There is a growing interest in programming targeting African Americans in streaming as can be seen from the growing list of services geared towards the audience. Recently the proliferation of the Black News Channel (BNC) on multiple streaming platforms and FASTS as well as Freeli TV have arisen to provide a black perspective on news and entertainment not to mention OTA Networks like Bounce. The days of BET sd s standout option are over as more rise up. One option that has had less of an impact on the general public but an outsized one on the upcoming intellectuals of the community is HBCUGo.TV. More established companies are taking notice and making moves accordingly.
Byron Allen’s Allen Media Group, LLC (AMG) has acquired HBCUGo.TV from Symonds-Evans Media, LLC. HBCUGo.TV is the leading media provider for the nation’s 105 Historically Black Colleges and Universities, (HBCUs). The acquisition expands AMG’s reach to the African American community, cements its relationships with HBCUs and provides highly-rated, culturally significant content to national and global audiences. HBCUGo.TV is the latest in a series of asset-rich purchases by AMG geared to the African American market. AMG recently launched the over-the-air broadcast network theGrio.TV — and owns the free streaming app and web digital platform theGrio.com — to bring news, politics, health, entertainment, and relevant original content to viewers worldwide.
As part of the deal, AMG has also acquired the robust HBCUGo.TV library of more than 5,000 hours of content, featuring the HBCU students and their alumni. The current HBCUGo.TV management team, who has strong relationships with the schools, sports conference commissioners, HBCU presidents, and governing boards will continue to manage the HBCUGo.TV platform.
The acquisition also affords HBCUGo.TV an opportunity content to its audiences worldwide, including a first-ever partnership with the Central Intercollegiate Athletic Association (CIAA), the nation’s oldest historically Black athletic conference, to broadcast 44 Black college games during the current football season, and the men’s and women’s basketball seasons. These broadcasts featuring all CIAA institutions will be featured on the HBCUGo.TV streaming platform (https://hbcugo.tv/live-streams) throughout the season.
“The HBCU brand represents over 184 years of historic excellence, dating back to 1837, which helped cultivate some of the world’s greatest minds and talent, including Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., Spike Lee, Alice Walker, Samuel L. Jackson, Earl Graves, Oprah Winfrey, Chadwick Boseman, Justice Thurgood Marshall, Common, Booker T. Washington, Taraji P. Henson, Judge Kevin Ross, Langston Hughes, Katherine Johnson, Kenya Barris, and Vice President Kamala Harris, to name a few,” said Byron Allen, Founder, Chairman and CEO of Allen Media Group. “HBCUGo.TV positions us to speak to the heart and soul of Black America 24/7, and helps us stay strongly connected with one of the most valuable, untapped audiences in the world.”
“We are thrilled to be a part of Byron Allen’s Allen Media Group and his vision to make HBCUGo.TV the ultimate destination celebrating the excellence of HBCUs and their alumni,” said HBCUGo.TV co-founder and CEO Curtis Symonds. “Our pioneer platform offers a global audience all aspects of the HBCU culture and positions the millions of brilliant young minds and alumni throughout the HBCU universe to help change the world for the greater good.”
