Investor Relations

In 1993, Byron Allen started Entertainment Studios (ES).  Since then he has built a media empire that includes everything from Broadcast Television Stations to Mobile APPS and OTT platforms that are transforming our business.  

In 2018, Mr. Allen established ALLEN MEDIA GROUP, (AMG) which encompasses all of the original business units from his (ES) banner, upon which he has built and expanded.  

But it all started with a young television stand-up comedian, producer and entrepreneur named Byron Allen.  From childhood, while awaiting his single mother to complete her workday at NBC Network in Burbank California, Byron became a student of showbusiness.  He would play on The TONIGHT SHOW set between tapings and pretend he was entertaining the audience.  Bob Hope, Redd Foxx, Johnny Carson, Richard Pryor, Jimmie “JJ” Walker,  whom he watched create their shows there on the studio lot were his role models. Each had a profound influence on the young boy, and two in particular – “JJ” Walker and Johnny Carson, gave him his big break after years of stand-up shows and joke writing.  Byron Allen made his first appearance on The TONIGH SHOW Starring JOHNNY CARSON in spring 1978 and that very successful act catapulted his career.  Through the 1980’s he appeared on stage and on camera in numerous TV shows and live acts.  He honed his relationships with TV stations around the country and began creating his own programming.  

By the early 1990’s he had amassed a sizable library of celebrity interviews and comic “talk shows” and that all gave him the spark to establish his own company.  

In the early 2000’s, AMG ventured into the lucrative court programming business and, while-at first skeptics questioned Allen’s decision, they quickly realized his foresight.  Today, AMG produces six court shows for first run syndication and its JUSTICE CENTRAL cable channel. While plunging into the court genre, Byron Allen simultaneously started negotiating with Verizon to launch several new lifestyle cable channels. At that moment, the ALLEN MEDIA GROUP NETWORKS division was born. Today, with the addition of THE WEATHER CHANNEL which Allen acquired in March 2018, AMG can boast one of the largest cable network portfolios in the industry, featuring ten, 24-hour HD television networks (THE WEATHER CHANNEL, COMEDY.TV, CARS.TV, ES.TV, JUSTICECENTRAL.TV, MYDESTINATION.TV, PETS.TV, RECIPE.TV, LOCAL NOW, and THE WEATHER CHANNEL EN ESPAÑOL).   AMG continues to produce and distribute Emmy Award-winning shows, while also selling advertising for some 45 broadcast and cable television programs. This vast library of programs includes AMERICA’S COMEDY GAME SHOW, FUNNY YOU SHOULD ASK and numerous adrenaline-rush reality shows that feature incredible weather event footage. These are produced by ALLEN MEDIA GROUP’s Atlanta-based, EMMY Award winning production teams at THE WEATHER CHANNEL. ALLEN MEDIA GROUP has today, one of the largest libraries of family and advertiser-friendly lifestyle content in the world, making it a valuable partner for MVPD’s, broadcast and digital companies that it works with. Further distinguishing AMG is its status as the first 100% solely African-American-owned diversified, multi-platform media company, producing and distributing content for all platforms, especially streaming.

In 2015, Allen purchased Freestyle Releasing, now called ALLEN MEDIA GROUP MOTION PICTURES, a full-service theatrical movie distribution company. Entertainment Studios Motion Pictures released one of 2017’s highest-grossing independent movie, the shark thriller 47 METERS DOWN.

The digital distribution unit of ALLEN MEDIA GROUP 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 TheGrio, a digital, video-centric news platform devoted to providing compelling entertainment, news and lifestyle content for African-Americans. TheGrio features aggregated and original video packages, news articles, and blogs on topics that include breaking news, politics, health, business, and entertainment and remains focused on curating engaging digital content and currently has more than 20 million annual< visitors.

In March 2018, Mr. Allen acquired THE WEATHER CHANNEL, one of the most trusted news networks that has served Americans for nearly four decades. After investing $470 million in broadcast television station acquisitions over the past six months, the addition of the USA TV portfolio grows the ALLEN MEDIA GROUP BROADCASTING group to 15 television stations across 11 U.S. markets, and allows ALLEN MEDIA GROUP to reach an even broader audience, while strategically positioning the company across broadcast television, cable networks, and digital media platforms.   

ALLEN MEDIA GROUP is a Global Media, Content & Technology company which continues to grow and build new ways to blend technology and story telling. To that end, LOCAL NOW, an engaging –  FREE – streaming Mobile APP and OTT platform has emerged as a game-changer in our business.  

It is the world’s first “SUPER APP” that delivers hyper-local weather, traffic and lite-news and a library of television and movie titles as well as a suite of over 400 fast-channels.  Local Now is powered by the high-end technical team at THE WEATHER CHANNEL, and is the only APP to combine the coveted “local AND national” content. It is unlike any other platform in the marketplace that offers consumers a total immersion and endless interactive options.  

In 2019, Byron Allen formed ALLEN MEDIA GROUP BROADCASTING and began building the broadcast station group which now owns or operates twenty-seven full power and three low power Broadcast Television stations in twenty small and medium-sized television markets, reaching approximately 5% of total U.S. television households.  AMG produces approximately 5,000 hours of original, live, localized weather programming and over 500 hours of live local news per week; distribute high-profile sports, prime-time and entertainment content across our television markets through our affiliations with ABC, CBS, FOX and NBC networks (collectively the “Big Four” networks); and own over 5,000 hours of original programming across multiple genres at Entertainment Studios Television, our television production and distribution business unit. 

In August 2019, Mr. Allen personally partnered with Sinclair Broadcast Group to acquire 21 Regional Sports Networks (RSNs) from Walt Disney/FOX Corporation for $10.6 billion. In July 2019, Byron Allen acquired Bayou City Broadcasting, which included 4 television stations in Evansville, IN (WEVV/CBS & WEEV/FOX) and Lafayette, LA (KLAF/NBC & KADN/FOX) for $165 million. 

In 2020 and 2021, AMG expanded its ALLEN MEDIA GROUP NETWORKS international distribution in the United Arab Emirates, through a partnership with SAWA MEDIA, DUBAI, bringing new audiences throughout the Persian Gulf its family and advertiser friendly content.

Ensuring that our Spanish-speaking audience has life-saving alerts and vital information about climate events and storms, in 2022 Byron Allen tasked his production and scientific teams to launch THE WEATHER CHANNEL en ESPANOL, the first 24-hour Spanish language weather service. 

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 borne 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 has come to fruition.  

Additionally, in summer 2022, Allen acquired the defuncted “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. 

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 AMG.  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 200 million subscribers, every day.

ALLEN MEDIA GROUP is headquartered in Los Angeles with offices in New York, Atlanta, Charleston, Chicago and Sarasota

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