BYRON ALLEN'S ALLEN MEDIA GROUP ACQUIRES BLACK NEWS CHANNEL

 United States Bankruptcy Court Approves $11 Million Sale of 'Black News Channel' Assets to Allen Media Group

LOS ANGELES, July 20, 2022 /PRNewswire/ -- Byron Allen's Allen Media Group (AMG) is proud to announce that the Northern District of Florida, Tallahassee Division of the United States Bankruptcy Court, (Case No. 4:22-bk-40087-KKS) issued an order approving the sale of "substantially all of" Black News Channel (BNC) "assets free and clear of all liens, claims, encumbrances and interests" to AMG's networks division. AMG is acquiring BNC out of bankruptcy for $11 million from billionaire Shahid Khan, owner of the NFL's Jacksonville Jaguars franchise. Khan invested over $100 million into BNC.

AMG's acquisition of BNC will add 300 million linear and digital subscribers to the AMG portfolio of assets -- which includes 12 television networks such as The Weather Channel, digital platforms Local Now, HBCU GO, Sports.TV, theGrio Streaming App and The Weather Channel Streaming App. AMG has also invested over $1 billion in the last 3 years to acquire 27 ABC-NBC-CBS-FOX network affiliate broadcast television stations nationwide.

BNC has carriage on traditional linear packages via Comcast, Charter, Cox, DISH, DirecTV, and Verizon. BNC currently enjoys approximately 45 million linear subscribers and Allen plans to grow the distribution to approximately 80 million linear subscribers over the next 6 months.

"We are excited to have been selected to acquire the Black News Channel, which has approximately 300 million linear and digital subscribers," said Byron Allen, Founder/Chairman/CEO of Allen Media Group. "Allen Media Group will deliver a best-in-class network to serve the underserved African-American community and the advertisers who want to reach this extremely valuable audience. Also, we appreciate the opportunity to provide cable operators, satellite companies, telcos, and digital platforms diversity of ownership, voices, and viewpoints on their programming line-ups by having a 100 percent African-American owned network."

About Allen Media Group
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 Charleston, SC. Allen Media Group owns 27 ABC-NBC-CBS-FOX network affiliate broadcast television stations in 21 U.S. markets and thirteen 24-hour HD television networks serving nearly 220 million subscribers: THE WEATHER CHANNEL, THE WEATHER CHANNEL EN ESPAÑOL, PETS.TV, COMEDY.TV, RECIPE.TV, CARS.TV, ES.TV, MYDESTINATION.TV, JUSTICE CENTRAL.TV, THEGRIO.TV, BLACK NEWS CHANNEL, THIS TV, and PATTRN. Allen Media Group also owns the streaming platforms HBCU GO, THE GRIO STREAMING APP, SPORTS.TV, THE WEATHER CHANNEL STREAMING APP and LOCAL NOW--the free-streaming AVOD service 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, and multimedia digital. 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