In a major development for the entertainment industry, BET has become Black-owned once again after 21 years, while VH1, for the first time, now also boasts an African American owner.
Paramount Global, who previously collaborated with Perry through the BET+ venture, will maintain minority ownership in the company.
Bryan Cranston reveals plan to retire from acting keep watching Perry openly expressed his interest in acquiring the BET Media Group during an interview in March of this year. In fact, he explicitly mentioned his intentions to ET.
Paramount, BET or Perry has yet to confirm or deny the report.
If the deal is finalized, it will come several years after Perry partnered with BET to launch BET+, a streaming service which features original TV and film projects produced by Perry.
Started by Bob Johnson in 1980, BET provided Black content in an era where minorities rarely got an opportunity to showcase work on network TV.
In 2000, Johnson sold BET for $2.3 billion to Viacom. Viacom would eventually become Paramount.
Earlier this year, the renowned actor, filmmaker, director, producer and entrepreneur expressed optimism about purchasing BET, stating his keen interest if it were a possibility.
Perry, who had already enjoyed success in collaboration with BET, partnering with his Tyler Perry Studios banner to create the popular streaming service BET+, was no stranger to the network.
He acknowledged the unexpected nature of the acquisition, stating, “I’ve been there for four years now and had tremendous success. … If that is possible, I’m very, very interested in taking as much of it as I can.”
The exact financial details of the deal have not been disclosed, but experts on this sort of transaction have placed a significant value on the acquisition of the two networks.
With the purchase, Perry assumes control over BET Media Group, which includes other networks such as VH1.
This update has caused Black Twitter to go from celebrating the news of Perry’s finalized purchase to waiting around in Black excellence limbo to find out if the news is actually true or not.
Currently, reports have shifted from confirming language that definitively claimed Perry’s purchase of BET is official to reporting that Perry is “set” to purchase the network.
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