Byron Allen's Allen Media Group Completes $70 Million Cash Acquisition Of Flint-Saginaw ABC Affiliate WJRT-TV From Gray

Allen Media Broadcasting Now Owns and Operates 32 Television Stations in 20 U.S. Markets

News provided by

Sep 24, 2021, 14:40 ET

LOS ANGELES, Sept. 24, 2021 /PRNewswire/ -- Byron Allen's Allen Media Group, LLC (AMG) division Allen Media Broadcasting is proud to announce it has completed its $70 million cash acquisition of broadcast television station WJRT-TV, the ABC affiliate for the Flint-Saginaw, Michigan, television market. With the closing of this cash purchase from Gray Television, Allen Media Broadcasting now owns and operates 32 broadcast television stations in 20 U.S. markets. AMG also owns 12 television networks including The Weather Channel and the free-streaming services Local Now and theGrio. AMG was founded by Byron Allen in 1993.

On April 29, 2021, AMG announced that it would acquire 10 local network-affiliated television stations for $380 million cash in seven markets divested from the Gray Television transaction with Quincy Media. AMG officially closed its cash purchase of these ten stations on August 2, 2021.

"We are delighted and very appreciative to Gray for working with us to add this wonderful local television station, WJRT-TV, and its great employees, to our fast-growing Allen Media Group family," said Byron Allen, Founder, Chairman, and CEO of Allen Media Group. "Over the past two years, we've invested over $1 billion to acquire best-in-class, top-tier, broadcast network affiliates and we plan to invest approximately ten billion dollars to acquire more ABC, CBS, NBC, and FOX television stations with the goal of being the largest broadcast television group in America. All of our media assets will work in concert to amplify our free-streaming services, Local Now and theGrio."

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 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 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

SOURCE Allen Media Group