Acquisition of Leading Free Streaming Service Featuring America’s 105 Historically Black Colleges and Universities Expands Allen Media Group’s Streaming Platform Footprint
to Reach the African American Consumer Audience
Los Angeles, CA – October 26, 2021 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 to bring treasured 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.”
About Allen Media Group/Entertainment Studios
Chairman and CEO Byron Allen founded Allen Media Group/Entertainment Studios in 1993. Headquartered in Los Angeles, it has offices in New York, Chicago, Atlanta, and Raleigh. Allen Media Group owns 32 ABC-NBC-CBS-FOX network affiliate broadcast television stations in 20 U.S. markets and twelve 24-hour HD television networks serving nearly 180 million subscribers: THE WEATHER CHANNEL, PETS.TV, COMEDY.TV, RECIPE.TV, CARS.TV, ES.TV, MYDESTINATION.TV, JUSTICE CENTRAL.TV, THEGRIO.TV, THIS TV, LOCAL NOW TV, and PATTRN. Allen Media Group will add its thirteenth network, THE WEATHER CHANNEL EN ESPANOL in 2022. Allen Media Group also owns LOCAL NOW and THE GRIO free-streaming AVOD services, powered by THE WEATHER CHANNEL and content partners, which delivers real-time, hyper-local news, weather, traffic, sports, and lifestyle information. Allen Media Group also produces, distributes, and sells advertising for 68 television programs, making it one of the largest independent producers/distributors of first-run syndicated television programming for broadcast television stations. Allen Media Group InternationalTelevision continues to extend its corporate branding and content around the globe. It currently has active license agreements and programming in South Africa, The United Arab Emirates, Australia, The Bahamas, Canada and New Zealand. With a library of over 5,000 hours of owned content across multiple genres, Allen Media Group provides video content to broadcast television stations, cable television networks, mobile devices, multimedia platforms, and the World Wide Web. Our mission is to provide excellent programming to our viewers, online users, and Fortune 500 advertising partners.
Entertainment Studios Motion Pictures is a full-service, theatrical motion picture distribution company specializing in wide release commercial content. ESMP released 2017’s highest-grossing independent movie, the shark thriller 47 METERS DOWN, which grossed over $44.3 million. In 2018, ESMP also released the critically-acclaimed and commercially successful Western HOSTILES, the historic mystery-thriller CHAPPAQUIDDICK and the sequel to 47 METERS DOWN, 47 METERS DOWN: UNCAGED. The digital distribution unit of Entertainment Studios Motion Pictures, Freestyle Digital Media, is a premiere multi-platform distributor with direct partnerships across all major cable, digital and streaming platforms. Capitalizing on a robust infrastructure, proven track record and a veteran sales team, Freestyle Digital Media is a true home for independent films.
In 2016, Allen Media Group purchased The Grio, a highly-rated digital video-centric news community platform devoted to providing African-Americans with compelling stories and perspectives currently underrepresented in existing national news outlets. The Grio features aggregated and original video packages, news articles and opinion pieces on topics that include breaking news, politics, health, business and entertainment. Originally launched in 2009, the platform was then purchased by NBC News in 2010. The digital platform remains focused on curating exciting digital content and currently has more than 100 million annual visitors. For more information, visit: www.entertainmentstudios.com
