Byron Allen

The quest for a new way to measure TV audiences has taken years of tests, dozens of efforts to sample upstart technologies and hours of debates among big media companies, Madison Avenue buying firms and blue-chip advertisers. At present, no one seems to have devised a perfect solution. So Byron Allen decided to try.

After making it known in September that he’s interested in acquiring ABC from Disney for a price tag of $10 billion, Byron Allen says he still has his eyes set on ABC and promises he’s ready play ball when Disney is ready to sell. “I think ABC’s a real possibility. They say they’re not ready,” Allen said at the UCLA Department of Neurosurgery’s Visionary Ball on Wednesday night. “When they’re ready I’m going to chase it down like a lion chases down a gazelle.” (Greg Doherty/Getty for Allen Media Group)

Media entrepreneur Byron Allen, one of many parties interested in acquiring ABC and other linear TV assets from Disney, said he has “access to plenty of capital,” and Disney’s internal deliberations are the next hurdle to be cleared. Rather than financing, Allen maintained that the “real commodity is certainty of close,” given the current regulatory and industry landscape. “That’s the magic trick.”

Comedian and media mogul Byron Allen has made a $10 billion offer for ABC and other linear networks owned by the Walt Disney Co., a spokesman for Allen and Allen Media Group confirmed. TV station owner Nexstar, which bought the CW Network, also has expressed interest in buying ABC and its stations from Disney.

Allen Media Group’s Local Now said it make a deal with Banijay Rights to stream free ad-supported streaming television (FAST) channels based on some of Banijay’s reality, dating and game shows.

Several low-cost shows are premiering this fall, but big names are nowhere to be seen.

While it may seem like Black-focused media is at a high these days, the reality is only 4% of all media in the U.S. is Black-owned. Moreover, experts say that biased practices from advertisers make it harder for Black-owned media companies to be profitable. NPR’s Eric Deggans talks to Byron Allen, about his ambitions to grow his media empire, hold advertisers to account, and control the narrative of how Black people are represented in media.

Executives and on-air talent from Allen Media Group showcased an expanding and increasingly multimedia programming lineup for brand marketers and media buyers during an upfront presentation in New York that highlighted the company’s investment in new shows and in expanded reach on linear TV and digital platforms. (Photo by Chance Yeh/Getty Images for Allen Media Group/The Weather Channel)

Paramount is exploring a potential sale of a majority stake in its BET business, which includes BET, VH1 and the BET+ streaming service. Among interested buyers are Tyler Perry, a longtime partner of BET, who is engaged in conversations to buy the stake., and Byron Allen, who controls a number of local TV stations as well as The Weather Channel and other assets via his Allen Media Group and Entertainment Studios firms. “Byron Allen is interested in buying BET, and he will be pursuing the acquisition of the network,” a rep for the mogul says.

During a TVNewsCheck webinar, the founder, chairman and CEO of Allen Media Group, said two years of talk from big brands and their agencies had yielded little progress on the effort to convince advertisers to devote more of their budgets to Black-owned media companies. He called for more sponsorships to help startups and denounced the practice of shifting spending from Black-targeted programming to Black-owned media.

Media mogul Byron Allen appears to be courting major Democratic politicians once again as he attempts to stop hedge fund Standard General’s $8.6 billion acquisition of TV station giant Tegna, according to a prominent Beltway research firm. Last Friday he hosted an event at his Los Angeles home for House Minority Leader Hakeem Jefferies (D-N.Y.) and Minority Whip Katherine Clark (D-Mass.) with guests that also included Nancy Pelosi.

Black-owned and Black-targeted media leaders are stepping up their campaign to convince major advertisers to boost spending on companies like theirs. Byron Allen, founder, founder, chairman and CEO of Allen Media Group, will join Kathy Haley, co-founder and publisher of TVNewsCheck, for an in depth and frank conversation about how marketers and their agencies can help bring equity to a marketplace that has long paid lower rates for and minimized spending on Black-owned and Black-targeted media. Join the conversation by registering here for the webinar, set for Wednesday, Jan. 25 at 1 p.m. ET

Allen Media Group Founder, Chairman and CEO Byron Allen will join BET Networks President of Media Sales Louis Carr for a candid conversation about the advertising marketplace two years after Allen launched a drive to eliminate inequities in the way major marketers allocate their advertising budgets. TVNewsCheck Co-Founder and Publisher Kathy Haley will moderate the conversation during a TVNewsCheck webinar on Jan. 25. Register here.

Media entrepreneur Byron Allen is preparing a bid for the Washington Commanders in what would be his second attempt this year to acquire a National Football League franchise, according to people familiar with the matter. Allen is working with an investor group, according to people familiar with his ambitions who asked not to be identified because the discussions are private. If Allen succeeds buying the Commanders, he would be the first Black majority owner of an NFL team.

Nancy Pelosi is creating static over the proposed Tegna-Standard General merger that would take a massive group of TV stations private — after she and fellow House Democrats got more than $500,000 in campaign donations from Byron Allen, a comedian-turned-media mogul who wants to block the deal.

