It is something of a misnomer to lavish heaps of praise on and call BET a Black company. It’s management ownership is certainly not Black although its content is ostentiously aimed at Black people.

Closer inspection, however, shows that same content as being accessible enough for anyone. It tries not to raise too many embarassing issues or sink any unsunkable ships.

BET, a subsidiary of Viacom, is America’s leading television network providing quality entertainment, music, news and public affairs programming for the African-American audience.

The BET Network reaches more than 79 million households according to Nielsen media research, and can be seen in the United States, Canada and the Caribbean. BET is a dominant consumer brand in the urban marketplace with a diverse group of branded businesses:-

• BET.com, the Number 1 Internet portal for African Americans.
• BET Digital Networks – BET Jazz, BET Gospel and BET Hip Hop, attractive alternatives for cutting-edge entertainment tastes.
• BET Event Productions, specializing in a full range of event production services, including event management, venue selection, talent recruitment, sound, lighting and stage production.
• BET Books, the nation’s leading publisher of African-American themed romance novels under the Arabesque imprint which also publishes compelling fiction under the Sepia imprint and inspirational fiction and nonfiction under the New Spirit imprint.

The above is what the PR department at BET say about themselves and they obviously would! It is all glossy stuff and it makes no bones about its commercial and “stock market” intentions. As such don’t expect much questioning, boat-rocking articles on Africentricity that has not been ‘cleansed’ with an editorial iron hand. And the focus tends to be gorious entertainment (yes, I did mean gorious!) which big focus on sex, of course.

If you are not in the least bit really concerned about having Black culture in your face long enough to be distracted by high gloss commercial sites, then BET is a great place to hang out.