Congratulations, BET, on your anniversary.
Black Entertainment Television (BET) has turned 20 years old, and to celebrate, the network aired a special telecast remembering the past two decades. Jamie Foxx, formerly of "In Living Color" and current star of the WB sitcom "The Jamie Foxx Show," hosted the two-hour program, which aired Saturday, May 6 at the Jubilee Theatre in Las Vegas, NV.
Actors Denzel Washington, Bill Cosby and Pam Grier, and vocalists Ginuwine, Dr. Dre, Boyz II Men, Mary J. Blige, Luther Vandross, Kirk Franklin, Toni Braxton, the Hot Boys, LL Cool J, Sisqo, Gerald Levert, Shirley Caesar, Brian McKnight, Nancy Wilson and Mariah Carey were in attendance. Also, there was a tribute to producer/singer Kenneth "Babyface" Edmonds and singing legend Stevie Wonder.
BET was founded in January 1980 by Robert Johnson. Johnson is a graduate of the University of Illinois and holds a Master's Degree in International Affairs from Princeton University. Johnson, a resident of Washington, D.C., has been honored with a NAACP Image Award and a National Women's Political Caucus' Good Guys Award, among others.
BET is a 24-hour programming service targeting African-American consumers that now reaches 58.5 million U.S. homes and more than 90% of all black cable households.
Over the years, BET has produced channels like BET On Jazz, a channel that features jazz 24-hours a day, BET Movies/Starz!3, the first 24-hour, all-black movie channel, BET Action Pay-Per-View, a pay-per-view channel that reaches more than 10 million subscribers, and BET Gospel, which features inspirational speakers and musical programming. All these channels are in existence today.
In 1998, BET Pictures II and BET Arabesque Films were established to produce African-American themed theatrical films and made-for-TV movies.
BET also has ventured into the print aspect of broadcasting. They control Emerge, Black America's News Magazine, BET Weekend, the nation's third largest black publication with more than 1.3 million readers, Heart & Soul, a health, fitness and beauty magazine, and Arabesque Books, the only line of original African-American romance novels written by African-American authors.
Additionally, the network moved to the future a few months ago with BET.COM, an Internet site with Food, Music, Money, Careers and Health pages among other features.