As McDonald’s and Nielsen lawsuits proceed, Allen says spending on Black-owned media isn’t rising fast enough.

The presentation was made at its annual breakfast, which took place Wednesday morning during the NAB Show in Las Vegas. Above (l-r): Tim McCarthy, co-president of Broadcasters Foundation and Scott Herman, chairman of Broadcasters Foundation, pictured with the honorees, Byron Allen, Pierre Bouvard, Christine Travaglini, Dennis Wharton, Ralph Oakley and Gordon Smith.

The suit charges the ratings firm with fraud and concealment and alleges media companies have suffered billions of dollars in damages.

Byron Allen, founder, chairman and CEO of Allen Media Group and Entertainment Studios, is unyielding in his efforts to get corporate America to spend 15% of its ad budgets on Black-owned media and redress generations of inequity, including a yawning absence of minority-owned media. “America should not be proud of the fact in 2022 you are looking at the one and only Black person in America that owns Big Four network affiliates,” he says.

Media tycoon Byron Allen is preparing a bid for the Denver Broncos, a move that if successful would make him the first Black majority owner of a National Football League team. “NFL commissioner Roger Goodell and New England Patriots owner Robert Kraft came to me in November of 2019 and asked me to take a good look at buying an NFL team,” Allen, chairman and chief executive officer at Allen Media Group, said in a statement in response to inquiries about his interest in the Broncos.

With no ownership cap relief in sight from the FCC, broadcasters look to pick up ones and twos along with pursuing other avenues to grow their businesses. Meanwhile, the industry waits to see if Tegna will be sold. Note: This story is available to TVNewsCheck Premium members only. If you would like to upgrade your free TVNewsCheck membership to Premium now, you can visit your Member Home Page, available when you log in at the very top right corner of the site or in the Stay Connected Box that appears in the right column of virtually every page on the site. If you don’t see Member Home, you will need to click Log In or Subscribe.

The Entertainment Studios chief says the trade show needs to “adapt to new realities in television programming” with a shift to TV’s production hub and a spot on the calendar where it will be more useful to the syndicated production cycle.

A judge has dismissed a $10 billion lawsuit against McDonald’s Corp. by the media entrepreneur Byron Allen, who accused the fast-food chain of racial discrimination for not advertising with Black-owned media. U.S. District Judge Fernando Olguin in Los Angeles wrote on Tuesday that two companies owned by Allen did not offer enough factual evidence to show that McDonald’s “intentionally and purposefully discriminated against them.”

The media entrepreneur says Sohn has worked “nonstop to promote greater competition and more minority ownership in broadcasting. As a commissioner, she would have the tools to improve ownership diversity among FCC licensees.”

Media entrepreneur Byron Allen has raised $10 billion in preferred equity and debt for his bid for station group Tegna, hoping to prevail over a rival offer from investment firms Apollo Global Management and Standard General LP, people familiar with the matter said. The financing is backed by a consortium of 14 banks and 10 investors, including Ares Management Corp., Fortress Investment Group, Oaktree Capital Management and Michael Milken’s family office, one of the sources said.

Byron Allen, the 1980s comedian-turned-media-mogul who owns the Weather Channel, is angling to buy a massive chain of TV stations that were formerly owned by the Gannett newspaper giant — and the outcome could make or break his budding business empire, according to some insiders.

Byron Allen’s Allen Media Group said it acquired HBCUGo.TV, a streaming service serving the 105 historically Black colleges and universities from Symonds-Evans Media. The acquisition bolsters the company’s reach into African-American audiences. Allen Media Group recently launched theGrio.TV as an over-the-air network.

Byron Allen has shored up more investors to back his $23-a-share takeover offer for television broadcaster Tegna Inc., according to people familiar with the matter. The media mogul is seeking $8 billion or more in debt and equity to outbid a consortium that includes private equity giant Apollo Global Management and Standard General, said the people, who asked to not be identified because the matter isn’t public. Allen is discussing raising at least $2 billion in preferred equity from Oaktree Capital Group, Fortress Investment Group, the family office of Michael Milken and Ares Management Corp.

Byron Allen’s Allen Media Group closed its $70 million cash acquisition of the Flint-Sagniaw, Mich. station from Gray Television on Thursday.

The awards will be presented to Byron Allen, Pierre Bouvard, Ralph Oakley, Christine Travaglini and Dennis Wharton at the Broadcasters Foundation Breakfast on Tuesday, Oct. 12, During the NAB Show in Las Vegas.

In the space of just a few weeks, a group of Madison Avenue heavyweights — with names like General Motors, Interpublic Group and WPP — has made public guarantees of ad money for some of the industry’s smaller media outlets, all owned by Black entrepreneurs. Getting these companies to talk about ad spending in public is an amazing feat. For Byron Allen, it’s just a first step.

Byron Allen, founder, chairman and CEO of Allen Media Group and The Weather Group, will continue his crusade to win equity and inclusion for Black-owned media in the world of advertising by headlining  the first Black-Owned Media Upfront. The event, set for May 11 and 12 from noon to 2:30 p.m. ET, will turn a spotlight on the programming and audiences of his companies and others involved in the movement. Register here to participate.