Polaris and Byron Allen’s Allen Media Group’s HBCU GO are coming together to create exclusive content on the digital platform, as well as on other AMG properties.
The upcoming programming will be focused on culture, music and news, while also highlighting special cultural moments like the current 50th anniversary of hip-hop, as well as an investigative series focusing on 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,” Byron Allen, AMG founder, chairman and CEO, said in a joint statement. AMG also owns theGrio. “This new partnership with Polaris will provide excellent programming for our HBCU GO audiences highlighting music, Black culture and more.”
Polaris has also announced that Sway Calloway is a co-founder of the network. Calloway is the host of SiriusXM’s Shade 45 daily morning show, “Sway in the Morning.” The partnership follows years of Calloway working with Polaris co-founder Rahman J. Dukes at MTV. “I am ecstatic to be a part of POLARIS and to be able to put my two decades of work in TV and radio into a network that is 100% Black owned and focused on uplifting voices within our culture,” Calloway said in the statement. “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.”
In the statement, Dukes and fellow Polaris co-founder Shaheem Reid noted the potential of the AMG partnership. “Aligning forces with Byron Allen, HBCU GO and theGrio is a tremendous opportunity to craft and curate content that people will look back at years later as cultural landmarks. This is a vision that spans over two decades and we are excited to see our vision come to fruition.”
One of the “fastest-growing” streaming platforms, Polaris officially launched in December 2021 to Vizio users. Recently, the platform launched digital property watchpolaris.com.
HBCU GO is the leading media provider for the nation’s 107 Historically Black Colleges and Universities (HBCUs). For more about HBCU GO, visit HBCUGO.TV.
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