Perry, Allen Kicking BET's Tires

[Mark Jeffries]

Paramount is considering selling a majority share of BET, the 42-year-old cable channel founded by Robert Johnson and sold in 2000 to what is now Paramount Global--and Black entertainment mogul Tyler Perry and Black media mogul Byron Allen are seriously considering bidding for the company, which would include Centric, BET Jams (formerly MTV Jams) BET Soul (formerly VH1 Soul), VH1 (founded as MTV's sister channel for older viewers and now with mostly reality shows featuring Black celebrities) and the streamer BET+:

https://www.hollywoodreporter.com/tv/tv-news/bet-up-for-sale-paramount-global-vh1-1235341981/

A Perry or Allen-owned BET would be attractive to advertisers who want to support minority-owned media (which the channel is definitely not now).  On the other hand, either of them would have to deal with the criticisms that have been prevalent from members of the Black community all throughout its history regarding its programming, especially involving the hip-hop videos that now run on the flanker channels (as if Perry and Allen aren't already used to receiving flak from certain members of the community about their past exploits).