One tricky aspect of being in an underrepresented group is how complicated your relationship is with the media that represents you. As a Black person, part of me is glad BET exists, while another part is extra critical of how Black Entertainment Television represents my community. That goes double for my thoughts on Tyler Perry, the prolific African-American auteur who ended his TV partnership with Oprah to co-create the BET+ video streaming service. Even setting aside my thoughts on its role in the culture, BET+ leaves me with mixed feelings. Although it has several popular Black movies and shows from Paramount, it can get pricey and lacks the basic functionality you'd expect from a video streaming service. Ultimately, you're better off watching BET content on Paramount+.

Price and Platforms

After a seven-day free trial, BET+ costs $10.99 per month. That makes it the priciest option of the Black-focused streaming services we've tested. Brown Sugar costs $3.99, while KweliTV costs $5.99. This price puts BET+ closer to the mainstream, Editors' Choice-winning services with much broader libraries, such as ad-supported Hulu ($9.99 per month) and ad-supported Netflix ($7.99 per month). However, BET+ now offers an ad-supported tier at a more reasonable $5.99 per month.

A potentially confusing sign-up process can cause you to spend more than you want. For example, BET+ is not the same as BET Now, the free streaming app you can access if you already have BET through your cable provider. You subscribe to BET+ separately. However, your BET+ membership doesn't carry over to the standalone app if you subscribe to BET+ via a third-party service, such as Amazon Prime Video or Apple TV+. So, I recommend subscribing directly through the BET+ website to give yourself the most flexibility.

You can access BET+ on numerous devices. The supported platforms include mobile (Android and iOS), media streaming devices (Amazon Kindle, Amazon Fire TV, Android TV, Roku), and web browsers. It does not support video game consoles like PlayStation 5 or Xbox Series X.

What Can You Watch on BET+?

Although Brown Sugar and KweliTV focus on their Blaxploitation and international African art film niches, respectively, BET+ offers 2,000 hours of the big mainstream Black movies and TV shows you would expect to see on the channel itself. Hit movies include Barbershop, Death at a Funeral, and Juwanna Mann. Every streaming service needs a classic 1990s sitcom to binge, so BET+ has Martin. Notable stand-up comedy specials come courtesy of D.L. Hughley, Eddie Griffin, and Lil Rel Howery. 

(Credit: BET+/PCMag)

BET+ pulls relevant shows from fellow Paramount channels, such as Comedy Central and VH1, to beef up its library. You can stream reality shows like Black Ink Crew and Love & Hip Hop. Why With Hannibal Buress is an experimental comedy show. All That isn't just Saturday Night Live for kids; it's Saturday Night Live for Black kids. BET+ has original shows, including Average Joe and The Michael Blackson Show.

You'll also find BET content on Paramount+, along with plenty of other shows and movies outside of the niche, making that broader service ($7.99 per month) the more appealing platform.

Tyler Perry on BET+

And then there's Tyler Perry. I could easily spend another thousand words explaining my thoughts on this hugely successful writer/director/producer and his bad but ironically entertaining catalog. The idea of a single streaming service for Perry's material is exciting on the level of Disney+'s Marvel, Pixar, and Star Wars libraries. BET+'s Perry library isn't as comprehensive, and I assume that's due to Perry working with so many partners (for example, his new movies appear on Netflix). Many of his TV shows still belong to Oprah Winfrey's OWN channel, which is only available as a streaming service to existing cable subscribers.

Fortunately, Tyler Perry excels at cranking out content. BET+ has his TBS show House of Payne. You can watch his Madea stage plays, which are trickier to track down than you might think. Perry is also the main creative force behind the guiltiest pleasure BET+ original shows. The Oval and Ruthless are mind-blowing, "so bad, it’s good," cheap soap opera takes on prestige TV dramas like House of Cards and The Handmaid’s Tale. I took a class at film school analyzing Perry's Ed Wood-esque oeuvre, so trust me when I say BET+ gave me plenty to chew on in that department. 

(Credit: BET+/PCMag)

BET+ on the Web and Mobile

BET+'s web layout is fairly standard, with an attractive black and purple color scheme. At the top of the screen is a rotating selection of highlighted movies and shows. Scrolling down the page, you'll see rows of shows separated into different genres, such as Dramas, Reality, and Stand-Up Comedy. A list of your previously watched programs is integrated into this menu.

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Unfortunately, the user experience is limited beyond this surface-level menu. BET+ lacks a comment system and has basic search options (there's no way to filter shows and movies). However, you can add your favorite shows to a watchlist called My List.

You can watch full-screen videos, but you can't adjust video quality. The recent material at least appears to be HD. I experienced no playback issues over my home Wi-Fi connection on my 4K television.

BET+'s mobile app offers some slight improvements. On the website, pages for each show are simple episode lists. On mobile, you can browse through related shows and easily access extras like trailers and bonus features. On mobile or on the web, you can see more recommendations while watching a movie. The mobile app also lets you skip forward or back ten seconds.

The service doesn't support offline mobile downloads like Paramount+. BET+ supports four simultaneous streams per account, while Paramount+ limits you to three.

Accessibility and Parental Controls

Considering BET+'s library includes everything from family-friendly sitcoms to religious films to adult dramas, I was disappointed by the lack of parental controls. Each listing just has a rating. All you can do under your account is manage your payment details.

At least closed captioning options are robust. On the video player, pressing the CC button turns subtitles on or off. Pressing the gear icon brings up a list of attributes to customize, including font size, font color, type style, background color, and window opacity.

Can You Watch BET+ With a VPN?

Online safety and privacy have never been more important. So, if you haven't yet gotten a VPN, what are you waiting for? One hurdle for streaming video users is that many services don't work with VPNs. Changing your virtual location to another country tends to mess with region-specific licensing deals. This is the case with BET+.

I watched videos without issue while using a Windows PC connected to a Proton VPN server in Texas. However, switching to a server outside of the United States caused videos to stop loading. The success I saw while connected to an American VPN server may only be temporary as companies get better at blocking VPN traffic. 

Verdict: Should You Bet on BET+?

Setting aside my bizarre personal fascination with Tyler Perry, the rest of the BET+ library is varied enough to keep different audiences interested, even if browsing the library and the general feature set could use improvement. However, BET+ simply can't take on streaming juggernauts like Paramount+, which has plenty of BET shows, or our overall Editors' Choice winner, Netflix, which has a strong library of original Black movies and TV shows.