BET Founder Johnson May Cede Control
Sun Mar 20, 6:04 PM ET
By DARLENE SUPERVILLE, Associated Press Writer
WASHINGTON - Robert Johnson and Black Entertainment Television are known for one thing: each other. Soon, they could go their separate ways after a profitable 25-year relationship. Johnson is busy with other projects, including his losing NBA franchise in Charlotte, N.C., while the deal that let him stay on as BET's chief executive after he sold the network in 2000 expires this year (wtf?!? somebody PLEASE tell me HOW your contract can EVER have ANY type of EXPIRATION date with something YOU FOUNDED!??! how the hell can he just walk away and not look back?! and if he can, can he really BLAME people for calling him a sellout?!?! i mean REALLY....DAMN)
Stepping down at BET would give Johnson more time to pursue his varied interests.
A divorced father of two, Democratic Party donor and consummate schmoozer who counts former President Clinton among his friends, Johnson set his sights high early on.
Not taken seriously when he first talked about serving a then-untapped market, Johnson was 34 when he launched BET — which is celebrating its silver anniversary this year — from the basement of his Washington home in January 1980.
It is the country's first and largest black-oriented cable network, and has proved an unmatched success. (<--& how that is possible, i'm not quite sure)
"Nobody had a clue about cable back then," says Herman Penner, a college roommate of Johnson's. "Obviously he dreamed a little bit bigger than that and was successful at it."
A Mississippi native with a master's degree from Princeton, Johnson led in other areas, too.
He became the country's first black billionaire after BET's sale for $3 billion nearly five years ago (:?). He is the first black owner of a major sports team, the NBA's first-year Charlotte Bobcats, which Johnson named after himself (:x :x :x).
A lifelong sports fan, Johnson was a partner in the effort to return baseball to the nation's capital, but he pulled out to focus on basketball before the Washington Nationals arrived.
He owns several Hilton and Marriott hotels, one of the country's largest black art collections and several film rights. He has a stake in a jazz record label, is interested in developing real estate and sought unsuccessfully to buy majority control of Independence Federal Savings Bank, one of the largest black-owned thrifts (why...so he can sell that for the best asking price too?!? LEAVE IT ALONE, BOB!)
His plan to become the first black owner of a commercial airline failed several years ago when the government opposed a proposed merger that would have created a new carrier he sought to own.
Johnson, who turns 59 on April 8, is more than just BET.
"What he's doing is sort of the traditional way in which people with a lot of wealth use it," said Ronald Walters, a friend and professor at the University of Maryland. "They don't just do one thing."
BET officials declined to discuss Johnson's future at the network, which reaches more than 79 million U.S. homes — about three-fourths of those with television — and 95 percent of black homes with cable TV, according to Nielsen Media Research. (*sigh*...& again i ask whyyy :?)
But he suggested in a recent Newsweek interview that the end might be near. He declined requests for an AP interview.
"I don't plan to continue in my current capacity," he said he told officials at Viacom, the New York-based media company that owns CBS and MTV and bought BET in 2000 ()
Some analysts said they would not be surprised if Johnson stepped down, noting that he largely has given up control of day-to-day operations since the sale to focus on his other business ventures ( :x :x :x)
"He's no longer the figurehead that he used to be," said Christopher Holmes Smith, a communications professor at the Annenberg School for Communication at the University of Southern California.
If Johnson leaves, the question then becomes, "What happens to BET?" (it gets even MORE F*CKED UP THAN IT ALREADY IS...THAT'S WHAT HAPPENS :x :x :x...DAMMIT)
Will its lineup, largely of black comedies and hip-hop and rap music videos, remain or will Viacom step in and shake things up in response to criticism of BET's programming choices? (. . ...shake it up how? what the hell else could they POSSIBLY DO?!?!?! they damn sure won't IMPROVE the programming...so what's next? converting it to WET?! DAMMIT :x)
Michael Lewellen, a spokesman for Washington-based BET, said via e-mail that the network will continue as an autonomous business unit of Viacom, the same as its other broadcast outlets.
Debra Lee, now BET's president and chief operating officer after joining the network in 1986, is considered the most likely person to succeed Johnson (c'mon, sista...COME ON!!!! IT'S ALL UP TO YOU NOW!!!)
