The show has been suspended as cultural history more broadly faces erasure at the institutional level. What should be built in its place?
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Apparently, the show's TV ratings had been on the decline. The year after celebrating hip-hop's golden anniversary in 2023, the show's annual viewership fell off a steep cliff — down nearly 50% in 2024. The network hasn't pulled the plug outright; "suspended" is how BET's CEO Scott Mills described the current state of both its hip-hop and Soul Train award show franchises in an interview with Billboard. Yet, the announcement couldn't have come at a more precarious time. The shelving of the show just so happens to coincide with the sale of Paramount Global, BET's parent company, to Skydance Media — a merger cleared by the Federal Communications Commission after Paramount agreed to pony up $16 million to settle President Trump's lawsuit against CBS' 60 Minutes. Skydance also made a few concessions in the run-up to sealing that FCC deal, including a pledge to eliminate all of Paramount's DEI (diversity, equity and inclusion) initiatives: No more Office of Global Inclusion. No more aspirational goals "related to hiring female employees and employees of color." No more annual bonus incentives for meeting said DEI goals.
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Truthfully, the BET HHAs were never hip-hop's holy grail. The Source Awards had a legendary crack at that in the '90s; the Vibe Awards also gave it a respectable go. Both ultimately met the ill fate of print media. But BET's 18-year run is deserving of some sort of recognition. It consistently beat all the so-called industry arbiters when it came to crowning rap's up-and-coming. Now that it's shelved, there's a conversation worth having about why hip-hop has not been able to sustain a longer-running award show and why more public institutions haven't flourished in its honor.
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The lasting strength of an award show isn't found in its overnight ratings. It's in the power it has to shape cultural memory long after it airs. A TV award show is just another popularity contest defined by a narrow slice of the zeitgeist. But what it becomes in the aftermath is a public archive that can shape, and even warp, our cultural memory. There's power in that, the power to own the narrative. The power to write, and in some cases rewrite, history. We're witnessing, in real time, the extreme lengths those in power will go to wrest away control of the historical narrative. The Smithsonian museums, including the National Museum of African-American History and Culture, have come under attack for focusing too much on "how bad slavery was," according to President Trump. The Kennedy Center's programming and board got taken over for programming "woke culture."
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This post reminded me of a video that Sabby Sabs made about the BET Hip Hop Awards in August 2025.
Fat Joe Ends the BET Hip Hop Awards? Network TV Is Dead [19:55 (19:43) | AUG 11 2025 | Sabby Sabs | https://youtu.be/FflwxfGnsPs]
SponsorBlock Timestamps:
- 0:00.000 - 0:02.300 Intermission
- 19:46.200 - 19:55.916 Endcards/Credits
Generated Summary:
The Suspension of BET Awards and the Decline of Network TV
This video discusses the suspension of the BET Hip Hop Awards and Soul Train Awards, exploring the reasons behind it and what it signifies for the future of network television. It argues that while some blame Fat Joe for the decline in viewership, the issue is more complex and tied to the broader shift towards streaming services.
Key Points:
- BET Awards Suspension: BET has suspended the Soul Train and Hip Hop Awards indefinitely, but the CEO stated that they are exploring new platforms for the shows.
- Fat Joe's Role: People are blaming Fat Joe for the decline in viewership of the BET Hip Hop Awards, with viewership dropping significantly during his time as host.
- Gentrification of BET: Fat Joe claims that BET has been gentrified, with budget cuts affecting the creativity and quality of the shows. He points to the sale of BET to Viacom and Paramount as a turning point.
- Decline of Network TV: The video highlights the broader trend of declining viewership for network television, with people increasingly turning to streaming services like Netflix, Hulu, and Disney+.
- The Rise of Streaming: Streaming services offer more exclusive content and flexibility, leading people to cut cable subscriptions.
- Network Strategies: Networks are attempting to adapt by creating streaming platforms (e.g., Disney Plus, Paramount Plus, Peacock) and offering skinny bundles, but they are still struggling to compete.
- Historical Context: The video references a 2023 warning from the Center for Digital Future about the impending end of broadcast TV, noting that networks are slowly dying or merging into streaming channels.
- Local TV Impact: Networks are siphoning money from local markets while diminishing the exclusivity of content licensed to local stations.
- The Shift in Entertainment: The entertainment landscape is changing, with a move away from traditional sitcoms and network programming towards streaming platforms.
- Business Decisions: The video questions why black-owned businesses are often sold off, leading to a loss of control and potential changes in the company's mission.
- Marketing Tactics: Networks often delay revealing declining sales or viewership to avoid accelerating the trend of people checking out.
- The Future of Media: The video suggests that media franchises are likely to move from linear television to streaming or other platforms.
- Exclusivity Erosion: Traditional networks are losing exclusivity on key events and content, as these are also available on their streaming platforms.
- Cable's Response: Cable operators are pushing back on increasing retransmission rates and negotiating with networks to develop skinny bundles to combat subscriber losses.
About Channel:
Leftist news commentary & interviews. Fighting for political and social change. Sabby Sabs podcast is a part of Revolutionary Blackout Network.