Byron Allen, founder, chairman, & CEO of Entertainment Studios, has been making huge moves lately. Last year, we reported on his acquisition of The Grio.com, a digital video-centric news community platform devoted to providing African-Americans with compelling stories and perspectives currently underrepresented in existing national news outlets.
Now, Allen has added The Weather Channel to the growing list of companies under his Entertainment Studios brand that includes divisions in broadcast television syndication, production, and distribution of more than 41 programs, eight 24/7 cable television networks, theatrical motion picture production, acquisition and distribution, digital movie acquisition and distribution, and global news publishing ? making Entertainment Studios one of the largest privately-held media companies in the world.
And he owns it all – outright. 100 percent.
“The Weather Channel is one of the most trusted and extremely important cable networks, with information vitally important to the safety and protection of our lives,” Allen said. “We welcome The Weather Channel, which has been seen in American households for nearly four decades, to our cable television networks division. The acquisition of The Weather Channel is strategic, as we begin our process of investing billions of dollars over the next five years to acquire some of the best media assets around the world.”
“We are excited to join Entertainment Studios, and we are especially proud to be part of one of the largest emerging global media companies,” said Dave Shull, CEO of The Weather Channel. “Byron Allen’s purchase of our innovative and forward-thinking organization will increase the value we bring to our viewers, distributors, and advertisers.”
Allen made news in 2015 when his company was one of several other Black media companies that filed a lawsuit against Comcast and Time Warner Cable on charges of racial discrimination.
He launched Entertainment Studios in 1993.
(With additional reporting by TNJ Senior Editor Sergie Willoughby.)
