Bermuda Jazz Festival is to be run by the US-based cable company Black Entertainment Television (BET) this year and will be extended from two days to four, it was announced yesterday.

Tourism Minister David Allen said teaming up with BET, through its subsidiary BET Event Productions, would bring massive promotional muscle in the US not just for the event, but for Bermuda as a holiday destination.

The line-up for the fifth festival includes jazz legends Herbie Hancock and George Duke, and Miriam Makeba, Marcus Johnson and Bobby Lyle.

BET Event Productions will also sponsor next month's African Diaspora Heritage Tail conference in Bermuda and will plug it and the jazz festival on BET (which has 72 million subscribers in the US), and BET On Jazz (which has nine million customers).

The company will also heavily promote the festival on US radio stations in New York, Atlanta, Boston, Washington and Philadelphia, and newspapers and magazines such as the New York Times, Conde Naste Traveller, and the Boston Globe.

BET is part of the Viacom Group, which also includes CBS, MTV, VHI, Blockbuster Stores, Infinity Radio, and Viacom

Unveiling details of the festival at the Newstead Hotel yesterday, Mr. Allen said: “The fifth annual Bermuda Jazz Festival promises to the biggest and best ever.

“We are absolutely delighted, as we are sure most Bermudians and our esteemed visitors will be, with the dazzling array of top talent (BET) have so ably delivered.

“This (deal with BET) had such legs in terms of cross-border media to stretch the potential lift as well as improving the quality of the Jazz Festival.”

The cost of the festival will be $700,000, with the Tourism Department paying $250,000, Bank of Bermuda $200,000, and American Express $50,000. The shortfall will be met by BET Event Productions, which is tasked with securing more sponsors.

Tourism will underwrite any losses, but if the festival - which will again be held at Dockyard in September - makes money, it will take a share together with BET Event Productions. BET is teaming up with local promoter Choy Aming.

BET Entertainment will also be doing one hour programmes on the festival for BET and BET On Jazz, and will feature local artists for the Jazz in the Sun programme.

Paxton Baker, the senior vice president of BET Event productions, said his company has been successfully running jazz festivals in St. Lucia, Jamaica and New York for a number of years.

“We are looking to put Bermudian culture for North America and the world to see,” he said.

“It is an exciting line-up, a line-up we can do a lot with on the television side to push the different artists because they are so well known.

“A lot of the pre-publicity for the Jazz Festival is a tool to promote the destination. We will be pushing what Bermuda is year round, and not just the Jazz Festival.”

Philip Butterfield, Bank of Bermuda's chief operating officer, said: “Rebuilding tourism must involve all of us. The festival has been successful to date, and this promotion we can make it even more successful as we move forward.”

He said the festival would be the chance to dispel once and for all the view that Bermuda was a dull, staid destination.

Last year's Jazz Festival was cancelled because of the September 11 terrorist attacks and it led to an acrimonious breakdown in relations between American promoter Lee Heiman of Track Entertainment and Tourism.

Mr. Heiman criticised the contribution from Tourism, which Mr. Allen dismissed as “sheer nonsense”.

The contract with BET Event Productions and Tourism is for one year and will be renewed on a yearly basis if both sides are happy.