As the parent company of BET Media Group looks to make changes after a mega-merger, the head of BET+ says the streaming service remains committed to bringing “relevant and authentic” content to its audience.
Skydance Media announced the completion of its $8 billion acquisition of Paramount Global on Aug. 7, after reportedly making concessions to the Trump administration to get the deal approved.
Paramount’s properties included Paramount Pictures, CBS , BET Media Group, Paramount+, Showtime, MTV, and Comedy Central, just to name a few.
In recent days, the Hollywood trades have reported the newly minted Paramount Skydance plans to cut $2 billion in costs and up to 3,000 jobs by the end of the year.
Related: New Paramount CEO Confirms BET Is Not For Sale
Related: ‘Churchy’ Season 2 Brings New Cast Members and New Stories
While the new management team has mentioned combining Paramount’s various streaming services, Jason Harvey, executive vice president and general manager of BET+, says the platform remains committed to Black storytelling.
Urban Hollywood 411 interviewed Harvey on the red carpet at the season 2 premiere of BET+ series Churchy in Hollywood on Aug. 19. Harvey declined to discuss the merger specifically, but he was open to talking about the programming on BET+.
The interview is below, and has been edited for clarity.
Urban Hollywood 411:
What is the strategy for BET+ post-merger? Do you see more original programming?
Jason Harvey:
Yes, for sure. Paramount has lived — especially Paramount+ — on original programming, whether it’s from Taylor Sheridan, or other content that we’ve had that’s original. BET+ continues to drop originals. Season 2 of Churchy is an example of an original series that we continue to release.
Urban Hollywood 411:
With the new management talking about potentially merging some streaming services, there’s concern the Black audience could get short-changed. How do you respond to that?
Jason Harvey:
(Declined to discuss the merger)
Urban Hollywood 411:
Okay. Will we eventually see more community-focused programming on BET, something like a Teen Summit?
Jason Harvey:
That’s basically what we do, whether it’s on the linear side or BET+, we dig into unscripted programming like that. I think it’s a testament to just the DNA of BET, which is uplifting Black voices and supporting community initiatives.
Urban Hollywood 411:
What are your goals for the future of BET+?
Jason Harvey:
My goal is to continue to grow, continue to provide audiences with original programming that resonates, that’s relevant and authentic, and continue to serve our audience with the best in Black storytelling.
Urban Hollywood 411:
It’s awards season. Do you want more prestige programming that will get Emmy nominations?
Jason Harvey:
I’ll tell you; we’ve had four Emmy nominations over the last five years. We’ve only been around for five and a half years, so that’s just a testament of the type of programming that we put on BET+.
What’s more important for us is, how do we provide authentic storytelling that connects with specific audiences, right Whether it’s audiences that are into drama, or into comedy, we lean into those types of titles to allow us to kind of provide a breadth of content, not just zero in on specific content for one specific audience.
Jason Harvey, EVP and GM of BET+, is shown in the image above at the “Churchy” Los Angeles premiere. (Credit: Robin L Marshall/Getty Images for BET+)
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