BYRON ALLEN'S ALLEN MEDIA GROUP SIGNS PURCHASE AGREEMENT FOR $28.5 MILLION CASH ACQUISITION OF MONTGOMERY, ALABAMA FOX AFFILIATE WCOV-TV

LOS ANGELES, Dec. 15, 2021 /PRNewswire/ -- Byron Allen's Allen Media Group division Allen Media Broadcasting is proud to announce it has signed a purchase agreement for its acquisition of the Montgomery, Alabama broadcast television station WCOV-TV (Fox 20) -- UHF digital channel 22 -- from David Woods and his Woods Communications Corporation for $28.5 million in cash. This acquisition is expected to close in 2022.

Upon closing, Allen's acquisition of WCOV-TV will increase the number of broadcast television stations owned and/or operated by his Allen Media Broadcasting to 36 stations across 21 U.S. broadcast television markets. The WCOV-TV digital signal is multiplexed, with channel 20.1 designated as Fox, channel 20.2 designated as Antenna TV, and channel 20.3 designated as THIS TV (acquired by Allen Media Group from MGM in October, 2020).

Allen Media Broadcasting's purchase agreement for WCOV-TV also includes these additional television station assets and their respective digital subchannel affiliates: Troy, Alabama-licensed Cozi TV affiliate WIYC/channel 48 (48.1: Cozi TV, 48.2: MyNetworkTV, 48.3: Heroes & Icons, 48.4: Court TV/Mystery, 48.5: TBD, 48.6: Comet, and 48.7: Charge!) and Montgomery, Alabama-licensed WALE/channel 17 (17.1: True Crime Network, 17.2: Laff, 17.3: Court TV, 17.4: Jewelry Television, 17.5: Movies!, 17.6: Heroes & Icons, and 17.7: Comet).

The most recent television station acquisition by Allen Media Broadcasting was Honolulu's KIKU-TV in September, 2021. In August 2021, Allen Media Broadcasting completed its $380 million cash acquisition of 10 local television stations in seven markets divested from the Gray Television transaction with Quincy Media. In a separate deal in July, 2021, Allen purchased Flint, Michigan's ABC affiliate WJRT-TV from Gray Television for $70 million. In February 2020, Allen closed the deal to acquire 11 broadcast television stations from USA Television Holdings and USA Television MidAmerica Holdings for $305 million. Allen's purchase of broadcast television assets began in July 2019 with his acquisition of Bayou City Broadcasting, which included 4 television stations in Evansville, Indiana and Lafayette, Louisiana for $165 million. In March 2018, Allen acquired The Weather Channel, serving Americans for nearly four decades, and voted the most trusted news network for 11 consecutive years, and the fifth most-trusted brand overall. In addition to The Weather Channel, Allen also owns 11 additional television networks and the free-streaming services theGrio, Sports.TV, HBCUGo.TV, The Weather Channel en Español, and Local Now. Allen Media Group was founded by Byron Allen in 1993.

"WCOV-TV is an excellent asset and has been extremely well-managed for decades by the Woods family, who I've known for over 35 years," said Byron Allen, Founder, Chairman, and CEO of Allen Media Group. "Over the past two years, we've invested approximately $1 billion to acquire best-in-class, top-tier, Big 4 broadcast network affiliates and we plan to invest significantly more to acquire additional ABC, CBS, NBC, and FOX television stations with the goal of being the largest broadcast television group in America. All of our media assets work in concert to amplify our free-streaming services theGrio.TV, Sports.TV, HBCUGo.TV, The Weather Channel en Español, and Local Now."   

"The acquisition by Allen Media Group will allow WCOV, WIYC and WALE to become even more competitive in the future and well-positioned for the advancing world of broadcast television," said David Woods of Woods Communications. "We've known Byron Allen since 1980 when he was a co-host of the NBC program REAL PEOPLE. We have followed Allen as he started a small production company and worked hard in order to build a massive, diversified global entertainment company involved with numerous divisions, all of which revolve around consuming content on various size screens. Byron Allen has a reputation for hiring the best executives in each of the companies he owns. We have observed his growth for over 40 years and admire what he has achieved. Byron Allen is a true American entrepreneur. We feel blessed to become part of the Allen Media Group family." 

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 36 ABC-NBC-CBS-FOX network affiliate broadcast television stations in 21 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 2021. 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 premier 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