BET, the Viacom-owned US cable and satellite television channel, has announced its first move into professional boxing.
Under a deal with the Roc Nation Sports agency, BET will show up to nine live, two-hour boxing events over the next 18 months.
The first headline bout on the channel, traditionally known for entertainment, music news and public affairs programming focused towards an African American audience, will be undefeated American and recent Roc Nation signing Andre Ward’s (pictured) defence of his WBA ‘super world’ super-middleweight title against Paul Smith of Great Britain.
Roc Nation fight cards on BET will be supplemented with a live musical performance and a DJ set.
"It's more than just boxing, it's more than a sporting event, and that's why we went into it," Stephen Hill, BET's president of original programming, told the Associated Press news agency.
"One of our goals is to approach the personalities of the fighters and the in-between-rounds of entertainment differently than it's been approached on television before. The action will be the same, but we plan to get into the background of the boxers as well.
“Boxing has been a sport that's most attractive to males, and if we can attract more males to the channel, that's fantastic. But we can keep the women engaged with the human interest stories we put around the boxers."