Network BET Networks Slogan See for Yourself | Owned by Viacom Country United States | |
Launched January 15, 1996; 21 years ago (1996-01-15) Picture format 1080i (HDTV)
480i (SDTV) | ||
Centric is an American lifestyle cable television channel geared towards African-American women. A BET channel, it originally launched as BET on Jazz, showcasing jazz music-related programming, especially that of black jazz musicians. Centric is on DirecTV, Dish Network, Verizon FiOS, AT&T U-verse, Charter Spectrum and many other digital cable providers as part of the MTV Digital Suite.
As of February 2015, approximately 51,829,000 American households (44.5% of households with television) receive Centric.
History
BET on Jazz launched on the date of January 15, 1996, as a spin-off channel to sister station BET. In 2002, it was renamed BET Jazz. On March 1, 2006, the network was re-branded as BET J and the focus shifted from a pure jazz channel to a more general interest service. While jazz music still remained the stated primary focus, programming expanded to include a block of Caribbean programs as well as some R&B, neo soul, reggaetón and alternative hip hop. To a lesser extent, BET J also focused on go-go, electronica and alternative rock. Programs included My Two Cents with Keith Boykin, Bryonn Bain, Crystal McCarey Anthony and Staceyann Chin, The Best Shorts hosted by Abiola Abrams, Living the Life of Marley about Ky-Mani Marley, My Model is Better Than Your Model with Eva Pigford and The Turn On hosted by Charlotte Burley.
On April 24, 2009, BET announced it would rebrand BET J as Centric, which would be programmed as a general-interest adult African-American network. The rebrand allowed the channel to compete equally with TV One and leave BET to exclusively target younger viewers. The rebrand was complete on September 28, 2009.
On November 30, 2014, Centric underwent another rebrand, becoming The First Network Designed for Black Women. In addition to many of the programs already directed towards women, Centric introduced new programming from Queen Latifah's Flavor Unit Entertainment, such as Single Ladies, which previously aired on VH1. A new logo was introduced and the Centic website was relaunched in March 2015.