But, they do so b/c of low-cost programming. People are always irritated by BET showing just videos, a few talk shows, and a bunch of cancelled series but tey don't have the resources to create much original programming, beyond putting a camera on Tavis and letting him yap for an hour.

The reason why BET is so profitable is because a large part of their programming is videos, which are provided to them free of charge from record companies. It's not as if they have to pay the production costs of the videos. It's similar to a magazine who doesn't have to pay it's authors or photographers.

I think people put to much of a burden on BET to encompass the entirety of "Black Entertainment" just because of the name. They are basically a music video channel that dabbles in other programming. However, they are the only "Black channel" out there, so we expect a lot out of them. I'm not defending BET's programming completely; a lot of what they show is trash. But, I do understand some of their limitations.

What BET needs is some competitors for their makret share, other Black-oriented programming channels that not only will ease their burden of carry the duty of representing all things black on cable, but also to give them some impetus to tighten up their game.





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