With television experience as being a former co-host of the
NBC
series
Real People
from 1979 until 1984,
stand-up comedian
Byron Allen launched his own weekly syndicated
late-night talk show
,
The Byron Allen Show
, in 1989. It was produced by his BYCA Productions and
Allbritton Communications
, and distributed by Genesis Entertainment.
[4]
By 1991, Allen had created BYCA Television Distribution to take over distribution of his talk show as well as syndicate other programs.
[5]
By early 1993, Allen's talk show, which became a weeknight
strip
the previous fall,
[6]
had been cancelled, and BYCA Television Distribution had been embroiled in a lawsuit filed by former employees who claimed they hadn't been paid by Allen.
[7]
Amidst the legal and financial issues, BYCA filed for
Chapter 7 bankruptcy
.
[8]
The same year, Allen founded
CF Entertainment
.
[9]
[10]
Following a similar business model to BYCA, Allen was able to succeed where he had failed before by focusing on producing low-cost, syndicated non-fiction programming, including interview series and
court shows
(largely scripted from actual testimony). Allen served as host for some of these programs.
[11]
In December 2003, CF became Entertainment Studios.
[10]
Entertainment Studios
green-lit
its first film and stage projects in December 2011, when it acquired the rights to develop a
biographical film
and
theatrical play
on the life of
Sammy Davis, Jr.
from his daughter,
Tracey Davis
.
[12]
The company ventured into scripted programming in 2012, with the third-quarter launch of the sitcoms
Mr. Box Office
and
The First Family
.
[13]
Both were set for 104 episodes
[13]
over two years under a model of accelerated production similar to
Debmar-Mercury
's
10-90 Model
.
[14]
The two half-hour shows were picked up as a two-hour weekend primetime
programming block
with two episodes of each show back to back by
Tribune
,
Weigel
and
CBS Television Station
groups.
[13]
The company launched its eighth cable channel and first ad-supported service, Justice Central.TV, on December 10, 2012.
[15]
In 2015, the company separately sued
AT&T
,
Comcast
, and
Charter Communications
for racial discrimination in being biased against minority-run entertainment companies in not carrying its cable channels. AT&T settled in December with the addition of 7 of Entertainment Studios' channels added to AT&T's
DirecTV
lineup. Entertainment Studios added similar suits against Charter and the FCC.
[16]
The Comcast case, though initially dismissed at the district court, was allowed to go forward by the Ninth Circuit; Comcast was able to successfully petition the
Supreme Court
to hear its case in
Comcast v. National Association of African-American-Owned Media
in November 2019.
In October 2015, Entertainment Studios acquired
Freestyle Releasing
for an undisclosed amount "said to be sealed for high-eight figures". Freestyle also had an output deal with
Netflix
.
[9]
The Freestyle purchase was used to bolster an expansion into
film distribution
, via its new Entertainment Studios Motion Pictures division.
[17]
[18]
Its first release,
47 Meters Down
, took in $44 million in box office revenue.
[11]
In June 2016, Entertainment Studios acquired
TheGrio
, a news website focusing on stories of interest to African Americans.
[19]
In mid-September 2017, the company announced plans to launch an
over the top
sports streaming service known as Sports.tv.
[20]
On March 22, 2018, Entertainment Studios announced its intent to acquire
The Weather Channel
's television assets from an
NBCUniversal
/
Bain Capital
/
Blackstone Inc.
partnership. The actual value was undisclosed, but was reported to be around $300 million; the channel's
non-television assets
, which were separately sold to IBM two years prior, were not included in the sale.
[3]
In September 2018, Entertainment Studios announced that it had arranged $500 million worth of
credit facilities
through
Deutsche Bank
Securities,
Jefferies Financial Group
, Brightwood Capital Advisors and
Comerica
. Allen explained that these funds were to be used for further "large-scale" acquisitions, productions, and other general expenses.
[11]
[21]
In an interview with
Variety
, Allen stated that he was "not a seller", and that he was "one or two acquisitions away from being a fairly large company".
[11]
On May 3, 2019, it was announced that, under the subsidiary Diamond Sports Group, Entertainment Studios would be an equity and content partner in
Sinclair Broadcast Group
's acquisition of
Fox Sports Networks
(now known as
Bally Sports
).
[22]
On May 6, 2019, Entertainment Studios announced that it would expand into television station ownership by establishing the new unit, Allen Media Broadcasting.
In June 2020, Comcast agreed to carry Entertainment Studios' Comedy.TV, JusticeCentral.TV, Recipe.TV, and The Weather Channel, and to retransmission consent for the Allen Media Broadcasting television stations, as part of a settlement of the Supreme Court racial discrimination lawsuit.
