BET International

BET International (Black Entertainment Television) is a British free-to-air television channel centred towards black music and also available in Ireland, the Middle East and Africa. It was launched on 27 February 2008 in the UK[1] with headquarters in London. BET broadcasts content from the main Black Entertainment Television channel in the US and Canada. It does not broadcast any locally produced shows.[2][3]

BET International
Launched27 February 2008
NetworkBET
Owned byViacomCBS International Media Networks
Picture format16:9 576i SDTV
Audience shareUK:
0.01% (August 2018 (2018-08), BARB)
SloganWe got you
CountryUnited Kingdom
LanguageEnglish
Broadcast areaUnited Kingdom
Ireland
Africa
The Middle East
South Korea
HeadquartersLondon, United Kingdom
Websitewww.betintl.co.uk
Availability
Satellite
FreesatChannel 140
SkyChannel 195
Astra 2G11141 H 22000 5/6
StarSatChannel 167
Cable
Virgin MediaChannel 184
Streaming media
Virgin TV AnywhereWatch live (UK only)

History

BET International Inc. was given a licence to broadcast in the UK in May 2007 by Ofcom. In 2006 it was announced that BET would hold its first annual Hip-Hop Awards and as part of the announcement they also stated there would be a "Best UK Artist" category, the winner being Sway.[4]

Availability

BET launched on the Sky platform in the UK on 27 February 2008, one day earlier than originally advertised. It began with various BET content, such as 106 & Park, American Gangster and College Hill. The channel is available on Sky channel 194. The channel launched on Freesat in August 2008, on channel 140. BET +1 was added to Freesat when it launched in late 2008.[5] These signals are also available for free in the rest of Europe via satellite Eutelsat 28A.

On 24 September 2008 tests appeared for BET on Virgin Media but the channel did not launch. However it did eventually launch on 27 June 2013 on channel 184.

BET is available in Kenya on Zuku on channel 125[6] and on startimes on channel 132.[7]

The channel was available on Pan-African Satellite Broadcaster Dstv on Channel 135 until 17 April 2015 when it was terminated to make room for BET Africa which includes local shows alongside BET International's programming.

On 4 November 2014, BET +1 closed, and was replaced by 5* +1 on Sky.

As of 5 May 2020, BET is no longer available on Freesat. It is known that ViacomCBS chose to be pulled out of the platform.

BET HD

On 1 July 2009, BET launched a temporary HD channel, exclusively on Freesat, simulcasting BET, to cover the BET Awards. The channel was removed from the EPG on 4 July 2009.[8]

Programming

These are some of the programs currently running on BET:

References
  1. "BET Networks Announces the Launch of BET in the UK". BET Networks. 2008-02-20. Archived from the original on 2008-03-08.
  2. "Black TV network to expand to UK". Digital Spy. 2007-06-20.
  3. "BET comes to Britain". The Voice. 2007-06-28. Archived from the original on 2007-09-27.
  4. "T.I., Busta Rhymes And Chamillionaire Top Nominees List For 1st Annual "BET Hip Hop Awards"". The Voice. 2006-10-13. Archived from the original on 2007-09-30.
  5. "BET Comes to the U.K." BET.com. 2008-02-28. Archived from the original on 2008-06-11.
  6. "Channels Line-Ups". Zuku. Retrieved 2013-05-05.
  7. Archived June 16, 2012, at the Wayback Machine
  8. "Freesat brings BET HD to UK". Digital Spy. 2009-06-25.
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