New Web Site for Blacks

BET Holdings Inc., owner of Black Entertainment Television, unveiled a Web site aimed at the black community that will offer e-mail, instant messaging and chat features as well as links to other Web sites. BET said the venture will receive $35 million in backing from its four partners: Microsoft Corp.; USA Networks Inc.; the U.S. arm of Rupert Murdoch’s News Corp.; and AT&T; Corp.’s Liberty Digital, the online media company run by cable magnate John Malone. Liberty holds a 34% stake in BET. The site, which will debut Nov. 1, will replace MSBET.com, BET’s current online site that it began with Microsoft in 1996.