[23]
In May 2021, Allen sued fast food chain
McDonald's
for $10 billion, alleging that the company "intentionally discriminated against Entertainment Studios and Weather Group through a pattern of racial stereotyping and refusals to contract" for advertising across its properties.
[24]
[25]
In July 2022, Allen Media Group acquired
Black News Channel
out of bankruptcy from
Shahid Khan
for $11 million;
[26]
it was discontinued as a separate service, with its carriage merged into TheGrio.TV.
[27]
[28]
Beginning in late April 2024, Allen Media Group laid off about 300 employees, or around 12 percent of its staff, throughout all of its operating divisions. The company's explanation for the staff reduction is to better position themselves for further growth.
[29]
Entertainment Studios Networks
edit
Cable and digital
edit
- Automotive.TV
- Cars.TV
- Comedy.TV
- ES.TV
[35]
- MyDestination.TV
- Pets.TV
- Recipe.TV
[35]
Television channels
edit
- Justice Central, launched December 10, 2012, on AT&T U-verse's family tier.
[15]
- Weather Channel Group
Allen Media Broadcasting
edit
Allen Media Broadcasting, LLC
is an American television station operating company owned by Entertainment Studios.
On May 6, 2019, Entertainment Studios announced that it would expand into television station ownership by acquiring the stations of
Bayou City Broadcasting
for $165 million, including
Evansville, Indiana
's
WEVV-TV
and
WEEV-LD
, and
Lafayette, Louisiana
's
KADN-TV
and
KLAF-LD
. The stations would operate under the new unit, Allen Media Broadcasting.
[36]
The sale was completed on July 31, 2019.
[37]
On October 1, 2019, Allen Media agreed to purchase 11 stations from USA Television, a subsidiary of
Heartland Media
, for $290 million.
[38]
The sale of the Heartland stations was approved by the FCC on November 22, 2019,
[39]
and it was completed on February 11, 2020.
[40]
In March 2020, Allen Media made an offer for the
Tegna
TV station group as the third known bidder.
[41]
On August 17, 2020, the company announced its purchase of Hawaii ABC affiliate
KITV
from
SJL Broadcasting
for $30 million.
[42]
On April 29, 2021, it was announced that Allen Media would purchase 10 stations in seven markets from
Gray Television
for $380 million, from a divestiture of stations owned by
Quincy Media
, as a condition of Gray's purchase of Quincy. These are stations where Gray already owned a station, and are mostly in the Upper Midwest.
[43]
In a separate deal with Gray, announced in July, Allen has acquired
WJRT-TV
in
Flint, Michigan
, while Gray retained competing
WNEM-TV
through its merger with
Meredith Corporation
's broadcasting division.
[44]
On December 15, 2021, it was announced that Allen Media would purchase
WCOV-TV
,
WIYC
and
WALE-LD
, all serving
Montgomery, Alabama
, from Woods Communications Corporation for $28.5 million, pending FCC approval; at the time, the deal was expected to close in the first half of 2022.
[45]
The sale would give the stations an in-state sibling in
Huntsville
-based
ABC
affiliate
WAAY-TV
.
Television stations
edit
Stations are arranged in alphabetical order by state and
city of license
.
City of license
/
Market
|
Station
|
|
Owned since
|
Network affiliation
|
Huntsville, Alabama
|
WAAY-TV
|
31 (17)
|
2020
[a]
|
ABC
|
Montgomery, Alabama
|
WALE-LD
|
17 (16)
|
2023
|
Montgomery Weather Channel
|
WCOV-TV
|
20 (22)
|
2023
|
Fox
|
WIYC
|
48 (19)
|
2023
|
Cozi TV
|
Tucson, Arizona
|
KVOA
|
4 (23)
|
2021
[b]
|
NBC
|
Chico
?
Redding, California
|
KHSL-TV
|
12 (36)
|
2020
[a]
|
|
KNVN
|
24 (24)
|
2020
[c]
|
|
Honolulu, Hawaii
|
KITV
|
4 (20)
|
2021
|
ABC
|
KIKU
|
20 (19)
|
2022
|
Independent
|
Hilo, Hawaii
|
KHVO
[A]
|
4 (18)
|
2021
|
ABC
|
Wailuku, Hawaii
|
KMAU
[A]
|
4 (29)
|
2021
|
ABC
|
Harrisburg
?
