Launching One Big 24-Hour Cable Jam : BET plans a cable channel that will offer a variety of programming from live, in-studio performances and festivals to talk shows and music videos.

It’s never been easy to find jazz on television, but BET plans to change all that.

BET is the acronym for Black Entertainment Television, the cable network that broadcasts “BET on Jazz,” a weekly half-hour performance-talk show featuring pianist Ramsey Lewis. BET recently announced it’s planning to launch “BET on Jazz: The Cable Jazz Network,” a 24-hour, advertising-based channel airing in fall, 1994, offering a variety of programming from live, in-studio performances and festival coverage to talk shows and music videos.

Robert Johnson, president of BET, contends the time is right for a cable jazz channel. “The cable industry is looking for channels to sell to target audiences,” Johnson said from his office in Washington, D.C. “Plus, international distribution for U.S. programming is opening up, and since jazz is truly the universal language, this will prove to be a great opportunity. Finally, we have a guy in the White House who’s a jazz fan.”

Johnson said that BET is the firm to offer a jazz channel. “As a publicly held company, we are in the financial position to launch this channel and do it right,” he said.

Asked why BET will wait a year to get “The Cable Jazz Channel” under way, Johnson said the delay is to allow the cable industry’s distributors to allocate enough channel positions in desired markets. “We want to make sure that when we go up, we will get as much carriage as possible,” he said.

Caveat to nightclub owners: It’s Johnson’s opinion that TV will soon become the medium by which most people enjoy jazz, if it is not already. “Our research shows that when we’ve asked people where they last saw a jazz event, most say they have seen it on TV, whether it’s PBS’ ‘Great Performances’ or a music video or whatever,” Johnson said. “TV is the way a lot of people get their entertainment. And people who like jazz and get it in their home with the flick of a switch will become more interested.”

BET has aired the Lewis-hosted “BET on Jazz” for three years, and has spotlighted such headliners as singer Joe Williams and pianists Joe Sample and Billy Taylor. The program, currently offering repeats of previously broadcast shows, airs at 7 a.m. Fridays and 12:30 a.m. Sundays.

Bravo on Jazz: BET’s chief competitor in the jazz TV field is the Bravo cable channel, whose regular jazz show, “Jazzfest,” airs in the Los Angeles area on Saturdays at 5 and 10 p.m.

Delfeayo Marsalis hosts the half-hour and hourlong “Jazzfest.” All Bravo shows are prerecorded, and they spotlight films, such as “Illinois Jacquet: Texas Tenor,” which aired recently, and film festivals.

Bravo doubled its jazz coverage between 1992 to 1993, says Caroline Bock, a Bravo spokesperson. The channel occasionally spotlights a premiere, such as the Jacquet film and the upcoming “Benny Rides Again.” The hourlong broadcast, which captures vibist Gary Burton and clarinetist Eddie Daniels performing at the 1992 Montreal Jazz Festival, airs Dec. 25.

Future “Jazzfest” shows include “Ray Charles: Romantic Evening,” recorded last year in San Diego, airing Saturday; a program highlighting pianist Herbie Hancock on Oct. 23, and one starring Branford Marsalis on Oct. 30.