BET Travels to the Motherland

BET Travels to the Motherland

More than 1,000 Hopefuls Show Up at BET's First Ever International SUNDAY BEST Auditions Held in Lagos, Nigeria

NEW YORK, Dec. 8 /PRNewswire/ -- BET marked its one-year celebration on Dstv (the digital satellite television platform on which BET is seen in Africa) with a unique opportunity; an open call to its best and most talented gospel singers to audition for a chance to be on BET's hit competition series, SUNDAY BEST.

(Photo: http://www.newscom.com/cgi-bin/prnh/20091208/NE22944 )

(Logo: http://www.newscom.com/cgi-bin/prnh/20070716/BETNETWORKSLOGO )

The country of Nigeria enthusiastically answered the call as more than 1,000 hopefuls showed up to the Eko Hotel in Lagos, Nigeria to audition.

Gospel legend Kirk Franklin was joined by special guest judges for the Nigerian tryouts Donnie McClurkin, Kim Burrell and British-Nigerian gospel artist Muyiwa Olarewaju. During the callbacks today, the guest judges will choose who will travel to the United States to compete on the third season of SUNDAY BEST.

U.S. audition cities will be announced soon. Read more about SUNDAY BEST Season 3 at "The Gospel According to Torrence," BET.com's gospel blogger at http://blogs.bet.com/ontv/thegospelaccordingto/2009/12/sunday-best-nigeria-aud ition-judges/.

Strange Fruit Media's Nia Hill and D'Angela Proctor Steed are the executive producers for SUNDAY BEST.

About BET Networks

BET Networks, a division of Viacom Inc. (NYSE:VIA)(NYSE:VIA.B), 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.

Photo: http://www.newscom.com/cgi-bin/prnh/20091208/NE22944
http://www.newscom.com/cgi-bin/prnh/20070716/BETNETWORKSLOGO
AP Archive: http://photoarchive.ap.org/
PRN Photo Desk, photodesk@prnewswire.com
Source: BET Networks

CONTACT: Tricia N. Newell, +1-212-975-8230, tricia.newell@bet.net, or
Zabrina Horton, +1-310-481-3737, zabrina.horton@bet.net, or Voncella McIntosh,
+1-310-481-3732, voncella.mcintosh@bet.net, all of BET

Web Site: http://www.bet.com/

-------
Profile: intent