BET International

History

BET International Inc. was given a licence to broadcast in the UK in May 2007 by Ofcom. In 2006 it was announced that BET would hold its first annual Hip-Hop Awards and as part of the announcement they also stated there would be a "Best UK Artist" category, the winner being Sway.^[5]

Availability

BET launched on the Sky platform in the UK on 27 February 2008, one day earlier than originally advertised. It began with various BET content, such as 106 & Park, American Gangster and College Hill. The channel is available on Sky channel 194. The channel launched on Freesat in August 2008, on channel 140. BET +1 was added to Freesat when it launched in late 2008.^[6] These signals are also available for free in the rest of Europe via satellite Eutelsat 28A.

On 24 September 2008 tests appeared for BET on Virgin Media but the channel did not launch. However it did eventually launch on 27 June 2013 on channel 184.

BET is available in Kenya on Zuku on channel 125^[7] and on startimes on channel 132.^[8]

The channel was available on Pan-African Satellite Broadcaster Dstv on Channel 135 until 17 April 2015 when it was terminated to make room for BET Africa which includes local shows alongside BET International's programming.

On 4 November 2014, BET +1 closed, and was replaced by 5* +1 on Sky.

BET HD

On 1 July 2009, BET launched a temporary HD channel, exclusively on Freesat, simulcasting BET, to cover the BET Awards. The channel was removed from the EPG on 4 July 2009.^[9]