THE UK’S BIGGEST URBAN MUSIC AWARDS SHOW WILL AIR TONIGHT MONDAY 11 DECEMBER 10PM  
A MOBO AWARDS SPECIAL WILL FEATURE ON BET HER AND ACROSS BET.COM 

MONDAY 11TH DECEMBER 2017, LONDON – BET International is proud to announce that they will air a one-hour highlights show of the prestigious MOBO Awards. Produced by AVANTI Media, the world-renowned awards show celebrating the best in urban music, will broadcast for the first time on BET (Sky 187, Virgin 184, Freesat 140) tonight, Monday 11th December at 10pm. The 22nd annual MOBO Awards took place at First Direct Arena in Leeds and provided an electrifying evening of live performances and appearances from top artists and entertainers.  

Performers included Billboard’s #1 US star Cardi B (with her first UK awards show performance), South London hip hop titans Krept & Konan, man of the moment Stormzy, hotly tipped rising rap star Stefflon Don and afrobeats superstar Davido. 

Playing a significant role in British culture for over two decades, the MOBO Awards has been instrumental in the careers of UK artists such as Tinie Tempah, Craig David, Stormzy, Emeli Sandé, Krept & Konan and countless others.  

Kanya King, MOBO Founder and CEO, commented: “We are excited to partner with BET to broadcast this year’s MOBO Awards. This year was an exciting show befitting of the outstanding talent and music we have seen in the past year. It is a very exciting and significant time for black music, and we produced a really special evening of celebrating this cultural movement.” 

Alex Okosi, Executive Vice President & Managing Director Viacom International Media Networks Africa and BET International said: “As a brand that celebrates Black excellence in music, entertainment, news and culture, BET International is thrilled to partner with the MOBO organization to broadcast this year¹s award show.  We recognize the contribution the show has played in elevating many UK Artists and their music and we look forward to a continued partnership." 

AVANTI Media, is widely-respected for delivering successful large scale outside broadcasts, entertainment and music events for national and international broadcasters. This is their first year producing the MOBOs. 

CEO and Executive Producer, Emyr Afan, said: “Staging and televising the MOBOs has been a wonderful opportunity for us to showcase some incredible talent. The City of Leeds was a fantastic home for the show – it definitely is a great night to remember.” 

With diversity at its heart, The MOBO Organisation was established in 1996 to champion and elevate the urban music genres in the mainstream music industry. Since its inception, MOBO has consistently offered opportunities and mass media platforms to countless artists in the broadest range of genres including R&B, Soul, Hip Hop, Jazz, Gospel, Garage, Reggae, Grime and African music.    
  
Following their electrifying TV debut performance on this year’s MOBO Awards, B Positive Choir are proud to announce the release of their first single "Rise Up", their rendition of the hugely inspiring Andra Day original. With lead vocals by the MOBO winning Gospel Sensation, Lurine Cato, the release of the single aims to encourage more people to "Rise Up" and be counted as blood donors. 
B Positive, a 60-strong choir of individuals from across England, who live with Sickle Cell disease, along with their families, friends and supporters, are harnessing the power of music to motivate a new generation to become blood donors. The choir was formed in partnership with NHS Blood and Transplant with the mission to highlight the urgent need for new donors in order to help those who require frequent blood transfusions, including those with Sickle Cell disease.  

WATCH THE MOBO AWARDS HIGHLIGHTS REEL:  https://youtu.be/rvGkpIHYbXE  

- END -  

About BET International: BET Networks is the leading provider of quality entertainment, music, news and public affairs television programming for people that want to know what’s hot, what’s next and what matters in black culture. BET is currently viewed in more than 125 million homes in over 60 countries around the world, including the United States, the UK, France, sub-Saharan Africa, Canada and the Caribbean. BET International is part of Viacom International Media Networks, a division of Viacom Inc. (NASDAQ: VIAB, VIA), one of the world’s leading creators of programming and content across all platforms.  

About MOBO: Throughout the year MOBO supports undiscovered musical talent online, via the Connect playlists, its UnSung talent competition followed by an artist development programme and other initiatives which have led to many aspiring artists being given record deals and other opportunities such as the #MOBOmovement offering people the opportunity to see their contributions published on MOBO’s YouTube channel. Other MOBO activities include songwriting workshops, film screenings and support to talent across the wider creative industries. The newly established charity, MOBO Trust, aims to help young people realise their potential in the creative sector. 

 
About AVANTI Media: The award-winning AVANTI Media celebrated its 20th year in 2017. Co-founded by Emyr and Mair Afan, with offices in Cardiff, London and Manchester, the company employs 70 staff with a team of technical specialists running their extensive in-house production and outside broadcast facilities. AVANTI Media appointed the 2016 BAFTA-award winner Neil Grant as Creative Director in January this year and is widely-respected for delivering successful returnable shows and formats, documentary, current affairs, large scale outside broadcasts, entertainment and music events for national and international broadcasters.   

AVANTI Media won the Songs of Praise commission for BBC One alongside production partner, Nine Lives Media and have been producing the hugely popular Sunday programme since July.  They are currently in production with a slate of UK and international programmes including The Hour a new series of monthly debates on BBC Wales.    Other credits include ten years of the Welsh Songs of Praise/Dechrau Canu, Dechrau Canmol for S4C, Tom Jones at Cardiff Castle (BBC One/Warner Home Entertainment); Sky 1’s Ryder Cup Opening Concert (BAFTA Wales Award for Best Live Event Coverage) featuring Catherine Zeta Jones and The Prince of Wales as well as the National Film Award for Channel 4’s Britain’s Billionaire Immigrants. Their inspiring and moving documentary for BBC Wales, Mike and Jules: While We Still Have Time transmitted on BBC One earlier this year. 

About Viacom International Media Networks: Viacom International Media Networks (VIMN), a unit of Viacom Inc. (NASDAQ: VIA, VIAB), is comprised of many of the world’s most popular multimedia entertainment brands, including MTV, Nickelodeon, Comedy Central, BET, Paramount Channel, VH1, VIVA and COLORS. Viacom brands are seen globally in more than 600 million households in 170 territories and 37 languages via more than 200 locally programmed and operated TV channels and more than 550 digital media and mobile TV properties. For more information about Viacom and its businesses, visit www.viacom.com. Keep up with Viacom news by following Viacom’s blog at blog.viacom.com and Twitter feed at www.twitter.com/Viacom 

Editor’s notes  
DOWNLOAD HI-RES PHOTOS HERE: http://bit.ly/mobo2017   
MOBO AWARDS 2016 HIGHLIGHTS REEL: https://youtu.be/FEWChIlPZA0   

Throughout the year MOBO supports undiscovered musical talent online, via the Connect playlists, its UnSung talent competition followed by an artist development programme and other initiatives which have led to various aspiring artists being given record deals and other opportunities. Other MOBO activities include #MOBOmovement – offering people the opportunity to see their contributions published on MOBO’s YouTube channel – songwriting workshops, film screenings and support to talent across the wider creative industries. The newly established charity, MOBO Trust, aims to help young people realise their potential in the creative sector.   

Press contact:

The Outside Organisation David Lim – [email protected]