Viewers of a certain age frequently say BET years ago abandoned programming that informs the Black community.
Yes, the network occasionally airs one-off specials, but gone are the days when there was regular programming like Teen Summit or BET Nightly News. Perhaps that will change, or not, now that the network is under new ownership.
On Wednesday, Aug. 13, David Ellison the chairman and CEO of newly-merged Paramount Skydance held a Q&A with reporters on the Paramount Pictures lot in Los Angeles.
Joined by his senior leadership team, Ellison talked about his plans for the company’s future.
He acquired Paramount Global’s properties, including Paramount Pictures, CBS, BET Media Group, MTV, Nickelodeon, and other assets, in an $8 billion deal that officially closed last week — after making concessions to the Trump administration.
Related: BET Is Suspending the Hip Hop and Soul Train Awards
Paramount’s previous owner, Shari Redstone, made multiple attempts to sell BET Media Group, which includes BET, BET+, BET Studios (the production arm of BET), BET Digital, BET Her, and VH1, which was transferred to BET Media Group in 2022.
But the new leadership team said the for-sale sign has been packed away.
Jeff Shell, now president of Paramount, noted that plans are underway to consolidate some of the company’s streaming platforms and BET is “a pretty important building block of our streaming strategy,” according to Deadline.
Ellison said he told Redstone he wanted to keep Paramount’s assets together once they started to seriously discuss the merger.
“We had this conversation with Shari when we had the first meeting actually about the company, our intention is to keep the company together and invest through the lens of long-term operation,” said Ellison.
In March 2023, Redstone explored selling BET Media Group. Reports surfaced that Tyler Perry and Byron Allen were interested.
Then Sean “Diddy” Combs released a since-deleted statement on Instagram saying he was “building a team” of investors to purchase the property. Diddy later scrubbed his Instagram feed after running into legal trouble with the feds and facing criminal charges for racketeering, sex trafficking and Mann Act violations.
During a red carpet interview, Perry — who owns a minority stake in BET+ — confirmed the reports were true and he was trying to acquire the network.
But six months later amid reports that Shari Redstone wanted “$3 billion-plus” for BET, Perry told a business summit he walked away from the talks.
“The way it happened was disrespectful in a lot of ways,” he said. “Don’t try to get me to pay for something that’s not worth anywhere near the value.”
BET was founded in 1980 by Bob Johnson and his then-wife Sheila Johnson. Paramount, previously known as Viacom, acquired BET in 2001 for a reported $2.3 billion.
In a 2010 interview, Sheila Johnson said she was “ashamed” of what BET had become.
“Don’t even get me started,” she said. “I don’t watch it. I suggest to my kids that they don’t watch it… I’m ashamed of it, if you want to know the truth.”
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