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BET Rolling Out 16 Original Series

BET Networks plans to launch 16 new original series, including its first-ever attempt at scripted shows, writes Mediaweek. Two years ago, BET chairman and CEO Debra Lee made programming original series a priority for the Viacom Network. Since then, the budget has been significantly boosted.

Shows in the works include Somebodies, a single-camera scripted comedy about a group of post-collegiate slackers based on a film by the same name, and Wifey, a scripted drama that focuses on a widow who takes over her husband’s hip-hop record label.

The network grew its total prime time audience 11 percent in 2006 and upped its 18-49s by 11 percent, but it lost 13 percent in prime during the first quarter of this year. Some of that can be chalked up to an worse-than-expected reaction to the network’s high-profile acquisition of HBO’s The Wire.

While Bet loses only 5 percent of its audience during commercial breaks, the network is experimenting with “pod-busting” techniques similar to those in the works by sister networks MTV, VH1 and Spike TV.