Veteran ad executive installed as BET president in Paramount shake-up

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Veteran advertising executive Louis Carr has been elevated to president of Paramount’s BET channel.“For nearly four decades, Louis has been instrumental in driving BET’s success and cultural influence,” George Cheeks, Paramount’s head of TV Media, including CBS, wrote in a staff note announcing a leadership switch at the network dedicated to Black culture.

“His deep experience and proven track record position him to expertly guide the brand into its next era.”Carr will succeed Scott M.Mills, who announced Wednesday that he was stepping down after 23 years at the network, including four as chief executive of the BET Media Group.

Mills spearheaded the creation of the BET+ streaming service to expand the reach of the network’s programming as well as the formation of BET Studios, which struck partnerships with such A-list creators as Kenya Barris and Rashida Jones.Hollywood Inc.

One week on the job, tech scion David Ellison is settling in at the Paramount lot after his family took over the century-old studio.Paramount has been restructuring divisions and slicing costs since tech scion David Ellison and his family bought Paramount in August.Ellison and executives representing investment partner RedBird Capital Partners promised Wall Street that it would find more than $2 billion in cost savings, a move that has led to more than 2,000 job cuts this fall.BET Studios will be folded into the larger CBS Studios division but maintain its own label.

The move was designed, in part, to align BET’s projects with other show production within the company “while preserving BET’s unique programming brand and point of view,” Cheeks wrote.Instead of operating as a satellite within Paramount, BET department heads will work more closely with others in Cheeks’ division and draw support from shared services such as finance, marketing and research.Paramount’s new managers ...