For as long as can be remembered, BET has been the “it” place for black content on television. ‘Rap City: Tha Basement’, ‘Access Granted’, ‘College Hill’, the list goes on. The memories. From our music to our movies (Anyone up for a rerun of ‘Baby Boy’?), even our news. Viacom, the parent company to BET announced that the network will be doing some rebranding. In the same way that MTV Jams is now BET Jams since October of last year, BET has taken over the beloved VH1 Soul network that has always been popular for it’s 24-hour block of melodious, classic as well as new soul soothing music videos, but with a new name; BET Soul.
This network change became effective December 28th of 2015, and BET took to twitter to make the announcement official:
VH1 Soul to Become BET Soul – The 24-hour music video channel to make big switch today. https://t.co/qO33WW4unF
— BET News (@BETNews) December 28, 2015
“BET Networks is thrilled to infuse more music content within its brand providing viewers with more access to their favorite artists through exclusive content and essentially super-serving them with the ultimate soul experience,” states a BET representative.
Views on the big switcharoo are still up in the air.
Wait, first it was MTV Jams to BET Jams, and they changed VH1 Soul to BET Soul, too? I don’t know how I feel about this.
— Rabia (@rabzz) December 31, 2015
Some seem to be a bit open to the revamp.
BET took MTV Jams and made it BET JAMS. Now VH1 Soul is BET SOUL! I see you BET ! Now can we get these channels in HD please ? Lol
— Melanie Love (@theLovegirlllll) January 3, 2016
If BET ruins VH1 soul I just give up on television.
— Young Sweet Jones (@AyoCHELSSSSS) November 26, 2015
Others? Not so much.
So I woke up this mourning to find out that VH1 Soul is now BET Soul. This is the 2nd time I got bamboozled. the 1st MTV jams now BET jams
— °Phenomenal Woman° (@Boss_Lady1988) December 28, 2015
Viacom ain’t slick. MTV Jams & VH1 Soul are now BET Jams & BET Soul. Humph…. pic.twitter.com/zBvraDGLs4
— Carron J. Phillips (@carronJphillips) December 29, 2015
VH1 soul> bet Jams
— Samantha Jones. (@xosj_) December 24, 2015
One of you care to break the news?
I’m so fuckin sad bro. They got rid of MTV Jams and made it BET Jams. All we have left is Vh1 Soul now
— Lynch Cassidy (@LynchCassidy) October 6, 2015
We’ll give BET a little time to see how this pans out. Some of the content many of us miss so much could make a comeback. You may just find yourself running home to catch ‘Rap City: Tha Basement’, just like old times. Something new may even catch your eye. How do you feel about the change?
