Byron Allen
Founder, Chairman, and Chief Executive Officer
Chairman and CEO Byron Allen founded Allen Media Group (Entertainment Studios) in 1993. After starting the company, Byron Allen set out to produce low-cost non-fiction television programming. The first show, Entertainers with Byron Allen, featured interviews between Allen and celebrities. The company was then able to move into court shows and scripted programming at the turn of the century. From there, Allen Media Group successfully launched eight 24-hour HD television networks serving nearly 300 million subscribers:
PETS.TV, COMEDY.TV, RECIPE.TV, CARS.TV, ES.TV, MYDESTINATION.TV, JUSTICECENTRAL.TV, and THIS.TV
Allen Media Group (AMG) continues to produce, distribute, and sell advertising for 73 television programs, making it one of the largest independent producers/distributors of first-run syndicated television programming for broadcast television stations. Some of its most notable programs include Funny You Should Ask, Mathis Court with Judge Mathis, Fast Home Rescue, Comics Unleashed, World’s Funniest Weather, and Katie Parla’s Rome. With a library of over 5,000 hours of owned content across multiple genres, AMG 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. And with AMG International, its reach extends around the globe. The company currently has active license agreements and programming in South Africa, The United Arab Emirates, Australia, The Bahamas, Canada and New Zealand.
Further distinguishing AMG is its status as the first African-American owned multi-platform media company producing and distributing wide-release motion pictures and content for all platforms. In 2015, Allen purchased Freestyle Releasing, now called Allen Media Group Motion Pictures , a full-service theatrical movie distribution company. AMG Motion Pictures released 2017’s highest-grossing independent movie, 47 Meters Down. Since then, the company has released many critically-acclaimed and commercially successful films. The digital distribution unit, 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 the spring of 2018, Byron Allen acquired the #1 weather news television network, The Weather Channel. With its cutting edge storytelling, reliable data, and noteworthy personnel, The Weather Channel continues to draw viewers into detailed and visually stunning weather and climate events. In addition, Allen’s technical team began rolling out LOCAL NOW, the FREE ad-supported streaming service powered by The Weather Channel. Its advanced technology was a defining factor that attracted Allen and his executive team when they acquired the all-American brand. It delivers real-time, hyper-local news, weather, traffic, sports, and lifestyle information. It officially launched in 2021.
However, broadcast television has been at the center of the company’s business since the very beginning. Back in 2019, Byron Allen formed Allen Media Group Broadcasting and began building the station group, which now includes 33 ABC-NBC-CBS-FOX network affiliate broadcast television stations in 27 U.S. markets. In July 2019, Byron Allen acquired Bayou City Broadcasting, which included 4 television stations. In August 2019, Allen personally partnered with Sinclair Broadcast Group to acquire 21 Regional Sports Networks (RSNs) from Walt Disney/FOX Corporation for $10.6 billion. In February 2020, Allen Media Group Broadcasting acquired an additional 11 stations from the purchase of USA TELEVISION. And in August 2020, Allen Media Broadcasting added Honolulu ABC affiliate KITV, boosting his Allen Media Group’s owned and operated big-four network affiliates to 16 stations in 12 markets. Allen Media Group Broadcasting then added 23 ABC, NBC, CBS and FOX network affiliate stations with its acquisition of most of the Gray Television facilities. As a result of his success, Byron Allen was inducted into the Broadcasting & Cable Hall of Fame and was elected to the Television Board by the National Association of Broadcasters (NAB) .
While the company continues to pursue new and exciting opportunities, Allen Media Group looks to constantly improve its library. In 2022, Byron Allen wanted to ensure that our Spanish-speaking audience never missed out on life-saving alerts and vital information about climate events and storms.He tasked his production and scientific teams to launch THE WEATHER CHANNEL en ESPANOL, the first 24-hour Spanish language weather service. At NAB in 2022, the Broadcasters Foundation Of America presented Allen with their Leadership Award – given to individuals in recognition of their career contributions to the broadcast industry and the community at large.
Also in 2022, HBCUGO and HBCU SPORTS NETWORK were two ground-breaking network platforms that Allen Media Group debuted. They feature the young sports talent and big band performances born out of the HBCU campuses across America. These athletes and performers are the best in their league and Byron Allen’s desire to finally give them their own place in the national audience arena had come to fruition.
Additionally, in Summer 2022, Allen acquired the defunct “Black News Channel” and immediately transitioned it to TheGRIO cable network. Taking AMG’s “Voice of Black America” on-line platform into the cable arena happened at lightning speed. In August of 2022, TheGRIO network served some 66 million news subs with its unique and deeply cultural content that its sizable audience had already grown to know. The highly-rated digital video-centric news community platform is devoted to providing African-Americans with compelling stories and underrepresented perspectives. Today, it features aggregated and original video packages, news articles and opinion pieces on topics that include breaking news, politics, health, business and entertainment.
In 2023, Allen was honored with the inaugural Legendary Honor at the 50th annual H. Naylor Fitzhugh Conference presented by the African American Student Union at Harvard Business School. The conference recognizes the contributions of African American leaders and addresses key issues such as Black wealth creation, leadership, business ownership and societal equity. Also in 2023, University of Southern California’s Leslie and William McMorrow Neighborhood Academic Initiative presented Allen with the USC McMorrow NAI Champion Award honoring USC’s Neighborhood Academic Initiative Class of 2023. Additionally in 2023, the UCLA Department of Neurosurgery and mogul Jeffrey Katzenberg presented Allen with one of the highest honors at their Visionary Ball, the Visionary Award.
In 2024, Byron Allen was awarded the Fred Dressler Leadership Award at the 2024 Mirror Awards in New York. Established by Syracuse University’s Newhouse School in 2006, the Mirror Awards honor the reporters, editors, and teams of writers who “hold a mirror to their own industry for the public’s benefit. The Dressler Award is given to those who have made “distinct and consistent contributions to the public’s understanding of the media.
Grow. Be your best. Make it easy for the consumer. Byron Allen believes in these statements and he acts on them with his multi-office national staff of over 2,400 employees from the many different business units of Allen Media Group. He looks at media from a performer’s point of view and he is all about advancing cutting-edge storytelling and entertaining. His portfolio of companies is constantly finding new and exciting ways to engage its 300 million subscribers, every day.
ALLEN MEDIA GROUP is headquartered in Los Angeles with offices in New York, Atlanta, Chicago, and Charleston.
