The wunderkind behind great BET staples such as 106 & Park, The New Edition Story, BET Hip Hop Awards' The Cyphers and Real Husbands of Hollywood, Stephen Hill is stepping down. He had been President of Programming at the network for 18 years.
The news hit Thursday that Hill was moving on and EVP Head of Original Programming Zola Mashariki also announced her departure. BET is owned by Viacom Media Networks and according to Deadline, the company is planning to overhaul the way its subsidiary networks function.
BET will reportedly collaborate with Nickelodeon, Nick Jr., Comedy Central, MTV and the new Paramount Network. Paramount's young TV production will produce some shows while "there will probably be significantly more third party [content] in terms of the mix than in-house."