iPedia Free Information Center

Information about Black Entertainment Television

“BET” redirects here. For other uses, see BET (disambiguation).
BET
LaunchedJanuary 25, 1980
Owned byMTV Networks (Viacom)
Picture format480i (SDTV)
CountryUnited States
HeadquartersWashington, D.C.
Sister channel(s)BET J
Websitewww.bet.com
Availability
Satellite
DirecTVChannel 329
Dish NetworkChannel 124
Cable
Available on most cable systemsCheck local listings for channels


Black Entertainment Television is an American cable network based in Washington, D.C. targeted toward African-American and urban audiences in the United States. The network is commonly referred to as BET and most of its programming comprises hip-hop and R&B music videos as well as religious programming and urban-oriented movies and series.

History

BET was founded by Robert L. Johnson, a former cable industry lobbyist, on January 25, 1980 after getting a $500,000 investment from then-TCI president John Malone. The network was initially a weekly, two-hour Friday night block airing on the USA Network from 11 p.m. to 1 a.m. (EST). The programming was mostly older movies and music videos, creating an outlet for an untapped market in the then-young cable industry, African-Americans. In May of that year, BET invested $1 million for the production of Black collegiate sporting events and expanded an hour. In November 1980, BET added two half-hour shows, Black Showcase and The Bobby Jones Gospel Show (the latter is still on the air today). On June 26, 1983, BET premiered Video Soul, a music video series hosted by popular D.C. DJ Donnie Simpson, one of the first marquee series on the network.

On October 1, 1983, after finding additional funding courtesy of Home Box Office, BET launched a 24-hour schedule with a viewership of 7.6 million cable subscribers.



Throughout the decades, BET has grown in viewership and expanded beyond television. In October 1989, BET entered the publishing business by launching their first magazine Emerge, aimed toward African-American news consumers. A little under a year later, BET launched YSB (Young Sisters and Brothers), a lifestyle magazine aimed toward African-American teenagers followed by the purchase of Arabesque Books, a publisher of African-American-oriented romance novels, and Heart and Soul magazine. BET also launched spin-off networks in the 1990s, including BET on Jazz: The Jazz Channel (now named BET J), a pay-per-view network called BET Action, and, along with John Malone's Liberty Media, BET Starz!, which became Black Starz! after the Viacom takeover and renamed Starz InBlack in 2005. BET also offers two other music channels, BET Hip-Hop, and BET Gospel, both of which are offered on digital cable platforms across the nation.

BET also airs African-American interest specials and introduced public service campaigns. The Rap It Up campaign is dedicated to preventing the spread of HIV/AIDS in the African-American community. In the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina, BET aired SOS: Saving Our Selves, a hurricane relief telethon concert on September 9, 2005, to raise funds for those affected by Katrina. More than $11 million was raised for Katrina victims.

Programming

Entertainment

On weekdays and Saturdays, BET focuses mainly on urban music programming with shows like 106 & Park and Rap City, while also airing sitcoms such as The Wayans Bros., The Jamie Foxx Show, Girlfriends, and The Parkers. Dramas including Soul Food and The Wire air Sunday nights and early mornings and the stand-up comedy program called Comic View airs throughout the week. BET has recently introduced reality programs like College Hill, collegiate sporting events, and various movies and specials. BET also created a short-lived animated comedy series called Hey Monie, after partnering up with The Oxygen Network.

On Sundays, BET carries gospel music and other religious programming for the greater part of the day such as The Bobby Jones Gospel Hour, Video Gospel, and Lift Every Voice. Religious programming also airs in the early morning hours every day from 4 a.m. to 9 a.m. EST.

BET also airs the BET Awards Show each year. The show honors African American entertainers, athletes and actors. It is usually BET's highest rated show of the year.

News

BET Tonight was relaunched as a daily newscast, BET Nightly News with Jacque Reid, which began in 1999 as an extension of its news coverage. BET's news coverage became a part of the network in October 1986. After the nightly newscast was removed from the lineup in the summer of 2005, it returned in October 2005 delivering news updates on BET throughout the day and, in 2006, as a Sunday afternoon news hour.

Criticism

Many prominent media critics, including Public Enemy rapper Chuck D,[1] journalist George Curry,[2] writer Keith Boykin,[3] comic book writer/artist/editor Christopher Priest,[4] filmmaker Spike Lee[5] and writer/cartoonist Aaron McGruder of The Boondocks, have protested BET's programming and actions. One of the most commonly-heard complaints is the fact that BET's programming is mostly geared towards ad sponsorship and does not focus on the public affairs of the black community.

