Actor, filmmaker and media mogul Tyler Perry has reportedly expressed interest in acquiring a majority stake of BET Media Group from Paramount Global who is reportedly exploring a sale indicates The Wall Street Journal.
BET, or Black Entertainment Television, was founded in 1980 as the first cable channel to cater to Black audiences. It was acquired by Viacom in 2001 in a $3 billion deal. These days BET Media includes the BET network, BET+ streaming service, BET Studios and VH1.
Perry already has his own production studio, an overall deal to create shows for Paramount, and a minority stake in the BET+ service. He already supplies a large portion of the scripted content on the cabler and service. In addition his producing deal with BET is shortly coming to an end.
But he isn’t the only one in pursuit. A spokesman for Allen Media GroupMedia mogul Byron Allen says he is also interested in buying BET from Paramount Global. That rep (via Reuters) says: “Byron Allen is interested in buying BET, and he will be pursuing the acquisition of the network.”
Should any sale go through, no matter to whom, it’s expected Paramount would maintain a minority stake as well as commercial agreements with BET for content across its platforms.
