Photo Credit: Seven of Jay-Z’s BET Awards by The Book of HOV / Brooklyn Public Library
BET confirms hitting the brakes on two of its award shows: the BET Hip-Hop Awards and the Soul Train Awards. Both have been suspended indefinitely.
BET CEO Scott Mills has confirmed that two of the network’s iconic awards shows—the BET Hip-Hop Awards and the Soul Train Awards—have been suspended indefinitely.
“So for BET linear, we have suspended the Soul Train and Hip-Hop award shows. But we have a team that’s actively thinking about where those award shows might best live as the media climate continues to evolve,” said Mills in a statement to Billboard. “They aren’t gone. And we also still have the NAACP Image Awards and the Stellar Awards.”
“It’s less about them being no longer and more about our team having to re-imagine them for this changing media landscape that we find ourselves in,” he explained. “I think what we’re going to see are more people taking franchises and saying, ‘This might have started on linear television, but now I’m going to move it to another space. Do I move it to streaming? Or do I move it to another platform?’”
The Soul Train Awards debuted in 1987, while the BET Hip-Hop Awards launched in 2006. Both shows have celebrated influential artists and other figures’ significant contributions to Black music and culture for decades. Notably, the original BET Awards remains active, and recently celebrated 25 years.
The network also recently announced an overhaul of its hit show “106 & Park” into “106 & Sports.” That project is a collaboration with Spring Hill Entertainment, Mills explained.
“Everybody is working feverishly to get it ready to launch in the fall. We’re going to start with a weekly show at that point with lots of wonderful guests,” said Mills, emphasizing that while music remains a core element to BET’s programming, the network recognizes that sports have become “an integral part of the culture.”
Last year, Paramount Global put BET on the market with an asking price of between $1.6 and $1.7 billion. That offer was reportedly extended to potential buyers like Mills, who joined the network in 1997 and became its CEO in 2021. Prospective buyers in the past have included Byron Allen, Sean “Diddy” Combs, and Tyler Perry.
Content shared from www.digitalmusicnews.com.