly MBC) had little success, others like TV One have thrived and succeeded, mostly by eschewing BET's music-based programming for more family-oriented fare. However these networks are mostly watched by older African-Americans and BET continues to be mostly watched by the youth. A possible new arrival to Internet TV and broadcasting, The African American Channel, is making an attempt to enter the picture. Broadcasting and Cable magazine pointed out that The African American Channel could become a competitor of BET and others such as Black Family Channel and TV One in the not-so-distant future.[3] In 2008, rapper Master P, who claims to have a "great relationship with BET", announced the launch of Better Black Television, which he intended to meet "consumer demand for family friendly hip-hop content".[4]

International

BET UK

Main article: BET UK

BET UK first transmitted on Videotron (now known as Virgin Media) and several other cable networks from 1993 up until 1996. [1]

In May 2007 by Ofcom, BET International Inc was given a license to re-broadcast in the United Kingdom. BET UK is the first international version of the channel.

BET is available on Sky Digital Channel 191 after launching on Wednesday 27 February 2008 and on Freesat Channel 140 after launching on August 8. BET+1 is also available on Sky channel 198 and Freesat channel 141, and is Free-to-air. BET UK shows a mix of content from the main BET channel and locally produced shows.

Canada

BET became available in Canada in October 1997 on most cable and satellite carriers. The Canadian feed is the same as the American feed, though sitcoms and films with rights belonging to other parties in Canada are simsubed over with a block of music videos without a BET logo appearing on-screen.

Criticism

Public Enemy rapper Chuck D,[5] journalist George Curry,[6] writer Keith Boykin,[7] comic book creator Christopher Priest,[8] filmmaker Spike Lee[9] and cartoonist Aaron McGruder (who, in addition to numerous critical references throughout his series, The Boondocks, made a particular episode criticizing the channel), all have protested BET's programming and actions. As a result, BET heavily censors suggestive content from the videos that it airs, often with entire verses removed from certain rap videos.[1][2] The channel also censors some of the programming it shows. Profanity such as words like "bitch" are often censored. "Enough is Enough" is a group led by the Reverend Delman Coates that has devoted much time to protesting BET under the grounds that much of BET's hip-hop videos are degrading.[2][1] It backed an April 2008 report titled The Rap on Rap by the Parents Television Council that claimed that BET hip-hop programming, which they believed contained gratuitously sexual, violent, and profane content, was targeting children and teens.[10] Furthermore, Scholars within the African American community maintain that BET perpetuates and justifies racism by affecting the interpersonal beliefs others may generalize about African Americans, and also by affecting the psyche of its young viewers through its bombardment of negative images of African Americans.[11]

Syndicated programs

Former syndicated programs

Original BET shows

See also

Notes

  1. ^ a b c Lee, Felicia R. (2007-11-05). "Protesting Demeaning Images in Media". The New York Times. {{cite news}}: Italic or bold markup not allowed in: |work= (help) Cite error: The named reference "Protesting" was defined multiple times with different content (see the help page).
  2. ^ a b c Eggerton, John (2008-04-09). "PTC, Enough Is Enough Campaign Take on MTV, BET". Broadcasting & Cable. Cite error: The named reference "Take On" was defined multiple times with different content (see the help page).
  3. ^ Goetzl, David (2007-09-17). "A Decent BET". Broadcasting & Cable.
  4. ^ "Master P Launching Cable Network". Broadcasting & Cable. 2008-08-15. Retrieved 2008-08-21.
  5. ^ "BET 2001 ; THE FISHTANK OF FOOLS". publicenemy.com. 2001-03-30. Retrieved 2008-02-05.
  6. ^ "Viacom's BET Turns into ET". georgecurry.com. 2002-12-10. Retrieved 2008-02-05.
  7. ^ Keith Boykin (2002-12-18). "All Hail Bob Johnson". Retrieved 2008-02-05.
  8. ^ Christopher J. Priest (2001-02). "the ostracized negro". Retrieved 2008-02-05. {{cite web}}: Check date values in: |date= (help)
  9. ^ Zap2it - TV news - Spike Lee Dismisses BET
  10. ^ Moss, Linda; Umstead, R. Thomas (2008-04-10). "PTC Puts A Bad 'Rap' On BET, MTV". Multichannel News. Retrieved 2008-07-27.
  11. ^ http://www.racewire.org/archives/2008/06/bet_vs_boondocks.html

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