BET NETWORKS JOINS THE INTERNATIONAL CALL TO STOP THE SPREAD OF HIV ON WORLD AIDS DAY MONDAY, DECEMBER 1 WITH A SPECIAL EPISODE OF 106 & PARK FOLLOWED BY BET NEWS EXCLUSIVE ARE YOU POSITIVE?
(NEW YORK - November 30, 2008 - BlackNews.com) - Of the more than one million people in the United States who are living with HIV/AIDS, nearly half are African American. On Monday, December 1 at 6:00 p.m.*, World AIDS Day, BET shines a bright light on these alarming statistics by dedicating a full episode of the network's hit music countdown show, 106 & PARK, to the growing HIV/AIDS epidemic, followed by the premiere of ARE YOU POSITIVE?, a half hour special that addresses the stigma surrounding HIV/AIDS at 7:30 p.m.* ARE YOU POSITIVE? is part of BET Networks and the Kaiser Family Foundation's longstanding partnership and Emmy Award-winning public education campaign, "Rap-It-Up".
In addition to being the most energetic music countdown show on the planet with exciting show elements and superstar guests, 106 & PARK is also known for providing viewers with the latest news affecting the urban community -- and the topic of HIV/AIDS is no exception. During this year's World AIDS Day, hosts Terrence and Rocsi, along with surprise celebrity guests and HIV/AIDS experts will sound off about the nation's leading killer of African Americans and encourage viewers to know the facts and their status surrounding the deadly disease.
On Monday, December 1 at 7:30 p.m.*, ARE YOU POSITIVE? profiles four young Americans -- two of whom are living with HIV, two who are not -- who open up their lives, sharing what they do for work and fun, as well as their passions and dreams, to challenge the stereotypes about who HIV affects. In the final act, the characters reveal their status and talk, with inspiring openness, about how HIV has affected each of their lives.
ARE YOU POSITIVE? is a production of BET News. Grant Clark serves as producer for the special with Russ Torres as supervising producer and Keith Brown as executive producer.
For more on BET's 106 & PARK, please visit www.bet.com/106
For more on ARE YOU POSITIVE?, please visit www.bet.com/areyoupositive
For more information about Rap It Up, please visit: www.rapituppresents.com
*All times ET/PT
About The Henry J. Kaiser Foundation
The Kaiser Family Foundation is a non-profit, private operating foundation dedicated to providing information and analysis on health issues to policymakers, the media, and the general public. It is not associated with Kaiser Permanente or Kaiser Industries. Information on HIV/AIDS is available at www.kff.org, and a daily news summary report on developments in HIV/AIDS is available on www.kaisernetwork.org, the Foundation's free health information service.
About BET Networks
BET Networks, a division of Viacom Inc. (NYSE: VIA, 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 87 million households according to Nielsen Media Research, and can be seen in the U.S., Canada and the Caribbean. 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; BET Digital Networks - BET J, BET Gospel and BET Hip Hop, attractive alternatives for cutting-edge entertainment tastes; BET Event Productions, a full-scale event management and production company; BET Home Entertainment, a collection of BET-branded offerings for the home environment including DVDs and video-on-demand; BET Mobile, which provides ring tones, games and video content for wireless devices; and BET International, an extension of BET network programming for global distribution.
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