NEW YORK — POLARIS, a 100% Black-owned television network and digital platform, has struck an exclusive partnership with Allen Media Group (AMG)’s free-streaming digital platform, HBCU GO.
It sees the creation of unique and exclusive content for several AMG properties.
In an announcement released Wednesday, the media provider for the nation’s 107 Historically Black Colleges and Universities (HBCUs) will benefit from receiving POLARIS content created expressly for HBCU GO, VOD as well as AMG properties including TheGrio.
Content will be focused on culture, music and news with special coverage around cultural moments, the 50th year anniversary of Hip-Hop, and an investigative series around pioneering rap act Jam Master Jay.
“It’s important for us to showcase not only the amazing sports and news programming, but also the heartbeat of the HBCU and Black Experience,” said Byron Allen, founder, Chairman and CEO of Allen Media Group. “This new partnership with POLARIS will provide excellent programming for our HBCU GO audiences highlighting music, Black culture and more.”
In addition, POLARIS has brought on iconic journalist and radio personality Sway Calloway to help build the network as a co-founder alongside Rahman J. Dukes; the two worked together at MTV.
Calloway is known to SiriusXM’s Shade 45 listeners as the host of a daily morning show, “Sway in the Morning.”
Calloway said, “To be able to partner with Byron Allen’s AMG, HBCU GO and TheGrio is huge and I am excited to see the impactful content we create together.”
POLARIS made its debut in December 2021, exclusively to VIZIO users. The platform has recently launched its website hub watchpolaris.com, which will also serve as a content distribution outlet.
“Aligning forces with Byron Allen, HBCU Go and the Grio is a tremendous opportunity to craft and curate content that people will look back at years later as cultural landmarks.” said Rahman J. Dukes and a third co-founder, Shaheem Reid. “This is a vision that spans over two decades and we are excited to see our vision come to fruition.”