The channel has been scrutinized by members of the black community who feel that the channel perpetuates harmful black stereotypes by primarily airing hip-hop videos that often have misogynistic, materialistic, and/or violent themes.[6] As a result, BET heavily censors suggestive content from the videos that it airs, often with entire verses removed from certain rap videos. Detractors also point out the irony they see in the network's choice to show strong religious (primarily Christian) programming. Not long ago, people began referring to the acronym BET as standing for "Black Exploitation Television."[7] Many critics consider BET to be a modern-day minstrel show.

BET has been criticized by some Christian evangelicals not primarily for music videos, but for its morning religious lineup. Each morning, BET broadcasts evangelical TV shows, and hosts include Robert Tilton, Don Stewart, and Peter Popoff, all of whom have been criticized and proven to be heading fraud ministries, and who have had spats with the law. In Popoff's case, his ministry's tax-exempt status was recently revoked in Canada; also, skeptic scientist James Randi notoriously debunked Popoff on The Tonight Show in 1988.[8]

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.

International

BET UK

Main article: BET UK
BET International Inc was given a license to broadcast in the UK in May 2007 by Ofcom. BET UK will be the first international version of the channel and will launch sometime before the end of 2007[9] with headquarters in London. BET UK will be a mix of content from the main BET channel and locally produced shows.

BET Canada

BET became available in Canada in October of 1997 on most cable and satellite carriers. The Canadian feed is the same as the American feed with the only exception being movies. Most movies are replaced with music videos in a similar format to the daytime show BET Now with the exception being that there are limited commercial breaks and the BET bug doesn't appear in the bottom right corner. The majority of music videos being aired in place of movies are ones that were released during the summer of 2006.

Popular original BET shows

Notes

1. ^ [1]
2. ^ [2]
3. ^ [3]
4. ^ [4]
5. ^ [5]
6. ^ [6]
7. ^ [7]
8. ^ Randi, James (1989). The Faith Healers. Prometheus Books. ISBN 0-87975-535-0 page 142. 
9. ^ [8]

See also

External links

BET can refer to:
  • Black Entertainment Television, a U.S. cable television station targeted to an African-American demographic.
  • Black Home, a U.K. website station targeted to a black British demographic.

..... Click the link for more information.
    Diwrnod Santes Dwynwen.
  • Tatiana Day, celebrated as the Day of Russian students since 1755, when the Moscow University was founded.
Note: The date "Jan/25/1994" is "commemorated" as a font-character in the (MS Win98) "HM Phonetic" font (@1994) -- possibly its "birthday".
..... Click the link for more information.
19th century - 20th century - 21st century
1950s  1960s  1970s  - 1980s -  1990s  2000s  2010s
1977 1978 1979 - 1980 - 1981 1982 1983

Year 1980 (MCMLXXX
..... Click the link for more information.
MTV Networks

Cable television
Founded 1984
Headquarters New York City, United States

Parent Viacom

Part of a series on
MTV MTV channels
MTV shows Award shows
Personalities
Censorship
MTV Networks
..... Click the link for more information.
Viacom, Inc.

Public (NYSE: VIAB , VNV )
Founded 2006[1]
Headquarters New York, New York, USA

Key people Sumner Redstone, Chairman (through National Amusements, owns a controlling amount of voting shares)
Philippe Dauman, President & CEO
..... Click the link for more information.
480i is the shorthand name for a video mode. The i, which is sometimes uppercase, stands for interlaced, the 480 for a vertical frame resolution of 480 lines.
..... Click the link for more information.
Washington, D.C.

Flag
Seal
Nickname: DC, The District
Motto: Justitia Omnibus (Justice for All)
Location of Washington, D.C.
..... Click the link for more information.
Availability
Satellite
DirecTV Channel 330
Cable
Also available on other digital cable systems such as Time Warner Cable, Comcast, etc. Consult your cable provider BET J
..... Click the link for more information.
DirecTV, Inc.

Subsidiary of The DirecTV Group
Founded 1994
Headquarters El Segundo, CA, USA

Key people Rupert Murdoch, Chairman
Chase Carey, President & CEO
Industry Telecommunication
Products Direct broadcast satellite
Revenue US$14.
..... Click the link for more information.
DISH Network, Inc.

Subsidiary
Founded 1996
Headquarters Meridian, Colorado, USA

Industry Telecommunication
Products Direct broadcast satellite
Employees (EchoStar 20,000)
Website dishnetwork.
..... Click the link for more information.
Motto
"In God We Trust"   (since 1956)
"E Pluribus Unum"   ("From Many, One"; Latin, traditional)
Anthem
..... Click the link for more information.
cable television into the house.]]

