Explores the legacy of BET: what the network has provided to the larger US television economy, and, more specifically, to its target African American demographic. This book examines whether the company has fulfilled its stated goals and implied obligation to African American communities.

Launched in 1980, cable network Black Entertainment Television (BET) has helped make blackness visible and profitable at levels never seen prior in the TV industry.In 2000, BET was sold by founder Robert L Johnson, a former cable lobbyist, to media giant Viacom for 2.33 billion dollars. This book explores the legacy of BET: what the network has provided to the larger US television economy, and, more specifically, to its target African American demographic. The book examines whether the company has fulfilled its stated goals and implied obligation to African American communities. Has it changed the way African Americans see themselves and the way others see them? Does the financial success of the network - secured in large part via the proliferation of images deemed offensive and problematic by many black communities - come at the expense of its African American audience? This book fills a major gap in black television scholarship and should find a sizeable audience in both media studies and African American studies.

Table of Contents
Acknowledgements
Eyes Wide Shut: Capitalism, Class, and Black Business Development
Now That's Black! BET Business
I'm Rick James, Bitchhhhh! BET Programming
Impossibility of Us: BET Impact
It's Your Turn: Black to the Future
Notes
Bibliography
Index