Last year, cable provider Comcast Corp. and black-oriented Radio One launched TV One for blacks age 25 to 54, an older group than BET's mostly youthful audience. Black Family Channel also is on the scene.
With more competition on the airwaves now for black cable TV viewers, one analyst did not see much change in store for BET without its charismatic founder at the controls.
"There will be an opportunity to either find another symbolic figurehead or do an actual reshuffling of the deck of BET's brand and its organizational structure," Smith said. "But my feeling is that won't happen. I think that in the near term it will be pretty much full steam ahead in the direction that it's going." (yeah...and in the worse possible way...)
Friends and former associates credit Johnson's determination and business savvy for his accomplishments in areas where few of those at the top are black. But where there is success, there usually is some criticism along the way, and so it has been with Johnson.
He has drawn criticism from some quarters, perhaps most notably from director Spike Lee, for BET's content. Critics have accused him of "selling out" to the white owners at Viacom and took issue with his decision to replace respected but unprofitable news and public affairs programs with black comedies, music videos and other, more profitable entertainment. (AMEN, AMEN!!! GO SPIKE!! & everyone else who's spoken up...)
Johnson's defense is that he went into business to make money, just as his white counterparts did (. . . Black people...and the almighty dollar...when will we just say NO...HELL NO...DAMMIT). He also has complained that MTV was praised for programming similar to BET's (and HE could have CHANGED the ish...DAG).
Said pop culture critic Ed Robertson: "If BET wasn't making an impact it wouldn't be a target for satire or criticism. It's called 'Black Entertainment Television.' It's not the 'Black News Network.'" (this...from a White man....and yeah, sure it's making an impact....doesn't necessarily mean it's making a GOOD one.....MTV ain't Reality Show Network either...but i couldn't tell u WHEN was the last time i saw a music video of ANY kind on that channel...OR VH1, for that matter....DAMN)
( http://news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=story&u=/ap/20050320/ap_en_tv/bet_s_johnson_5 )
-------------------------------------------------------------------------
oh, and as for Johnson's comment about just wanting to make money like his "White counterparts"....ummm yeah, they can just be out for the green because they realize that they have nothing else they have to worry about in living in this country....they realize that their image is not constantly (or even occasionally) in jeopardy....not EVER....OR about any stereotypes they have to worry about trying to overcome and override....and most/best of all....they realize that they dominate 99.9% of TV AND cable programming as it is.....so why worry about anything BESIDES making money?!?!
WE, on the other hand....have bigger fish to fry....and if you are not trying to help cook....GET THA HELL AWAY (& STAY THE HELL AWAY) FROM THA GRILL :x!!
I agree with you 100 %. Personally, I thought when he gave up ownership he sold us out too. Since he sold the network, you are right the quality of the network has diminished completely. Now that he is stepping down, there is no turning back for the network. It will become another tragedy for our people. Once again we have given our strength to a system that is designed to keep us down. When will we learn?
thank you, girl...precisely what i was trying to say...
Thunderstruck wrote:
BET is utter garbage as a all around T.V. station. The nightly news is most indefinitely the most bias crap I have ever heard since The **** factor, problem being that none of them even have the CREDENTIALS as **** does to report it. That being said, BET is completely for entertainment purposes. COMPLETELY.
No one watches BET for the news, and if you do, well then you are a loser. BET plays right into the same hand that TNT/WB plays into. Post the news once at the crack of dawn when no one is watching, and once at night when no one WANTS to watch it. All it is is an entertainment station which has somehow metamorphed into becoming the central for Black television, and news; which is pitiful to say the least. Now, I'm not inferring to all of you, but some of yall watch way too much BET for your own good. Monte has the perfect look on what it actually does. BET has been **** **** for the past 6 years. I would rate Telemundo above is as far a TV stations go. Plus...Telemundo has WAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAY prettier women.
Thunder
regardless as to whether or not he was implying that Hispanic women look "waaaaaaaaaaaay better" than Black women or NOT....what the hell does "pretty women" have to do with the cost of tea in China?!?!?
that really sounded like a typical Demmeri-type statement....thought u were better than that, john....
and next....umm okay, you saying that BET has sucked for 6 years now anyway...well DUH, IRONICALLY enough, the network has been OWNED by VIACOM for most of the last 6 years (it was bought out in 2000)....so YEAH...you're RIGHT...it HAS sucked....
