Originally posted Tuesday, June 11, 2019 by RODNEY HO/rho@ajc.com on his AJC Radio & TV Talk blog
Atlanta media mogul Tyler Perry and BET are teaming up for a new streaming service this fall, according to Deadline.com. (The Wall Street Journal broke the story.)
Perry, who signed a long-term deal with Viacom in 2017, still has shows on Oprah Winfrey's OWN Network like the hit soap "The Haves and the Have Nots." but all new TV shows are going to BET or sister Viacom networks. BET shows like "Sunday Best" have already been shooting at Tyler Perry Studios as well. (Perry hasn't cut ties with OWN entirely; Will Packer's new OWN show "Ambitions" shoots there.)
The BET service will be dubbed BET+. Like BET, it will target African-American viewers air not only Tyler Perry Studios productions but other shows from MTV, VH1 and Comedy Central.
A Perry spokeswoman said more details will be out soon.
Streaming services are proliferating like kudzu in a Georgia forest. There are now more than 200 including Hulu, Netlix, the upcoming Disney+, PlayStation Vue, Sling, Acorn, CBS All Access, Criterion, DC Universe, ESPN+, HBO Now, Philo and YouTube TV, to name just a few.
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