I’ve blasted BET twice here in this space last year, for appearing not to have any foresight in their programming decisions, only seeming to opt for the same 150 tired old music videos that fill over 60% of current airtime on the network. Well, if today’s article in The Washington Post is any indication, the network is finally starting to get the message.
From today’s Post, authored by Frank Ahrens:
More Money, Less Booty For BET
It looks as though Black Entertainment Television is about to dial back the booty-and-rerun quotient.The network’s parent company, entertainment giant Viacom Inc., will increase BET’s budget for original programming by 30 percent to 50 percent this year compared with last, and will continue to grow it at that pace in coming years, Viacom Chief Executive Philippe P. Dauman said during a meeting yesterday with Washington Post reporters and editors.
The expanded slate of original programming coincides with BET’s launch of a home-entertainment division and new digital strategy under BET Chief Executive Debra L. Lee, said BET chief of staff Tom Reynolds.”
This is good news, so far as I’m concerned. This network hasn’t done much in the past few years, and it’s about time that Viacom start investing in the network. There is a valuable asset there, that has been in a deteriorating state for more than a decade. A commitment to expanding the media base for its target audience–African Americans–can only serve to improve the network. I’ll wait to see what happens, but any move toward developing original programming that has nothing to do with airing more music videos is a start.
