Award-Winning Journalist T.J. Holmes Signs Multi-Platform Talent Deal With BET Networks

NEW YORK, Dec. 7, 2011 /PRNewswire/ -- BET Networks announced today a multi-platform talent agreement with award-winning journalist and television personality, T.J. Holmes. The deal with Holmes includes a new show on BET as well as content on BET.com in which he can bring his many talents to some of the most important and interesting stories to BET's audience.

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"We are of course ecstatic to have T.J. Holmes coming to our fold. He's been an outstanding news anchor and we look forward to making him shine. He's been an outstanding news anchor and we look forward to working with him in a variety of new ways on BET," said Stephen G. Hill, President of Music Programming and Specials at BET Networks. "We look forward to weaving T.J.'s mixture of credibility and charisma into our fabric."

An award-winning journalist and respected television personality within the African American community, T.J. Holmes was formerly a news anchor for various CNN programs and has anchored numerous major breaking news stories and human interest pieces ranging from the devastating tornadoes across the Midwest and Southeast to the Gulf oil spill in 2010 to Saddam Hussein's execution in 2006.  Holmes came to CNN from NBC11 in the San Francisco Bay Area. While with NBC, he covered the 2004 Olympics, the first Summer Games held since the September 11th terrorist attacks. Before that, Holmes served as a weekend anchor and reporter for KTHV-TV in Little Rock, Ark. He began his career at KSNF-TV in Joplin, Mo. Holmes contributed to CNN's 2010 coverage of the Gulf Oil Spill that garnered a Peabody Award. In 2007, he was honored with the Young Alumni Award by the University of Arkansas.  Holmes graduated from the University of Arkansas with a bachelor's degree in broadcast journalism. He is a board member of the Emory University Board of Visitors, a member of 100 Black Men of Atlanta, Inc. and serves on the Chancellor's Board of Advisors at the University of Arkansas.

About BET Networks

BET Networks, a subsidiary of Viacom Inc. (NASDAQ: VIA, VIAB), is the nation's leading provider of quality entertainment, music, news and public affairs television programming for the African-American audience. The primary BET channel reaches more than 98 million households and can be seen in the United States, Canada, the Caribbean, the United Kingdom and sub-Saharan Africa. BET is the dominant African-American consumer brand with a diverse group of business extensions: BET.com, a leading Internet destination for Black entertainment, music, culture, and news; CENTRIC, a 24-hour entertainment network targeting the 25- to 54-year-old African-American audience; BET Digital Networks - BET Gospel and BET Hip Hop, attractive alternatives for cutting-edge entertainment tastes; BET Home Entertainment, a collection of BET-branded offerings for the home environment including DVDs and video-on-demand; BET Event Productions, a full-scale event management and production company with festivals and live events spanning the globe; BET Mobile, which provides ringtones, games and video content for wireless devices; and BET International, which operates BET in the United Kingdom and oversees the extension of BET network programming for global distribution.

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SOURCE BET Networks