More than 1,000 hours of BET programming will move into Paramount Plus beginning in June 2026, concentrating Black-focused series, films and originals inside a single streaming product. Paramount bought Tyler Perry Studios' remaining stake in BET+ in March 2026 and plans to phase out the standalone BET+ app, halting new signups and offering current subscribers discounted Paramount Plus plans. The company says Tyler Perry will continue to supply programming and that the linear BET channel and BET Studios will remain active. The consolidation tightens Paramount's control over direct-to-consumer distribution and overlaps with federal and state antitrust scrutiny of its pending Warner Bros. Discovery takeover.

The proposed takeover frames both the largest corporate move and the regulatory headache Paramount now faces.

The company’s strategy has two linked pieces. First, Paramount bought Tyler Perry Studios’ remaining stake in BET+ in March 2026, giving Paramount full ownership of the seven-year-old streaming service that launched on September 19, 2019. Paramount said Tyler Perry will continue to supply programming under an overall agreement. Company statements and internal memos from BET leadership also say the linear BET channel and BET Studios will remain active even as the standalone BET+ app is phased out.

Second, Paramount will fold the BET+ library into Paramount Plus, creating a branded BET hub inside the Paramount Plus app. The company told staff that migration will begin in June 2026, and it has stopped new BET+ signups while it completes the integration. Current BET+ customers will be offered discounted Paramount Plus subscriptions, though Paramount hasn't disclosed whether BET content will be available across all Paramount Plus plans or held for a premium tier.

The most immediate effect will fall on consumers who subscribed to the standalone BET+ app and on streaming competitors that served the same audience. BET President Louis Carr said the hub will include more than 1,000 hours of series, films and originals, concentrating Black-focused streaming content inside Paramount’s direct-to-consumer product.

That consolidation changes where millions of viewers find BET programming and increases Paramount’s leverage over distribution choices.

Paramount has already shown this playbook. In 2023 the company shut down the standalone Showtime app and moved Showtime’s library into Paramount Plus as part of a higher-priced tier.

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The Showtime move set a precedent for folding acquired or owned streaming libraries into a single app and reshaping pricing tiers. Industry notices indicate Paramount is directing prospective BET+ subscribers toward Paramount Plus while it completes the BET+ integration.

Paramount hasn't disclosed the financial terms of its March purchase from Tyler Perry Studios. Reporting notes that Tyler Perry’s prior deal with BET Media Group in 2024 included a nine-figure payment, but the company didn't release details of the most recent transaction.

Regulators sharpen focus on the big merger

The BET+ consolidation arrives while the company presses ahead with the far larger Warner Bros. Discovery acquisition, a merger announced in February 2026 that has already drawn federal and state scrutiny. The Justice Department issued subpoenas in March seeking detailed information on studio output, content rights, streaming competition and the potential impact on movie theaters. Reports from a May 27 Justice Department meeting said Paramount executives argued the proposed deal wouldn't harm other studios or creative talent, and Department staff reportedly engaged with those arguments.

At the same time some states, including California and New York, were reported to be preparing legal challenges to the acquisition. That parallel scrutiny means the BET+ integration could feed broader antitrust concerns. Critics are likely to point to the way Paramount will consolidate direct-to-consumer access to a culturally significant bundle of Black-focused programming while it also absorbs one of the largest U.S. studio competitors.

Paramount and its advisers argue the Warner deal and the BET+ consolidation are pro-competitive or at least not anti-competitive. The company has framed the moves as a way to streamline distribution and invest in content. Department staff, according to meeting reports, engaged with those claims rather than dismissing them out of hand, but subpoenas and state-level preparations signal that regulators are seeking a deep factual record.

The regulatory timetable has some concrete markers. Paramount agreed to a closing timetable mechanism that would require it to pay Warner Bros.

Shareholders a quarterly ticking fee of $0.25 per share beginning in October 2026 if the deal hasn't closed by then. That October fee provision is the next concrete milestone tied to the merger timetable and will matter if antitrust review stretches on.

The combination of full control of BET+ content and an effort to buy Warner puts Paramount at the center of two debates that overlap: how media companies package culturally specific content inside global streaming platforms, and how much market power one owner should have over studio output and distribution. For consumers, the choices are immediate: where they find BET programming and whether access sits behind a single subscription or a premium tier. For rivals and regulators, the stakes are longer term: market structure, bargaining power with creators and theaters, and the scope of platform control over diverse audiences.

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Watch June 2026 for the BET migration and the unfolding federal and state antitrust reviews of Paramount's Warner bid. Originally reported by SlashGear.

This article was created with AI assistance.