I never said it didn't....but what i DID say...was that although i was a little younger to actually appreciate it before 2000....the years it existed prior to that one...what I do remember was quality television for Black people...or at least something very close to it....not anything NEARLY as garbage as what is up there now....
and how DARE you say that BET's Nightly News is bias....i never really watch the network for anything else, so I don't even know if that program still comes on.....i'm sure it does...but I remember when I used to watch it consistently, it was a very fair network...esPECially given all of the other 892,734,897,234,832 "WHITE" networks it was up against....
IF what you say about it being bias IS true....I'm going to ask you this...eXACTly WHAT network do YOU know on AMERICAN TELEVISION...that is completely UNBIAS?!?!?! comPLETELY?!?!?!?!
reality check, brotha....most news networks, with the exception of MAYBE one or two, on television are known for either swaying moreso or comPLETEly towards the liberal side of this nation....OR....moreso or completely towards the conservative side....
news....commentary....or not....very RARELY will you find a network that is 110% unbias.....nah, bump that - NEVER WILL YOU FIND A NETWORK THAT IS 110% UNBIAS IN ANY TYPE OF PROGRAMMING IN THIS COUNTRY TODAY.....NEVER...
and FINALLY....your statement about someone turning to BET for news being a "loser"....wtF?! are you CRAZY!?!? wait, let me guess....someone's hit you in the head a few times too many?!?!
IF the BET Nightly News is still in existence on that network, that is about the ONLY chance that network has at this point...aside from the Sunday gospel lineups....
now, like i said...just because the majority of BET's programming can be nauseating as hell to me....i don't ever catch that segment anymore....so personally, I don't turn to it for news....
but for the person who does....you shouldn't be knocking them....I mean, I'm sure the news still consists of the issues and goings-on within the Black community, something that TOO OFTEN gets OVERLOOKED in the other jocked stations....
i remember BET Nightly News highlighting the POSITIVE things going on with us, as WELL as informing us about the negative....but not HARPING on the bad, unlike SOME networks...
but yeah.....again I state that for the people who say that much shouldn't have even been expected from BET in the first place...because it's "Black Entertainment Television....not Black News Network"....as that conveniently-White "pop culture critic" so sarcastically commented....i reiterate that...."Black entertainment" does not start and stop with raunchy, degrading, and silly videos (with the same type of music) and corny stand-up programs......is that all that we find entertaining??? I mean, really.....and even if that IS strictly what SOME people find entertaining.....like i said before, yeah BET doesn't stand for Black News Network, like MTV doesn't stand for Reality Television Network....or ANYTHING BUT MUSIC VIDEOS Network....
John, i hope this was just one of your aims at causing controversy where it wasn't necessary....'cause maaan if you're thinkin' like that......learned yet again something new about you....
BET nightly news isnt biased?....**** :razz:
If something is focused on only one race and their issues...it's biased/partial anything you want to call it...
Dear Jackie Reed,
When I graduate College and get 90k+ job and you still look great....Will you marry me?...I'm not an ignorant **** who likes to wear Urban wear all the time and I don't do **** nor disrespect women. :lol:
****!@bet news not being biased....they were pretty much bent over and greased up for kerry...(tasia)
I agree with you 100 %. Personally, I thought when he gave up ownership he sold us out too. Since he sold the network, you are right the quality of the network has diminished completely. Now that he is stepping down, there is no turning back for the network. It will become another tragedy for our people. Once again we have given our strength to a system that is designed to keep us down. When will we learn?
thank you, girl...precisely what i was trying to say...
Thunderstruck wrote:
BET is utter garbage as a all around T.V. station. The nightly news is most indefinitely the most bias crap I have ever heard since The **** factor, problem being that none of them even have the CREDENTIALS as **** does to report it. That being said, BET is completely for entertainment purposes. COMPLETELY.
No one watches BET for the news, and if you do, well then you are a loser. BET plays right into the same hand that TNT/WB plays into. Post the news once at the crack of dawn when no one is watching, and once at night when no one WANTS to watch it. All it is is an entertainment station which has somehow metamorphed into becoming the central for Black television, and news; which is pitiful to say the least. Now, I'm not inferring to all of you, but some of yall watch way too much BET for your own good. Monte has the perfect look on what it actually does. BET has been **** **** for the past 6 years. I would rate Telemundo above is as far a TV stations go. Plus...Telemundo has WAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAY prettier women.
