Byron Allen made waves across the media industry when his company Entertainment Studios acquired The Weather Channel for $300 million earlier this year. What does his approach to the media business signal about the direction of the rest of the industry?

The Breakdown You Need to Know

There’s a very formulaic approach that Entertainment Studios takes to spur growth of its media properties. Film crews shoot content for multiple shows at the same time. They also film on a 24-hour schedule in order to increase the efficiency of their channels. This is the strategy the company takes with all of its properties including Justice Central, Comedy.tv, and Cars.tv. In total Allen claims Entertainment Studio’s investments are valued at around $1 billion. That figure is sure to have increased after its Weather Channel acquisition which Allen plans to leverage to open up distribution opportunities for his other assets.

Allen follows a model similar to Robert Smith at technology private equity investor Vista Equity Partners. Vista Equity Partners has developed recognition for Vista Consulting Group which provides a playbook of portfolio companies used to implement standardized and repeatable processes. The approach has been successful, enabling the firm to deploy over $28 billion in acquiring businesses.