16 Dec Byron Allen signs $28.5M purchase agreement for Montgomery Fox affiliate WCOV-TV

Acquisition of the Alabama outlet will bring Allen Media Broadcasting’s holdings to 36 television stations in 21 U.S. markets.

By Biba Adams

Media mogul Byron Allen, who owns theGrio, has signed a purchase agreement to acquire WCOV-TV, a Fox affiliate in Montgomery, Alabama.

The acquisition of the outlet will bring the media entrepreneur’s Allen Media Group division Allen Media Broadcasting’s holdings to 36 television stations across 21 U.S. markets.

According to a press release, Allen will purchase the station from David Woods of Woods Communications Corporation for $28.5 million in cash. The deal is expected to close next year.

“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 Allen, the chairman and CEO of Allen Media Group/Entertainment Studios. “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.”

Allen launched his media empire in 1993 with the founding of Allen Media Group/Entertainment Studios, a company with offices in New York, Chicago, Atlanta and Raleigh. Its broadcasting arm boasts 36 ABC-NBC-CBS-FOX network affiliate stations in 21 U.S. markets and twelve 24-hour HD television networks serving nearly 180 million subscribers. This year alone, Allen has acquired more than a dozen local broadcast stations, including 10 local stations in seven markets divested from the Gray Television transaction with Quincy Media.

The acquisition of WCOV-TV will also include several digital media assets.

“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 Woods. “We’ve known Byron Allen since 1980 when he was a co-host of the NBC program Real People.”

In October, Allen received a star on the famed Hollywood Walk of Fame.

“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,” the Woods Communications Corp. owner and president noted. “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.”

Home to just over 200,000 people, Montgomery is the capital of Alabama and the site of the Montgomery bus boycott, one of the most pivotal periods in Black America’s fight for civil rights. In recent years, the city has been focused on revitalizing its downtown district and restoring the state’s Selma to Montgomery National Historic Trail.