BET Soul is an American pay television network that is controlled by the BET Networks division of Paramount Global, which owns the network. The channel showcases R&B, funk, soul, neo soul, hip hop, jazz and Motown music from various decades. The channel uses an automated "wheel" schedule that was introduced during the early years of MTV2 and is also used by sister channel BET Jams. The loop repeats three times a day, starting at 6 a.m. Eastern Time, and then resetting at 2 p.m. and 10 p.m. Originating as VH1 Soul, a spinoff of VH1, the channel moved under the editorial control of BET on December 28, 2015 as part of Viacom's (now Paramount's) ongoing restructuring of their pay-TV operations. History Early years (1998-2006) The channel, which was originally a commercial-free service, debuted on August 1, 1998 with VH1 Smooth as part of the "MTV Digital Suite" of digital cable channels, which was sold only to cable providers to give them an advantage over satellite services. The first video shown on the channel was "Boogie Wonderland" by Earth, Wind & Fire. In its early years, VH1 Soul's main focus was on R&B and soul videos of the late 1960s, 1970s, 1980s, and 1990s, along with live performance clips from even earlier years. Janet Jackson, Prince, TLC, Usher, Tony Toni Tone, Marvin Gaye, Aretha Franklin, Patti LaBelle and Stevie Wonder were some of the channel's main staples. By 2003, the channel had stopped showing most of the pre-1990s videos, since these were often played on VH1 Classic's Soul Power program. The channel then gradually began to focus more on underground, alternative, and old skool hip-hop videos, while continuing to feature new R&B musicians. Change of format (2006-2015) On February 1, 2006, VH1 Soul revamped its programming and introduced different one-hour themed video blocks to its schedule, as opposed to the prior random rotation of videos. However, the basic 'wheel schedule' structure remained, and does so to this day. In Spring 2007, VH1 Soul, alongside its sister networks MTV Jams and MTV Hits, were briefly dropped from Time Warner Cable's Southern California systems that were formerly operated by Adelphia and Comcast. However, all three channels returned to TWC within a few months, under a new, specialized service tier. To date, however, the three networks remain conspicuously absent from many of Time Warner Cable and Bright House Networks' systems, most notably in New