Paramount has agreed to sell BET if it forces cable providers to buy its channels to get access to Warner Bros. networks. Black viewers’ channels are now bargaining chips in a $110 billion takeover, with ownership hanging on the company’s business practices.
A forced sale would cover BET, BET Gospel, BET Her, BET Hip-Hop, BET Jams and BET Soul under the agreement. If Paramount breaks those rules, it has six months to fix the breach and make the affected cable firm whole. A judge must then find that Paramount broke the rules and failed to fix them before the sale requirement takes effect.
California Attorney General Rob Bonta led 12 states that sued in July to stop the $110 billion merger. The states said the deal would give one company too much power over films and cable channels and could raise prices.
Paramount and Warner denied breaking the law, but struck a deal with the states to end the court fight. Judge Araceli Martínez-Olguín approved that deal September 30, after the states announced the terms of their settlement nine days earlier.
The settlement ends California’s merger challenge while setting rules meant to protect cable firms and their TV viewers. Paramount must keep talks for its own cable channels separate from talks for Warner’s networks unless the cable firm requests joint talks. It cannot demand that a cable firm accept terms for one group of channels to get access to the other.
The decree requires the company to sell its “entire direct and indirect ownership interest in the Divestiture Channels” under those conditions. VH1, Comedy Central, Smithsonian, Destination America and Science appear on the sale list alongside six named BET channels.
Robert and Sheila Johnson launched BET in 1980 to serve Black viewers, building a TV brand with national reach. The network grew into a major home for Black music and shows, with programs such as the video countdown 106 & Park.
In 1991, BET became the first Black-owned firm listed on the New York Stock Exchange, a milestone in the network’s growth. Viacom paid $3 billion for BET in 2001, placing the brand inside a larger media group. BET stayed in that group through later corporate changes, including the Viacom-CBS merger and the parent’s switch to Paramount Global in 2022.
AllHipHop reported that BET brought in LL Cool J, Queen Latifah and founder Bob Johnson to help guide the network.
The states must approve any buyer, and the sale includes the brands and assets needed to run the networks. The decree calls for support to keep the channels working as “viable, ongoing programming assets” when a buyer takes over.
Existing deals to use licensed shows would last through their terms, while the studios that own those shows would keep their rights. The decree also bars Paramount from buying back those channels for the rest of the term of the settlement.
If the court triggers the sale requirement, Paramount must sell the channels within 120 days after the correction period ends.
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