BET

The network's logo from 2005 to 2021 (the star was rendered as an outline from its debut until 2010)

After stepping down as a lobbyist for the cable industry, Freeport, Illinois native Robert L. Johnson decided to launch his own cable television network. Johnson would soon acquire a loan for $15,000 ($55,648 in 2023) and a $500,000 ($1,854,921 in 2023) investment from media executive John Malone to start the network.[4] The network, which was named Black Entertainment Television (BET), launched on January 25, 1980.[5] Cheryl D. Miller designed the logo that would represent the network, which featured a star to symbolize "Black Star Power".[6][7]

Initially, broadcasting for two hours a week as a block of programming on the Madison Square Garden Sports Network (which would change their name to USA Network three months after BET launched),[8] the network's lineup was composed of music videos and reruns of popular black sitcoms.[4]

It would not be until 1983 that BET became a full-fledged entity, independent of any other channel or programming block, though for years it continued to share channel space with other cable networks on local cable systems due to lack of channel room for their 24-hour schedule until the time of digital cable allowed for larger channel capacity. In some markets, the network would not arrive at all until as late as the early 2010s and Paramount considered it compulsory in retransmission consent negotiations to carry the BET Networks with Paramount networks, due to some providers claiming that there was an overall lack of demand for the channel, or there was a low to non-existent African-American population within their service area.

BET launched a news program, BET News, in 1986, with Paul Berry as its first anchor. Berry was also a local anchor at WJLA-TV in Washington, DC at that time. Ed Gordon became anchor in 1988. Gordon later hosted other programs and specials on BET, such as For Black Men Only: The Aftermath, related to the 1992 Los Angeles riots, and a recurring interview show, Conversations with Ed Gordon.[9] In 1996, the talk show BET Tonight started with Tavis Smiley as host; in 2001, Ed Gordon replaced Smiley as host of the program.

In 1991, the network became the first black-controlled television company to be listed on the New York Stock Exchange.[4] Starting the late 1990s, the network expanded with the launch of digital cable networks: what is now the general interest channel BET Her was initially launched as "BET on Jazz" (later known as "BET Jazz", "BET J", and "Centric"), created initially to showcase jazz music-related programming, especially that of African-American jazz musicians; in 1997, it entered into a joint venture with Starz (then-owned by John Malone's Liberty Media, but later acquired by Lionsgate years later) to launch a multiplex service of the premium channel featuring African American-oriented films 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"). In 2001, the network lost its status as a black-owned business when it was bought by media conglomerate Viacom for $3 billion. In 2005, Johnson retired from the network, turning over his titles of president and chief executive officer to former BET vice president Debra L. Lee.

In 2002, the network had launched two more music-oriented networks, BET Hip-Hop and BET Gospel. BET also launched a series 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.[10] BET's president of entertainment Reginald Hudlin 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.[11] BET announced in March 2010 that Ed Gordon would return to the network to host "a variety of news programs and specials".[12]

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.[13]

In July 2017, Viacom signed new film and television development deals with Tyler Perry following the expiration of his existing pact with Discovery Inc. (now merged with WarnerMedia) in 2019. As part of this deal, Perry would produce The Oval and Sistas for BET and co-own the network's newly launched streaming service, BET+.[14]

In March 2023, it was reported that Paramount Global was exploring the sale of a majority stake in BET Networks in order to provide additional funding to its flagship streaming service Paramount+; Shaquille O'Neal, Tyler Perry, as well as Sean "Puffy" Combs (who owns Revolt TV) and Byron Allen (who owns Entertainment Studios, TheGrio, and The Weather Channel), were identified as potential suitors.[15] In August 2023, Paramount Global dropped its plans to sell its majority stake in BET Networks.

A wide range of people have protested elements of BET's programming and actions, including Public Enemy rapper Chuck D,[21] journalist George Curry,[22] writer Keith Boykin,[23] comic book creator Christopher Priest,[24] filmmaker Spike Lee,[25] Syracuse University professor of finance Dr. Boyce Watkins,[26] former NFL player Burgess Owens,[27] and cartoonist Aaron McGruder (who, in addition to numerous critical references throughout his series The Boondocks, made two particular episodes, "The Hunger Strike" and "The Uncle Ruckus Reality Show", criticizing the channel). As a result, BET heavily censors suggestive content from the videos that it airs, often with entire verses and scenes removed from certain rap videos.[28][29]

Many scholars within the African-American community maintain that BET perpetuates and justifies racism by affecting the stereotypes held about African-Americans, and also by affecting the psyche of its young viewers through its bombardment of negative images of African-Americans.[30]

Following the death of civil rights leader Coretta Scott King in 2006, BET broadcast its regularly scheduled music video programming, rather than covering King's funeral live, as was done by TV One and Black Family Channel, and by cable news channels such as CNN, Fox News Channel, and MSNBC. The network's website streamed the funeral live, while it periodically broadcast taped, 60-second reports from the funeral by senior news correspondent Andre Showell. Michael Lewellen, BET's senior vice president for corporate communications, defended the decision: "We weighed a number of different options. In the end, we chose to offer a different kind of experience for BET viewers." Lewellen also explained that BET received around "two dozen" phone calls and "a handful" of emails criticizing BET for not showing the King funeral live.[31] On the evening of the funeral, February 7, 2006, BET broadcast the tribute special Coretta Scott King: Married to the Mission, and repeated it the following Sunday, February 12.[32] Showell hosted the program featuring highlights of the funeral, Coretta Scott King: Celebrating Her Spirit, that broadcast that same day.[33] In its 2007 convention, the National Association of Black Journalists gave BET its "Thumbs Down Award" for not broadcasting King's funeral live.[34]

The New York Times reported that the Reverend Delman L. Coates and his organization Enough is Enough led protests every weekend outside the residences of BET executives against what they claim are negative stereotypes of black people perpetuated by BET music videos.[28] Enough is Enough backed an April 2008 report titled The Rap on Rap by the Parents Television Council that criticized BET's rap programming, suggesting that the gratuitous sexual, violent and profane content was targeting children and teens.[35]

In a 2010 interview, BET co-founder Sheila Johnson explained that she herself is "ashamed" of what the network has become. "I don't watch it. I suggest to my kids that they don't watch it," she said. "When we started BET, it was going to be the Ebony magazine on television. We had public affairs programming. We had news... I had a show called Teen Summit, we had a large variety of programming, but the problem is that then the video revolution started up... And then something started happening, and I didn't like it at all. And I remember during those days we would sit up and watch these videos and decide which ones were going on and which ones were not. We got a lot of backlash from recording artists...and we had to start showing them. I didn't like the way women were being portrayed in these videos."[36]

• Scott Mills
• BET Hip Hop Awards
• List of programs broadcast by BET
• New Urban Entertainment
• Rip the Runway

• Muhammad, Tariq K. (June 1997), "The Branding of BET", Black Enterprise, vol. 27, no. 11, pp. 156–171

• Official website
  • BET (betnetworks.com) at the Wayback Machine (archive index)
• "Black Entertainment Television" Interview with Robert Johnson, founder and president of BET, from KUT's In Black America series on the American Archive of Public Broadcasting, April 29, 1986