BET Will Shake Up 14 College Campuses This Fall With the Return of Its 2006 Black College Tour

BET Will Shake Up 14 College Campuses This Fall With the Return of Its 2006 Black College Tour

More Schools and Exciting Activities Enhance Popular On-Campus Event Exclusively for College Students Launching September 8 at VSU

WASHINGTON, Aug. 24 /PRNewswire/ -- BET Networks' popular Black College Tour returns to 14 historically Black colleges and universities this fall with three new schools and added activities. Together with its key marketing partners, BET will provide a day of entertainment, games, contests, product samples and consumer information. This year's tour starts September 8 at Virginia State University, home of season three of BET's wildly successful COLLEGE HILL reality program. These on-campus events exclusively target students enrolled at each participating school. Festivities will be hosted by BET on-air personalities and feature exciting live performances from Universal/Motown recording artists.

The endeavor is part of BET's continuing effort to support Black colleges and universities. Three new schools have been added to the Black College Tour this year -- Savannah State University in Georgia; Southern University in Louisiana; and St. Augustine College in North Carolina.

"We are excited to have new schools participate with us as the success and popularity of the Black College Tour continues to grow," said Michelle Garner, BET's Advertising Sales Vice President of Special Projects and Event Marketing. "Every year the tour provides more than 80,000 college students an opportunity to interact with representatives of major companies in an informative, engaging and entertaining environment. Adding new schools to the tour allows us to broaden our reach and provide a positive day of interaction to as many different students as possible."

McDonalds, Pepsi, Southwest Airlines, U.S. Air Force, Verizon Wireless and Universal/Motown return as tour sponsors for 2006. As in previous years, the Black College Tour will host basketball tournaments, freestyle rap contests, video game competitions, music performances, product sampling and a career center. BET also welcomes new sponsored activities on the tour. This year, students will be able to participate in a Paramount Pictures Dreamgirls singing contest; Sony Pictures Stomp The Yard step show contest; and a GMMDA (General Motors Minority Dealers Association) football toss. Additionally, BET's Rap It Up initiative will be on hand with local health officials to offer fee HIV/AIDS testing to students.

Popular activities and prizes returning for the '06 Black College Tour include free roundtrip airline tickets courtesy of Southwest Airlines; Verizon Wireless 3-point basketball shootout; Pepsi Flow freestyle rap battle; and free concerts by up-and-coming Universal/Motown artists like Penelope Jones, Sammie, Currency, MidWest City and more. Last year's Tour helped launch Chamillionaire's chart-topping success.

The following are dates and schools scheduled for the 2006 BET Black College Tour:

2006 BET Black College Tour Schedule

September 8 Virginia State University Petersburg, VA
September 14 Tennessee State University Nashville, TN
September 20 Savannah State University Savannah, GA
September 22 Bethune-Cookman College Daytona, FL
September 29 Southern University Baton Rouge, LA
October 6 Clark-Atlanta University Atlanta, GA
October 13 Jackson State University Jackson, MS
October 20 Grambling State University Grambling, LA
October 26 Prairie View A&M University Prairie View, TX
October 27 Texas Southern University Houston, TX
November 2 St. Augustine's College Raleigh, NC
November 3 North Carolina Central University Durham, NC
November 8 Tuskegee University Tuskegee, AL
November 10 Alabama State University Montgomery, AL

BET Black College Tour information will be available and updated regularly on the Internet at http://www.bet.com/blackcollegetour, including schedules, photography and video footage.

ABOUT BET Networks

BET Networks, a subsidiary of Viacom, Inc. (NYSE:VIA)(NYSE:and)(NYSE:VIA.B), is the nation's leading provider of quality entertainment, music, news and public affairs television programming for the African-American audience. The primary BET channel reaches more than 82 million households according to Nielsen media research, and can be seen in the United States, Canada and the Caribbean. BET is the dominant African-American consumer brand with a diverse group of business extensions: BET.com, the Number 1 Internet portal for African Americans; BET Digital Networks -- BET J, BET Gospel and BET Hip Hop, attractive alternatives for cutting-edge entertainment tastes; BET Event Productions, a full-scale event management and production company; BET Home Entertainment, a collection of BET-branded offerings for the home environment including DVDs and video-on-demand; and BET Mobile, a service venture into the lucrative world of ring tones, games and video content for wireless devices.

Source: BET Networks

CONTACT: Anne Williams of BET Networks, +1-202-608-2063,
anne.williams@bet.net; or Sindy Gilbert, +1-323-467-7274,
Sindy.Gilbert@sbcglobal.net, for Universal-Motown

Web site: http://www.bet.com/

NOTE TO EDITORS: Interview opportunities with BET executives, on-air talent, and guest performers are available at each tour date. BET Black College Tour photography is also available. For more details, please contact Anne Williams at (202) 608-2063 or anne.williams@bet.net

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