Based in Washington, D.C., BET has added about 2 million subscriber homes per year since 1984, reaching more than 40 million cable households in 2,500 markets by 1995. Moreover, the network has more than tripled revenues since 1985; it reported profits for the first time in 1986, when it finally hit Nielsen ratings charts and attracted major advertisers. In 1991 BET Holdings, Inc. (BET’s parent company) became the first Black-owned company to be traded on the New York Stock Exchange.

From the very beginning, the heart and soul of BET programming was the music video. Predating MTV by a year, BET has offered as much as 18 hours of music videos a day, prompting many to perceive the 24-hour network as essentially a Black-oriented music video service. Thus, while MTV was being criticized in 1983 for excluding Black artists from its playlist (Tina Turner and the interracial group English Beat excepted), many viewers were tuning into BET for such offerings. Indeed, the network’s flagship program, VideoSoul, has become a household name in many Black communities.

As BET grew, however, the network began to diversify its program offerings and image. By its tenth anniversary in 1990, the network had initiated several original programs and projects, including For the Record, featuring members of the Congressional Black Caucus; Teen Summit, a Saturday afternoon show for youth; Black Agenda 2000, a series of forums on issues of interest to the Black community; Conversation with Ed Gordon, an interview program with contemporary newsmakers; Inside Studio A, concerts and interviews taped before a live audience; Personal Diary, one-on-one interviews with prominent Blacks; On Stage, plays written and performed by Blacks; and Our Voices, a daily talk show.

More recent BET program schedules have included ComicView, a stand-up comedy review; Screen Scene, a Black-oriented entertainment journal; Jazz Central, a jazz music program; and Rap City, a rap video program. From time to time, BET also airs sporting events featuring teams from historically Black colleges and universities, and rounds out its schedule with reruns of popular Black-oriented shows such as Sanford and Son, What’s Happening, Frank’s Place, and Roc. News and public affairs programs tend to be relegated to the weekends.

BET was the brainchild of Robert L. Johnson, who developed the idea for the network in 1979 while serving as vice president for governmental relations at the National Cable Television Association. Johnson, an African American, noted in 1989 that BET “should be for Black media what Disney is to the general media or what Motown was to music.” Industry observers have applauded Johnson’s efficient management style and his aggressive plans to expand the company’s product base and consumers.

Johnson argued in 1989 that industry racism had stunted BET’s growth. In particular, he noted that many cable operators had been slow to carry BET (it was carried on only 1,825 of the nation’s 7,500 systems in 1989), and that BET had been saddled with some of the lowest subscriber fees in the industry (e.g., BET earned only about 5 cents per subscriber in 1989, while other cable services typically earned between 15 and 20 cents per subscriber). Some analysts agreed with Johnson’s charges of industry racism, but noted that many of BET’s problems were due to the network’s lack of resources and Johnson’s corresponding inability to adequately market it.

Nonetheless, since its humble beginnings BET has become much more than just a basic-cable network. By 1995 BET Holdings owned and operated a broad array of Black-oriented media products, including Black Entertainment Television, the basic-cable network; YSB (Young Sisters and Brothers), a magazine targeted at Black youths; Emerge, a magazine offering analysis and commentary on contemporary issues facing Black America; Action Pay-Per-View, a national, satellite-delivered, pay-per-view movie channel based in Santa Monica, California; BET International, a provider of BET programming throughout Africa and other foreign markets; Identity Television, a London-based cable service targeting Afro-Caribbean viewers; BET Productions, a subsidiary providing technical and production services to outside companies; BET Radio Network, a radio service providing news and entertainment packages to affiliated stations across the United States; and BET Pictures, a joint venture with Blockbuster Entertainment Corporation to produce and distribute Black, family-oriented films.

After successfully reverting BET back to private ownership in 1998, Johnson in late 2000 moved to merge his 20-year-old company with industry powerhouse Viacom. At the time of the proposed merger, Viacom owned MTV, VH1, CMT, the Box, MTV2, and dozens of radio stations. Critics in the African=American community bemoaned the loss of Black control over what had become the largest African-American media company. Viacom and Johnson countered that BET would retain its African-American focus, adding that Johnson had agreed to a five-year contract with Viacom to run BET. Johnson became the second-largest individual stockholder in Viacom.