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Allen Media Group exploring stations sale

I guess even as successful an entrepreneur as Byron is, he's not immune to the debt service from expanding his holdings so quickly.
 
26 stations. The article forgot to list WMOW/4 Crandon WI, a satellite of WAOW/9 Wausau. Unless they're planning to take it dark, which would leave the Rhinelander area without an ABC affiliate.
 
As I have said many of times Byron I'm A Cheap Skate Allen had no business buying TV stations should've just stayed in his lane and just selling his syndication dreck to the TV station groups. No white knight coming to save the TV stations in my opinion, Allen losing money on the sale than what he paid for those TV stations.
 
As I have said many of times Byron I'm A Cheap Skate Allen had no business buying TV stations should've just stayed in his lane and just selling his syndication dreck to the TV station groups. No white knight coming to save the TV stations in my opinion, Allen losing money on the sale than what he paid for those TV stations.
I think you might just hate him more than I do!
 
just selling his syndication dreck to the TV station groups.
What shows are these?

When Obama was president, Allen did a sitcom called "The First Family" about the first Black president and his crazy family. The cast included John Witherspoon, Marla Gibbs, Jackee and Gladys Knight.
 
What shows are these?
AMG syndicates nine court shows (including "Mathis Court", "The Verdict with Judge Hatchett"), and some shows focused on comedy ("Kickin' It with Byron Allen", "Comics Unleashed", "Funny You Should Ask"), among others. I don't think there are any scripted shows among them.
 
With the FCC likely to loosen the ownership rules in the next year, it appears that Gray wants to get in the gate early to see what will fly. They can always amend the deal to exclude one of the stations or sell/trade off an excess station in the market. For weak owners like Allen, this will be the last chance to get out.
 
Byron was one of those who offered to buy BET. Perhaps this is a way to get the cash to make another offer.


I'm sure SkyDance will gladly take Byron's money.
I doubt it. Allen Media Group is in so much debt because they don't know what they are doing. They made cuts like crazy in the last year to try and pay down that debt. They also pretty much ran ThisTV into the ground after buying it and then shut it down.
 

Gray Media to get some of the Allen Media Stations. Here are the stations that are now going to Gray Media.

Gray Media will acquire nearly a dozen local television stations from Allen Media Group, the companies announced on Friday.

The deal will see Gray Media plunk down $171 million for stations primarily in the Midwest and southern United States, including outlets in Indiana, Alabama, Louisiana and Mississippi.



The stations covered by the deal are:

  • KADN (Channel 15, Fox & NBC) – Lafayette, Louisiana
  • WCOV (Channel 20, Fox) – Montgomery, Alabama
  • WAAY (Channel 31, ABC) – Huntsville, Alabama
  • WFFT (Channel 55, Fox) – Fort Wayne, Indiana
  • WEVV (Channel 44, CBS & Fox) – Evansville, Indiana
  • WREX (Channel 13, NBC) – Rockford, Illinois
  • WTHI (Channel 10, CBS & Fox) – Terre Haute, Illinois
  • WSIL (Channel 3, ABC) – Harrisburg, Illinois
  • WTVA (Channel 9, ABC & NBC) – Columbus, Mississippi
  • WLFI (Channel 18, CBS) – West Lafayette, Indiana
 
From a much more definitive source:
Allen Media Group put its portfolio of 28 local TV stations across 21 local markets up for sale back in June, with Moelis & Company marketing the portfolio. The sale of about a third of those stations suggests that the bank will seek to cleave them off piecemeal to get the best deal.
A very very bad sign for Byron when the bank is basically selling the stations.
 
A very very bad sign for Byron when the bank is basically selling the stations.

Moellis & Co. is a bank, not necessarily the bank that holds the notes on AMG.

Many of Allen Media's stations came from regulatory divestitures from other broadcasters (Nexstar and Gray most notably), so selling all the stations in one piece was always unlikely. Although at least two of the stations being acquired were part of the Quincy media spinoffs: WREX/Rockford, Ill. and WSIL/Harrisburg, IL (and it's satellite, KPOB).
I presume that failing station waivers will be sought.
 
That leaves Honolulu, Madison, Wausau, La Crosse-Eau Claire, and Southern Oregon as the only places with a “For Sale” sign.
Hawaii and Wisconsin are no-go, since Gray already owns network affiliates in all of them. Allen needs to find a different buyer for those. I wonder if Hubbard or Hearst would be interested in expanding their ABC holdings in the Upper Midwest (Hearst owns WISN in Milwaukee, which dominates the market, and Hubbard owns all the ABC affiliates in Minnesota). But that's just me speculating.
 


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