Paramount
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Already looking ahead to 2023, Paramount Global is announcing a cross-brand partnership involving its broadcast, cable, streaming and digital brands to commemorate the 50th anniversary of hip-hop. The company’s expansive, year-long slate of programming initiatives also includes an alliance with The Recording Academy.
Today’s announcement (Nov. 17) is an expansion of Hip Hop 50, a three-year initiative that Paramount cable network Showtime launched in late 2021 in association with Mass Appeal, the music label, film and TV company co-founded by rapper/entrepreneur Nas. Focusing on the stories, personalities and legends behind the genre, the partnership has thus far presented several programs on Showtime such as Supreme Team, Cypress Hill: Insane in the Brain, You’re Watching Video Music Box and Ricky Powell: The Individualist, about the well-known New York street photographer.
Moving forward, Showtime will present more programming under the Hip Hop 50 banner from Mass Appeal and other production companies. Those offerings will include a documentary about legendary rapper Biz Markie, a series showcasing the power of women in the genre and another series exploring the SoundCloud scene.
On CBS, Paramount’s cross-company hip-hop celebration will include a special performance at the 65th annual Grammy Awards on Feb. 5, 2023. Later in the year, the TV network will also present a special music event in honor of the genre’s golden anniversary in partnership with The Recording Academy.
Paramount’s year-long celebration of hip-hop’s cultural impact will feature additional new and returning content across its other brands, including:
BET, which will produce a documentary about its iconic series, Rap City, and further honor the anniversary through its longstanding BET Awards and Hip Hop Awards telecasts. BET.com and BET social will also spotlight the culture and profile its legends throughout 2023.
MTV Entertainment Studios, which is set to produce new episodes of Behind the Music and various hip-hop documentaries to be announced at a later date. Fans will also get a chance to celebrate the anniversary via in-show moments during the VMAs and EMAs.
Paramount+, which will continue to stream 50 iconic episodes from MTV Entertainment’s original series Yo! MTV Raps for the first time since it premiered. In addition, the rebooted series is now also available to stream alongside the home makeover series Hip Hop My House.
BET president and CEO Scott Mills is adding to his portfolio at Paramount Global.
In the latest piece of reorganization at the conglomerate, VH1 will move under Mills’ BET Media Group. The cable outlet was previously part of the Chris McCarthy-led Paramount Media Networks, along with Paramount Network, MTV, Comedy Central, CMT and others.
Paramount CEO Bob Bakish wrote in a memo to staff Wednesday (see it in full here) that the move will allow for better alignment of priorities and make VH1 “best positioned for future success as a key part of the powerful BET ecosystem.” VH1 is the second most popular entertainment cable outlet among Black viewers, behind only BET.
It also lightens the load for McCarthy, a Bakish favorite who will add premium cabler Showtime to his purview following David Nevins’ departure at the end of the year. MTV Entertainment Studios, headed by McCarthy and Nina L. Diaz, will continue to produce a number of VH1 series, including the Love & Hip Hop franchise, RuPaul’s Drag Race and Black Ink Crew.
The VH1 move also separates it from MTV in Paramount’s structure, ending almost four decades of close association between the two networks. The cable network started in 1985 as a music-video channel targeting a somewhat older audience than the youth-driven MTV. It eventually branched into original programming with shows like Behind the Music, I Love the … and a host of “celebreality” shows like Rock of Love and The Surreal Life. And, like MTV, it has mostly left its music roots behind.
As has been the case across the cable universe, VH1’s on-air audience has declined in recent years as increasing numbers of TV consumers opt out of cable subscriptions. Within that smaller ecosystem, however, it still ranks in the upper third of cable networks in the key ad demographic of adults 18-49.
VH1 will join a BET Media Group that also includes the namesake cable channel, streaming platform BET+, BET Her, BET Studios and BET Digital. “Scott and his team continue to drive the evolution and growth of BET by building an interconnected set of leading platforms — linear, streaming, digital and studios — centered around the Black community, Black culture and content,” Bakish wrote.
Read Bakish’s full memo.