LOS ANGELES, Aug. 2, 2021 /PRNewswire/ — Byron Allen’s Allen Media Group, LLC (AMG) has completed its $380 million cash acquisition of 10 local television stations in seven markets divested from the Gray Television, Inc (Gray) transaction with Quincy Media, Inc. (Quincy). AMG also owns 12 television networks including The Weather Channel and the free-streaming service Local Now. AMG was founded by Byron Allen in 1993.
The acquisition substantially increases the size of the AMG broadcast television group and adds complimentary markets to its existing portfolio. The AMG broadcast television group now includes 25 broadcast television stations in 19 markets across the country.
As part of its divestiture agreement, Gray agreed to sell to AMG 10 television stations owned by Quincy, each of which operates in a market in which Gray also owns and operates a television station. These 10 major network-affiliated stations now joining the AMG television station portfolio include:
- KVOA (NBC), Tucson, Arizona (DMA 64)
- WKOW (ABC), Madison, Wisconsin (DMA 81)
- WSIL / KPOB (ABC), Paducah, Kentucky–Harrisburg, Illinois (DMA 84)
- KWWL (NBC), Cedar Rapids, Iowa (DMA 92)
- WXOW / WQOW (ABC), La Crosse–Eau Claire, Wisconsin (DMA 129)
- WAOW / WMOW (ABC), Wausau–Rhinelander, Wisconsin (DMA 136)
- WREX (NBC), Rockford, Illinois (DMA 139)
“I truly appreciate Gray and Quincy, two of the best broadcast groups in the business, working with us to acquire and transfer these amazing assets. Over the past year-and-a-half, we have invested close to $1 billion to acquire best-in-class, top-tier, broadcast network affiliates,” said Byron Allen, Founder/Chairman/CEO of Allen Media Group. “We plan to invest approximately ten billion dollars to acquire more ABC, CBS, NBC, and FOX television stations over the next two years with the goal of being the largest broadcast television group in America. All of our media assets, including these broadcast television stations, will work in concert to amplify our free-streaming service, Local Now.”
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 will own and operate 25 ABC-NBC-CBS-FOX network affiliate broadcast television stations in 19 U.S. markets and twelve 24-hour HD television networks serving nearly 190 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 International Television 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 theGrio, 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. theGrio 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
www.thegrio.com
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