Thunder
regardless as to whether or not he was implying that Hispanic women look "waaaaaaaaaaaay better" than Black women or NOT....what the hell does "pretty women" have to do with the cost of tea in China?!?!?
that really sounded like a typical Demmeri-type statement....thought u were better than that, john....
and next....umm okay, you saying that BET has sucked for 6 years now anyway...well DUH, IRONICALLY enough, the network has been OWNED by VIACOM for most of the last 6 years (it was bought out in 2000)....so YEAH...you're RIGHT...it HAS sucked....
I never said it didn't....but what i DID say...was that although i was a little younger to actually appreciate it before 2000....the years it existed prior to that one...what I do remember was quality television for Black people...or at least something very close to it....not anything NEARLY as garbage as what is up there now....
and how DARE you say that BET's Nightly News is bias....i never really watch the network for anything else, so I don't even know if that program still comes on.....i'm sure it does...but I remember when I used to watch it consistently, it was a very fair network...esPECially given all of the other 892,734,897,234,832 "WHITE" networks it was up against....
IF what you say about it being bias IS true....I'm going to ask you this...eXACTly WHAT network do YOU know on AMERICAN TELEVISION...that is completely UNBIAS?!?!?! comPLETELY?!?!?!?!
reality check, brotha....most news networks, with the exception of MAYBE one or two, on television are known for either swaying moreso or comPLETEly towards the liberal side of this nation....OR....moreso or completely towards the conservative side....
news....commentary....or not....very RARELY will you find a network that is 110% unbias.....nah, bump that - NEVER WILL YOU FIND A NETWORK THAT IS 110% UNBIAS IN ANY TYPE OF PROGRAMMING IN THIS COUNTRY TODAY.....NEVER...
and FINALLY....your statement about someone turning to BET for news being a "loser"....wtF?! are you CRAZY!?!? wait, let me guess....someone's hit you in the head a few times too many?!?!
IF the BET Nightly News is still in existence on that network, that is about the ONLY chance that network has at this point...aside from the Sunday gospel lineups....
now, like i said...just because the majority of BET's programming can be nauseating as hell to me....i don't ever catch that segment anymore....so personally, I don't turn to it for news....
but for the person who does....you shouldn't be knocking them....I mean, I'm sure the news still consists of the issues and goings-on within the Black community, something that TOO OFTEN gets OVERLOOKED in the other jocked stations....
i remember BET Nightly News highlighting the POSITIVE things going on with us, as WELL as informing us about the negative....but not HARPING on the bad, unlike SOME networks...
but yeah.....again I state that for the people who say that much shouldn't have even been expected from BET in the first place...because it's "Black Entertainment Television....not Black News Network"....as that conveniently-White "pop culture critic" so sarcastically commented....i reiterate that...."Black entertainment" does not start and stop with raunchy, degrading, and silly videos (with the same type of music) and corny stand-up programs......is that all that we find entertaining??? I mean, really.....and even if that IS strictly what SOME people find entertaining.....like i said before, yeah BET doesn't stand for Black News Network, like MTV doesn't stand for Reality Television Network....or ANYTHING BUT MUSIC VIDEOS Network....
John, i hope this was just one of your aims at causing controversy where it wasn't necessary....'cause maaan if you're thinkin' like that......learned yet again something new about you....
BET nightly news isnt biased?....**** :razz:
If something is focused on only one race and their issues...it's biased/partial anything you want to call it...
Dear Jackie Reed,
When I graduate College and get 90k+ job and you still look great....Will you marry me?...I'm not an ignorant **** who likes to wear Urban wear all the time and I don't do **** nor disrespect women. :lol:
****!@bet news not being biased....they were pretty much bent over and greased up for kerry...(tasia)
okay, let me rephrase....
in the aspect that the news segment focuses on what all is going on in the Black community...the good as well as the bad....perhaps it is bias...
what i was speaking moreso on was objectivity....the news that they DO cover...even if it is all about Blacks...or mostly about Blacks...it's not like they're trying to have you think a certain way....they present the facts...and allow you to decide......just, most of the news happen to be about African-Americans...
