In the business and entertainment world, when ratings are everything, it seems we finally can escape the politics of race. That is, until you wake up horrified to U2 when your cable box reads BET.
On November 3, Viacom Inc. agreed to purchase BET Holdings II for three billion, which includes Black Entertainment Television (BET) and other cable channels, BET books and BET.com, releasing a cry of outrage from blacks across the nation.
"BET was all about Black Power and entertainment," first-year Engineering student Quiana Johnson said. "The new programs seem as if BET is turning over a new leaf and becoming another talk show channel."
In fact, 52 percent of BlackPlanet.com members polled the Viacom deal as "another Black company sells out."
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As the largest black owned and operated entertainment company for 20 years, BET was more than just a cable channel. To many, it was about black ownership, black independence and black success. However, according to Mel Karmazin, President and Chief Operating Officer of Viacom, advertisers were increasingly discounting the worth of BET's audience.
"The African-American market is growing faster than the general population. Only one percent of targeted ad spending is going to African-Americans," Karmazin stated in a media press conference the day of the affirmed deal.
Consequently, BET was not making as much as it should have, even though its revenues were growing 20 percent every year for the past five years.
The Viacom deal provides a struggling BET with vast resources and media advertising. Among Viacom's well-known brands are CBS, MTV, Nickelodeon, VH1, Paramount Pictures, Infinity Broadcasting, UPN, TNN, CMT, Showtime, Blockbuster, and Simon & Schuster. As a result, Viacom is able to boost BET advertising revenue by packaging popular commercial air-time channels like MTV with BET's advertising.
In addition, Viacom resources may provide BET with even more black-centered sitcoms and movies. For instance, Viacom produces UPN's "Moesha" and "The Parkers" airing Monday nights. These popular comedy shows could cross over to BET as well as new Paramount releases such as "The Ladies Man," with Tim Meadows.
Many BET viewers were not impressed by the old BET, crammed with informercials, short-lived sitcoms and repeat music videos.
Former BET intern Peter Saji said, "A lot of videos were aired on what is most marketable - they encouraged misogyny and materialism."
BET's loyal audience is nonetheless wary of Viacom's new influence on what is considered their territory. They fear an end to true ethnic programming and representation. Saji said he thinks the Viacom deal might worsen matters.
"Now that it's owned by a corporate entity," he said, "the good of the black community will become even less of a priority."
According to an article in The Washington Post, Mark Winston Griffith of Central Brooklyn Partnership, which produced one of the nation's largest black-owned credit unions, agreed, saying, "What BET meant was not only black programming but black ownership. That's no longer the case. Maybe we should call it something else now."
However, Bob Johnson, founder and CEO of BET, dismissed this thinking as "backward," in a Nov. 4 article in The Washington Post. He and Debra Lee, BET president and chief operating officer, will remain in their positions on the management team. Washington, D.C. also will stay firmly in place as home headquarters. Karmazin also said he has no intention of interfering with BET's programming.
Many University students, both black and white alike, scoff at the color domination sentiment, and applaud the business venture. As first-year Engineering student John Ambrose puts it, "It's about money. Black, white or purple, when it comes to business, everyone turns green"
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