Cable television is a system of providing cocoy television to consumers via radio frequency signals transmitted to televisions through fixed optical fibers or coaxial cables as opposed to the over-the-air method used in traditional
..... Click the link for more information.
Washington, D.C.

Flag
Seal
Nickname: DC, The District
Motto: Justitia Omnibus (Justice for All)
Location of Washington, D.C.
..... Click the link for more information.
African Americans or Black Americans are citizens or residents of the United States who have origins in any of the black racial groups of Africa.[1] In the United States the term is generally used for Americans with sub-Saharan African ancestry.
..... Click the link for more information.
Motto
"In God We Trust"   (since 1956)
"E Pluribus Unum"   ("From Many, One"; Latin, traditional)
Anthem
..... Click the link for more information.
Rhythm and blues (also known as R&B or RnB) is a popular music genre combining jazz, gospel, and blues influences, first performed by African American artists.
..... Click the link for more information.
A music video is a short film or video that accompanies a complete piece of music, most commonly a song. Modern music videos are primarily made and used as a marketing device intended to promote the sale of music recordings.
..... Click the link for more information.
Robert L. Johnson (born April 8, 1946) is an American businessman and the founder of Black Entertainment Television (BET), and was its chairman and chief executive officer.
..... Click the link for more information.
    Diwrnod Santes Dwynwen.
  • Tatiana Day, celebrated as the Day of Russian students since 1755, when the Moscow University was founded.
Note: The date "Jan/25/1994" is "commemorated" as a font-character in the (MS Win98) "HM Phonetic" font (@1994) -- possibly its "birthday".
..... Click the link for more information.
-1980- 1981 1982 1983  1984 .  1985 .  1986 .  1987  . 1988  . 1989  . 1990 

..... Click the link for more information.
United States dollar
dólar estadounidense (Spanish)
dólar amerikanu (Tetum)
dólar americano
..... Click the link for more information.
TCI may refer to the following
  • Tall Clubs International, the parent organization to many clubs of tall people in North America
  • Target Controlled Infusion, a method for controlling intravenous infusions.
  • Tele-Communications Inc.

..... Click the link for more information.
John C. Malone (born march 7 1941 in Milford, Connecticut) is the current chairman of Liberty Media and CEO of Discovery Holding Company. He was the interim CEO of Liberty Media until succeeded by former Oracle CFO Greg Maffei. Dr.
..... Click the link for more information.
Availability
Satellite
DirecTV Channel 242
Dish Network Channel 105
C-Band Galaxy 14-Channel 19
Cable
Available on most cable systems Check Local Listings for channels

USA Network
..... Click the link for more information.
Bobby Jones Gospel (sometimes called The Bobby Jones Gospel Hour) is a program on Black Entertainment Television that airs on Sunday mornings at 9:00E/8:00C. The show is hosted by gospel legend Dr. Bobby Jones.
..... Click the link for more information.
June 26 is the 1st day of the year (2nd in leap years) in the Gregorian calendar. There are 0 days remaining.

Events

  • 363 - Roman Emperor Julian is killed during the retreat from the Sassanid Empire.

..... Click the link for more information.
-1983- 1984 1985 1986  1987 .  1988 .  1989 .  1990  . 1991  . 1992  . 1993 

..... Click the link for more information.
'Video Soul'' was a 2-hour long American music video program that aired on BET from 1981 to 1996.

History

Video Soul premiered in June of 1981 and was originally a half hour show. It was devoted to helping showcase new R&B/soul recording artists and performers.
..... Click the link for more information.
disc jockey or DJ is a person who selects and plays prerecorded music for an audience.

There are several types of disc jockeys. Radio DJs introduce and play music that is broadcast on AM, FM, shortwave or digital radio stations.
..... Click the link for more information.
Donnie Simpson (born January 30, 1954 in Detroit, Michigan) is a longtime radio personality who has been on the air in a variety of radio formats from Urban Contemporary to Rhythmic Contemporary Hits (Disco). He has hosted The Donnie Simpson Morning Show on Washington, D.
..... Click the link for more information.


This article is copied from an article on Wikipedia.org - the free encyclopedia created and edited by online user community. The text was not checked or edited by anyone on our staff. Although the vast majority of the wikipedia encyclopedia articles provide accurate and timely information please do not assume the accuracy of any particular article. This article is distributed under the terms of GNU Free Documentation License.
Herod_Archelaus


page counter