Centric Becomes BET Her, Focuses Further on Women

BET-owned network Centric will rebrand as BET Her today (Sept. 25) to better reflect its outreach to African-American female viewers.

Having initially launched as BET Jazz before rebranding to Centric in 2009, BET Her will look to superserve African-American women, who watch more television than any other demographic group and want to see their images reflected on the screen, according to BET Her senior VP of media sales Michele Thornton.

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“There isn’t one place dedicated for black women to be entertained, inspired and empowered, and the BET Her brand defines that,” Thornton said. “BET is the biggest, most successful African-American network, and now her little sister is dedicated to black women in a really smart, fun way.”

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Along with a new look and new logo, BET Her will add a new Sunday morning block featuring faith-based stage plays, as well as tentpole specials, including an October breast-cancer awareness special. The network will also bring back original series From the Bottom Up for a third season, Thornton said.

R. Thomas Umstead

R. Thomas Umstead serves as senior content producer, programming for Multichannel News, Broadcasting + Cable and Next TV. During his more than 30-year career as a print and online journalist, Umstead has written articles on a variety of subjects ranging from TV technology, marketing and sports production to content distribution and development. He has provided expert commentary on television issues and trends for such TV, print, radio and streaming outlets as Fox News, CNBC, the Today show, USA Today, The New York Times and National Public Radio. Umstead has also filmed, produced and edited more than 100 original video interviews, profiles and news reports featuring key cable television executives as well as entertainers and celebrity personalities.