Update: September 9, 2019 – We have updated this post with more info on BET Plus, including its launch date (September 19), its price ($9.99 a month) and more details about its programming.
With premium online video streaming services like Netflix, Hulu and Amazon Prime Video continuing to add to their subscriber base. more and more media outlets are launching online-0nly spinoffs. Recently, the BET cable network announced plans to launch BET Plus (or, as they brand it, BET+). It will go live later this year, in a time period where there’s already a crowded mix of streaming services, with more to come.
So what is BET Plus? Here’s everything we know so far about the service.
Editor’s Note – We will be updating this post with more information on BET Plus as it is revealed.
What is BET Plus – The basics
BET Plus is an upcoming premium streaming service, made primarily for an African American audience, that is being launched by the BET (Black Entertainment Television) cable TV network, which itself is owned by Viacom.
BET Plus is also getting support from Tyler Perry Studios, the movie and TV production company founded by Tyler Perry, who has written, directed and/or created a host of popular movies and TV shows for the past 14 years, including Diary of a Mad Black Woman, Why Did I Get Married and The Haves and Have Nots.
When will BET Plus launch?
BET has announced that BET Plus will launch on Thursday, September 19 in the U.S.
What platforms will it be available to stream?
BET Plus has confirmed it will be made available for Android and iOS mobile devices, along with unnamed “other streaming platforms”. There will also be a browser-based version that will launch sometime later this year. We will update this post when we have more specific information on streaming support.
What will the service cost?
BET Plus will cost $9.99 a month. When the service launches, it will be commercial free, so it will not be supported by ads. At the moment, there’s no word on an annual subscription plan for BET Plus.
What can I watch on the service?
BET Plus will at first feature over 1,000 hours of content from the BET network, including its original TV shows, movies, and specials, along with its acquired older movies and TV series. This library of shows and movies include Real Husbands of Hollywood, The New Edition Story, The Quad, College Hill, Comic View, and Hell Date. BET says most of these shows and movies have never been previously made available on current streaming services, so subscribers should have a lot of content to stream that haven’t been made available online before.
In addition, A selection of movies produced and directed by Tyler Perry will be available to stream from BET Plus. They will include movies from Perry’s hit Madea film series. Also, for the first time on a streaming service, BET Plus subscribers can stream a selection of Perry’s stage plays, such as Meet the Browns, Daddy’s Little Girls, Temptation: Confessions Of A Marriage Counselor, and more.
A number of TV shows from BET’s sister Viacom-based cable networks will also be streamed on the service, including VH1’s Love & Hip Hop: Atlanta, Basketball Wives, and T.I. & Tiny: The Family Hustle, Comedy Central’s Why? With Hannibal Buress, MTV’s Todrick, TV Land’s Soul Man, Nick @ Night’s Instant Mom, and more. BET Plus will also be the exclusive streaming home of the classic Fox comedy series Martin.
BET Plus – Exclusive original TV shows and movies
In addition to access to the large library of the movies and shows on the BET cable network, BET Plus will feature exclusive original movies and shows that will only be available on the streaming service.
One of the exclusive shows is First Wives Club. It will be an African American reboot of the classic 1996 movie comedy about three divorced women who seek revenge on their former husbands, who left them for younger women. The cast for the 1o-episode show will include Jill Scott, Ryan Michelle Bathe, and Michelle Buteau. It will debut this fall alongside the launch of BET Plus.
Another upcoming BET Plus show is called Bigger. The half-hour comedy, set in the Little Five Points neighborhood of Atlanta, stars Tanisha Long, who plays a woman who is about to marry her boyfriend, but who then has to deal the sudden death of a college acquaintance. She and her group of friends have to ask if there is something bigger in their lives.
Later, BET Plus will be the home for a number of comedy stand-up specials from performers like D.L. Hughley, Eddie Griffin, Nick Cannon, Sasheer Zamata, Lil Rel, Gina Yashere, Sinbad and more.
Deadline reports that another BET Plus original movie, Sacrifice, will debut on the service in 2020. It’s a legal thriller that will star Mission Impossible: Ghost Protocol actor Paula Patton, who plays a high-end Los Angeles entertainment lawyer.
Other unnamed original shows on the service will be released in the future from Tyler Perry, according to the network.
That’s all we know about BET Plus at this point. It will be interesting to see if this service will gain traction, especially for its intended audience We will update this post as more information about this streaming service is announced. In the meantime, do you think you will sign up for BET Plus? Let us know in the comments!