Viacom to acquire BET Cable Networks
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Lolita Harper
SOUTH SAN FERNANDO -- Workers at Burbank’s Black Entertainment
Television offices may find themselves with a new corporate boss.
Fresh off its acquisition of CBS, media conglomerate Viacom Inc. has
made a bid to add the cable network to its roster of companies -- a list
that includes Paramount Pictures, MTV, VH-1, Simon & Schuster,
Blockbuster Video and Burbank-based animation studio Nickelodeon.
The deal would end Robert Johnson’s 20-year ownership and control of
the largest African-American-targeted cable network. BET, which has
publicly estimated its net value at about $2.7 billion, has 63 million
subscribers.
A manager at BET’s office on N. San Fernando Road refused to comment
about the deal or how it would affect current employees, stating he had
been “sworn to silence.”
Councilman David Laurell also was hesitant to comment on a deal that
is in such a preliminary stage.
“Obviously it would be beneficial to Burbank, but I don’t think it’s
proper for a city official to get involved in the stage that it’s in,”
Laurell said.