Carbondale, Illinois
|
WSIL-TV
|
3 (34)
|
2021
[b]
|
ABC
|
Poplar Bluff, Missouri
|
KPOB-TV
[B]
|
15 (15)
|
2021
[b]
|
ABC
|
Rockford, Illinois
|
WREX
|
13 (13)
|
2021
[b]
|
NBC
|
Evansville, Indiana
|
WEVV-TV
|
44 (28)
|
2019
[d]
|
|
WEEV-LD
[C]
|
47 (21)
|
2019
[d]
|
Fox/MyNetworkTV
|
Fort Wayne, Indiana
|
WFFT-TV
|
55 (20)
|
2020
[a]
|
Fox
|
Terre Haute, Indiana
|
WTHI-TV
|
10 (10)
|
2020
[a]
|
- CBS
- Fox/MyNetworkTV (DT2)
- The CW (DT3)
|
West Lafayette, Indiana
|
WLFI-TV
|
18 (11)
|
2020
[a]
|
|
Mason City, Iowa
?
Rochester, Minnesota
|
KIMT
|
3 (24)
|
2020
[a]
|
|
Waterloo
?
Cedar Rapids, Iowa
|
KWWL
|
7 (7)
|
2021
[b]
|
NBC
|
Lafayette, Louisiana
|
KADN-TV
|
15 (16)
|
2019
[d]
|
- Fox
- NBC (DT2)
- MyNetworkTV (DT3)
|
KLAF-LD
|
14 (14)
|
2019
[d]
|
NBC
|
Flint
?
Saginaw, Michigan
|
WJRT-TV
|
12 (12)
|
2021
[b]
|
ABC
|
Tupelo
?
Columbus, Mississippi
|
WTVA
|
9 (11)
|
2020
[a]
|
|
Eugene, Oregon
|
KEZI
|
9 (9)
|
2020
[a]
|
ABC
|
Medford
?
Klamath Falls, Oregon
|
KDRV
|
12 (12)
|
2020
[a]
|
ABC
|
KDKF
[D]
|
31 (29)
|
2020
[a]
|
ABC
|
La Crosse
?
Eau Claire, Wisconsin
|
WXOW
|
19 (28)
|
2021
[b]
|
ABC
|
WQOW
[E]
|
18 (25)
|
2021
[b]
|
ABC
|
Madison, Wisconsin
|
WKOW
|
27 (26)
|
2021
[b]
|
ABC
|
Wausau
?
Crandon, Wisconsin
|
WAOW
|
9 (9)
|
2021
[b]
|
ABC
|
WMOW
[F]
|
4 (13)
|
2021
[b]
|
|
- ^
a
b
Satellite of KITV.
- ^
Satellite of WSIL-TV.
- ^
Repeater of WEVV-DT2.
- ^
Satellite of KDRV.
- ^
Semi-satellite of WXOW.
- ^
Satellite of WAOW via DT2.
Television networks
edit
The following over-the-air specialty networks were acquired by Allen Media Group from
MGM Television
in October 2020.
[46]
- TheGrio
, a network focusing on African-American culture.
- This TV
, a network that primarily focuses on movies from the MGM library.
Entertainment Studios Motion Pictures
edit
In 2016, Entertainment Studios began to make major expansions into film distribution; at the
Sundance Film Festival
, the company made a surprise $20 million bid for
The Birth of a Nation
, losing to
Fox Searchlight
.
[17]
In July 2016, Entertainment Studios signed a multi-year home video and on-demand distribution deal with
Anchor Bay Entertainment
, covering future theatrical releases by the company.
[35]
The studio acquired its first film later that month, with the North American rights to
47 Meters Down
from
Dimension Films
.
[48]
At the 2017
Toronto Film Festival
, Entertainment Studios also bought
Chappaquiddick
,
Replicas
, and
Hostiles
.
[50]
Entertainment Studios aimed to distribute at least 18 films in 2018. In January of that year, on his film distribution model, Allen said:
[18]
We're chasing the studio crumbs. They don't want movies that do $40 million to $60 million. We totally will be good with those numbers, and that is what we're pursuing. Our thing is we are really big on slow roll-outs and small releases. Our philosophy?we believe in wide releases. We like to have movies that are 1,500?4,000 screens and we are chasing what the studios don't want. They're chasing much bigger. And we're going to take their crumbs and make a gourmet meal. And then eventually we'll move on to chasing more than their crumbs. But today we're chasing the crumbs.
Diamond Sports Group
edit
A subsidiary of the
Sinclair Broadcast Group
operated in partnership with Entertainment Studios, Diamond Sports Group is the
mass media
company that operates
Bally Sports
, a group of
regional sports networks
formerly known as the
Fox Sports Networks
. The company was founded in 2019 to acquire the networks from
The Walt Disney Company
, which was required to sell the chain as part of its
acquisition
of
21st Century Fox
.
[57]
[58]
[59]