Back off, black brainiacs, demand makes BET bad

Day After day, Black Entertainment Television panders to its audience with a mix of crude music videos, cheesy infomercials, UPN repeats and few original shows. The network’s rot was brought into sharp relief by the astonishing success of last month’s “BET Awards ‘05,” the highest-rated program in the network’s history.

BET has never met the hopes or expectations of others. It was never a significant buyer of black entertainers’ work and didn’t carry socially relevant programming. As BET founder Robert Johnson said in 2001, “We were not running a popularity contest for Hollywood. We were not trying to be socially redeeming for black intellectuals. We were running a business. And we had the right to run our business the same way MTV runs its business or Comedy Central runs its business.”

But Comedy Central, MTV (both, like BET, owned by Viacom) and other cable networks are nabbing viewers with pricey original programming. The justification for BET’s cheap, woeful programming is eroding. According to Kagan Research, a media-specialist firm, BET’s programming expenses as a percentage of revenue remains between 19% and 23%. The industry average is about 45%. Staying the course becomes a growing risk for BET. To keep parity, it needs to invest in itself.

None of this, however, should be seen as a bow to the black intelligentsia. Their prescription -- thoughtful, serious programming that addresses social issues facing blacks -- is naive. TV is a business, and BET’s few stabs at original entertainment shows -- “College Hill,” a reality show about life at a black university; “Blowin’ Up: Fatty Koo,” a reality show about a struggling band; the makeover reality show “Remixed” -- have not been socially redemptive.

This month, veteran filmmaker Reginald Hudlin was hired as president of entertainment, and he told me, “Everyone knows there needs to be change at BET.” So look for more original series, and a less-chilly relationship with black Hollywood. Make no mistake, however. BET is adapting because of market demands, not because it has a higher calling. And that will have to suffice.