BET’s Founder Gambled Against the Odds

Black Entertainment Television is one of the brightest black media stories since the birth of Motown Records in 1959.

The nation’s first and only black-oriented television network is the brainchild of Robert L. Johnson, who, against the odds posted by industry analysts, has transformed a minor, late-night, Washington cable service into a $150-million, 24-hour national cable network.

Now in its 11th year, the network features news and talk shows, comedy reruns, college sports, plus national television’s most eclectic spread of gospel, R&B;, jazz and rap music programs. A portion of BET’s air time is still leased to product marketers selling items like exercise equipment and cosmetics.

BET services 25 million subscribers and is carried by 2,100 cable systems in the United States, Puerto Rico and the Virgin Islands. The station, which is owned by Johnson, Tele-Communications Inc, the Greater American Broadcasting Co. and HBO (a cable unit of Time Warner Inc.), currently ranks 20th out of 42 basic cable services in number of viewers.

Network officials say the station’s highest-rated show, “Video Soul,” pulls a primetime rating of about .9. This means that between 8 p.m. and 11 p.m., the station is watched, on the average, by about 250,000 households, placing BET ahead of VH-1 and the Weather Channel, but far behind MTV, CNN and the Discovery Channel.