Trump Meets With BET Founder Bob Johnson

President-elect Donald Trump and Vice President-elect Mike Pence met Sunday with BET founder Bob Johnson—currently the head of RLJ Entertainment, an over-the-top video company.

It was not clear whether Trump is considering him for a position in the administration or was simply seeking guidance and input.

Johnson is a fan of the FCC set-top revamp plan, which Republicans on the Hill have warned the FCC not to vote on during the transition to a Trump Administration.

Johnson, who became a billionaire when he agreed to sell Black Entertainment Television (BET) to Viacom in 2000, has said that just as BET would not have existed had cable not "broken the broadcast monopoly," new over-the-top offerings, like his own, will not be able to flourish unless the FCC eliminates cable's "stranglehold" on set-top boxes.

Trump has been critical of Comcast, the country's largest cable operator.

The Trump transition team said that meeting topics included access to capital by small businesses and issues facing the inner cities. The focus was on the ability of capitalism to create high-paying manufacturing and service industries.

John Eggerton

Contributing editor John Eggerton has been an editor and/or writer on media regulation, legislation and policy for over four decades, including covering the FCC, FTC, Congress, the major media trade associations, and the federal courts. In addition to Multichannel News and Broadcasting + Cable, his work has appeared in Radio World, TV Technology, TV Fax, This Week in Consumer Electronics, Variety and the Encyclopedia Britannica.