BET -- Is real change finally coming?

[TonyB06]

A Pivotal Shift at BET
New CEO Sees the Need for Wider Range of Programming

By Annys Shin
Washington Post Staff Writer
Monday, June 6, 2005; Page D01

When Debra L. Lee was named chief executive of Black Entertainment Television last week, there was no ceremony, no speeches. Just a company-wide e-mail. After all, Lee had been in charge of the company's day-to-day operations for the past nine years.

But while Lee's duties didn't change much, BET may never be the same.

Lee, 50, takes over BET at a pivotal time for the District-based network, which reaches 80.6 million cable subscribers. Not only is she the first chief executive to follow the company's departing founder, Robert L. Johnson, but the company she inherits is vastly different from the one he created 25 years ago with a $15,000 loan. Instead of an upstart taking its place among a dozen or so cable channels, BET boasts that it is now recognized in 100 percent of African American households. Yet it must fight for viewers in an ever-expanding universe of channels.

BET, which is now a division of the media company Viacom Inc., has established itself with its target audience of young adult African Americans through a heavy rotation of music videos and reruns of old dramas and sitcoms. But that won't be enough to sustain BET's brand indefinitely, according to industry analysts and the company's own leaders.

"What keeps me up at night is MTV, UPN . . . ABC and Fox's 'American Idol.' Those are the ones that take viewership away," said Lee, a Harvard Law School graduate who started her career as a telecommunications lawyer. Her clients included BET, and she was recruited to join the company 19 years ago as its general counsel.

The key, said Deborah Gray-Young, vice president and director of media services of E. Morris Communications, a Chicago marketing firm, is finding shows that appeal to those consumers and advertisers who have not always felt comfortable with BET's sometimes racy fare.

Founder Johnson readily agreed. "BET has to be considered more than a black business success story," he said. "It has to be considered a black programming success story."

rest of the article:
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn...060500989.html

[darling1]

as it stands, i don't support BET. none of the programs represent my interests; i can see/hear gospel anywhere. i wish i could remove it from my cable and substitute. the programming is geared for people under 30 and single. i am neither.

this is a wait and see situation.

[RBL]

Time Will Tell....I'm not holding my breath though

[sigtau305]

Originally posted by RBL
Time Will Tell....I'm not holding my breath though

ditto

[Steeltrap]

Not sure what Debra Lee will do because her ascendancy was under "Bwana" Bob Johnson. Her plans sound decent, though. So I will try to keep an open mind.

I wonder why they don't try a grown people's spin-off network that's intelligently programmed, with news, public affairs, quality sitcoms (think Frank's Place, Linc's and such) and decent dramas.

[darling1]

supposedly that is why TV-1 was created. i am not sure it is in all markets but i do find myself watching that more often. in my neighborhood the channel is bfore BET.

Originally posted by Steeltrap
Not sure what Debra Lee will do because her ascendancy was under "Bwana" Bob Johnson. Her plans sound decent, though. So I will try to keep an open mind.

I wonder why they don't try a grown people's spin-off network that's intelligently programmed, with news, public affairs, quality sitcoms (think Frank's Place, Linc's and such) and decent dramas.

[AKA2D '91]

~From Yahoo News...

LOS ANGELES (Hollywood Reporter) - Urban cable channel BET has hired veteran filmmaker Reginald Hudlin as its chief programer, a move that industry observers hailed as a positive sign for a network that has long faced criticism over the quality of its programing.


As president of entertainment at BET, Hudlin will oversee all of the Viacom-owned network's programing divisions, including development and acquisition of series, music, sports and news. He will split his time among BET's production hubs in New York and Los Angeles, and its headquarters in Washington.

"For me, the opportunity to work on such a giant canvas, in the form a 24/7 network, is just incredible," said Hudlin, whose film credits include "The Great White Hype" and "Serving Sara." "It's a great entrepreneurial opportunity."

Upon being named successor to the network's founder and CEO, Robert Johnson, last month, BET president and chief operating officer Debra Lee identified naming a programing chief as one of her priorities.

"As I look at the next five years, there's really a major objective to improve current programing," Lee said. "BET is a great brand with a great lineup, but I want to take it to the next level."

[ARTIC-U-LATE]

Originally posted by RBL
Time Will Tell....I'm not holding my breath though

Where have you been Bro RBL?

I have given up on the Bamboozledness of BET. I actually enjoy TV1. Cathy Hughs is doing her thing. I think they may want to expand their selections though, re-runs(sp?) can only go so far.

[Steeltrap]

Originally posted by darling1
supposedly that is why TV-1 was created. i am not sure it is in all markets but i do find myself watching that more often. in my neighborhood the channel is bfore BET.

Unless either of my homes switch to satellite, which is unlikely, I probably will never be a regular TvOne viewer. Such is the hazard of living in two counties with negligible AfAm populations.

[sigtau305]

Originally posted by darling1
supposedly that is why TV-1 was created. i am not sure it is in all markets but i do find myself watching that more often. in my neighborhood the channel is bfore BET.

TV-1 is shown here in the greater cleveland area on Aldephia. I caught a little bit of it. it's not too bad.