...contrary to other outlets on television that only focus on the negative going on with Blacks, if we're even mentioned at all....and they they convict us on television before we're even given a "fair" trial...
when i think of bias, THAT is what i MEAN....
apologize for my use of the word without clarifying....
in the aspect that the news segment focuses on what all is going on in the Black community...the good as well as the bad....perhaps it is bias...
what i was speaking moreso on was objectivity....the news that they DO cover...even if it is all about Blacks...or mostly about Blacks...it's not like they're trying to have you think a certain way....they present the facts...and allow you to decide......just, most of the news happen to be about African-Americans...
...contrary to other outlets on television that only focus on the negative going on with Blacks, if we're even mentioned at all....and they they convict us on television before we're even given a "fair" trial...
when i think of bias, THAT is what i MEAN....
apologize for my use of the word without clarifying....
i don't even take that station seriously anymore...i deleted it from my TVs memory back when i had cable in the 9th grade...it's my sisters cable now so i can't do anything about it...gimme 'bout a month when i get my own apartment... :???:
I couldn't help myself. I had to get in on this one.
I don't think that anyone will be arguing that BET is the place to go for intellectual enrichment, any more so than is MTV. We all know that My Super Sweet 16, ****, and Parental Control aren't exactly intended to set the moral compass for the world.
Unfortunately, the rest of the world watching via satellite doesn't realize that. Which explains why they think what they do about the US.
However, I think that there is a lot of potential that we could gain from a shift in programming. Would people necessarily buy into it? I would, but I doubt enough people have the same taste in programs that I do to justify it. Would people watch a 2007 Cosby Show-styled sitcom, or a Black political debate show like Face the Nation? Of course, but it would be a hard sell for BET.
Luckily, there is no marketing entity in the universe with more cool factor, clout, and experience than BET/Viacom. These guys can sell anything to anyone. If you want proof... they're selling the idea that living in the ghetto and being a **** is cool, and the whole world is buying it. If anyone can do it, they can. So why isn't anyone putting two and two together?
There is a solution for this, which I'm not going to get into now. It's going to make millions for me later
I think sometime soon, somebody is going to actually get it. Decent quality programming for Blacks - in movies, culture, and politics. Do I think it is going to be BET? I wouldn't put my money on it.
___________________________________________
NeoSoulBrotha... Hampton University C/O 2004 "Help my wings grow... so that I can really be fly..." - Mos Def If knowledge is power, why do those in power have so little knowledge??
I couldn't help myself. I had to get in on this one.
I don't think that anyone will be arguing that BET is the place to go for intellectual enrichment, any more so than is MTV. We all know that My Super Sweet 16, ****, and Parental Control aren't exactly intended to set the moral compass for the world.
Unfortunately, the rest of the world watching via satellite doesn't realize that. Which explains why they think what they do about the US.
However, I think that there is a lot of potential that we could gain from a shift in programming. Would people necessarily buy into it? I would, but I doubt enough people have the same taste in programs that I do to justify it. Would people watch a 2007 Cosby Show-styled sitcom, or a Black political debate show like Face the Nation? Of course, but it would be a hard sell for BET.
Luckily, there is no marketing entity in the universe with more cool factor, clout, and experience than BET/Viacom. These guys can sell anything to anyone. If you want proof... they're selling the idea that living in the ghetto and being a **** is cool, and the whole world is buying it. If anyone can do it, they can. So why isn't anyone putting two and two together?
There is a solution for this, which I'm not going to get into now. It's going to make millions for me later
I think sometime soon, somebody is going to actually get it. Decent quality programming for Blacks - in movies, culture, and politics. Do I think it is going to be BET? I wouldn't put my money on it.
It's sad, isn't it? They spend their money no over-expensive clothes, jewelry, accessories, cars, etc....(I say they, because I dont do that)
So what are we giving for our children? Ourselves?
It's disgusting. People look at me like I'm a fool when I tell them I dont watch BET/MTV/videos anymore. And I just smile right back.
)
Some analysts said they would not be surprised if Johnson stepped down, noting that he largely has given up control of day-to-day operations since the sale to focus on his other business ventures (
I think sometime soon, somebody is going to actually get it. Decent quality programming for Blacks - in movies, culture, and politics. Do I think it is going to be BET? I wouldn't put my money on it. 
