American media is reporting today (June 14) that black movie mogul Tyler Perry has bought the BET and VH1 networks for an undisclosed sum.

This would make Perry the first black man to purchase two major cable channels. Earlier this year, the American actor and filmmaker expressed optimism about buying the company, saying that if it was possible, he was “very, very interested.”

It is being reported that the Madea series founder and actor, Perry is now finalising the proposed deal having said to be involved in a bidding war for the cable network, competing against Sean ‘Diddy’ Combs and Curtis ’50 Cent’ Jackson.

Fans had mixed reactions to the news of Tyler Perry’s acquisition with some expressing concern about the direction of BET under his ownership. Perry’s expressed interest in buying BET, when Paramount Global announced they were selling their majority stake in the company.

Some reorganising of the company has now placed VH1 into the BET Media Group, which Tyler Perry has now purchased. As a result, VH1 is now owned by Perry, in addition to BET.

Perry always had ambitions of owning his own television network. In 2007, Perry launched his own online network, which he called Tyler TV.

Later, he announced his ambitions to form his TPTV network, which was during his time working with TBS. In 2012, Tyler Perry left his deal with TBS and began producing primetime soap operas for the OWN and Discovery networks. After seven years, he joined Viacom with a unique deal with BET and BET+.