[Honeykiss1974]

I finally watched TV-One (Cox Communications) for the first time last night. I was pleasantly surprised - plus it shows I'll Fly Away which was a show I LOVED and Good Times (which I can never get enough of).

I'm interested in seeing some of their own shows now (ie TV One on One, News Show, etc.)

[darling1]

reginald hudlin is the chief of programming now. he's done a myriad of things in his career, so it will be interesting what he comes out the box with.

[HederaNaturale]

I wonder why they don't try a grown people's spin-off network that's intelligently programmed, with news, public affairs, quality sitcoms (think Frank's Place, Linc's and such) and decent dramas.

supposedly that is why TV-1 was created. i am not sure it is in all markets but i do find myself watching that more often. in my neighborhood the channel is bfore BET.

I thought TV-1 was more a direct competitor to BET than a spinoff, but that their programming still appeals more to the over-30 crowd. At any rate, I reeeealllly wish I could get TV-1 because from what I hear from my friends who get it, I'd love it.

I know that BET has the jazz station, and a gospel station, if I'm not mistaken, so maybe a spinoff for 30-plus is in the works, but that still does nothing for the "low-budget MTV" status that BET is now. I mean, I can say that I hate BET because it's mindless, repetitive, misogynistic, etc. but I hate MTV for all the same reasons. It's just worse because that's the only outlet where I can see the hip-hop & R&B videos I like and see more than 1 brown face onscreen in an 8-hour time span.

I think it would be nice and reasonable for Viacom to create a "black counterpart" (for lack of a better phrase) system like what they already have with MTV-MTV2-VH1-VH1 Classic. But it probably won't happen, because I doubt that they'd be willing to take a chance on such an ambitious programming sceme for a black audience. It's just that BET really isn't all that relevant anymore as it was originally intended (as a catch all "black station") because we've outgrown that, but what it's becoming (a teenybopper video station) isn't really necessary now that white audiences are listening to hip hop so hard. BET is trying to do too much, but is doing too little at the same time.

(can you tell I've been thinking about this for minute?) lol..

[SummerChild]

I am an eternal optimist so I will say that I hope that it does change. What I don't understand is why Bob "readily agreed" if he has been in charge since the beginning and (in my opinion) therefore in charge of all of the garbage pumped over the airwaves that the advertisers don't agree with. Seems like he should be a little embarrassed that *advertisers* have to be the ones to slap BET's wrists about the programming. That's the real shame here.

SC

Originally posted by TonyB06
A Pivotal Shift at BET
New CEO Sees the Need for Wider Range of Programming

By Annys Shin
Washington Post Staff Writer
Monday, June 6, 2005; Page D01

When Debra L. Lee was named chief executive of Black Entertainment Television last week, there was no ceremony, no speeches. Just a company-wide e-mail. After all, Lee had been in charge of the company's day-to-day operations for the past nine years.

But while Lee's duties didn't change much, BET may never be the same.

Lee, 50, takes over BET at a pivotal time for the District-based network, which reaches 80.6 million cable subscribers. Not only is she the first chief executive to follow the company's departing founder, Robert L. Johnson, but the company she inherits is vastly different from the one he created 25 years ago with a $15,000 loan. Instead of an upstart taking its place among a dozen or so cable channels, BET boasts that it is now recognized in 100 percent of African American households. Yet it must fight for viewers in an ever-expanding universe of channels.

BET, which is now a division of the media company Viacom Inc., has established itself with its target audience of young adult African Americans through a heavy rotation of music videos and reruns of old dramas and sitcoms. But that won't be enough to sustain BET's brand indefinitely, according to industry analysts and the company's own leaders.

"What keeps me up at night is MTV, UPN . . . ABC and Fox's 'American Idol.' Those are the ones that take viewership away," said Lee, a Harvard Law School graduate who started her career as a telecommunications lawyer. Her clients included BET, and she was recruited to join the company 19 years ago as its general counsel.

The key, said Deborah Gray-Young, vice president and director of media services of E. Morris Communications, a Chicago marketing firm, is finding shows that appeal to those consumers and advertisers who have not always felt comfortable with BET's sometimes racy fare.

Founder Johnson readily agreed. "BET has to be considered more than a black business success story," he said. "It has to be considered a black programming success story."

rest of the article:
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn...060500989.html

[HederaNaturale]

Originally posted by SummerChild
I am an eternal optimist so I will say that I hope that it does change. What I don't understand is why Bob "readily agreed" if he has been in charge since the beginning and (in my opinion) therefore in charge of all of the garbage pumped over the airwaves that the advertisers don't agree with. Seems like he should be a little embarrassed that *advertisers* have to be the ones to slap BET's wrists about the programming. That's the real shame here.

SC

To be honest, I really do believe that advertisers run TV programming more than the individual stations do, and that's for just about all networks. I suppose that as long as BET's advertisers were putting the money up, the programmers nor Bob had much of a reason to change anything. And Seagram's Gin don't care about racial uplift.

I was having a conversation with my ma and she made the point that BET should cease to be a channel. Her reasoning was that we need to insist that, being that we are a good-sized chunk of the American population, and this is OUR COUNTRY as much (or moreso) than anyone else's, we need to demand and insist
that the networks cater to us as viewers and consumers. I agree with her on that, but I feel like a station "for us" still has a place and a purpose.