Byron Allen is placing his native TV stations up on the market.
Allen’s Allen Media Group (AMG) says that it has employed the funding financial institution Moelis & Firm to market its native stations, that are comprised of 28 ABC, NBC, CBS and Fox affiliated stations in 21 markets.
AMG owns stations in Honolulu, Hawaii; Madison, Wisconsin; Montgomery, Alabama; Flint, Michigan; and Tucson, Arizona, amongst different cities. The corporate says that it’ll use the money generated from any sale to “considerably cut back” its excellent debt.
“Six years in the past, Allen Media Group started the method of investing over one billion {dollars} to accumulate huge 4 network-affiliated tv stations. Now we have obtained quite a few inquiries and written provides for many of our tv stations and now could be the time to discover getting a return on this phenomenal funding,” stated AMG founder and CEO Byron Allen. “We’re going to use this chance to take a critical have a look at the provides, and the sale proceeds might be used to considerably cut back our debt.”
The corporate has needed to bear cuts over the past yr or in order it has grappled with a quickly altering media atmosphere. In February it refinanced its $100 million revolving credit score facility to present it extra runway to execute.
The sale plans, cuts and refinancing are indicative of most of the points going through linear TV firms, that are feeling the pinch of cord-cutting )native stations are beneficiaries of retransmission charges, similar to cable channels) in addition to a extra aggressive promoting atmosphere, with tech and leisure giants transferring towards extra automated advert shopping for.
AMG has, lately, been a purchaser, fairly than a vendor. Although most of its acquisitions have been modest in scale, and extra targeted on linear TV (some syndicated fare and the native TV stations being among the many finest examples).
Allen, who started his media profession as a comic (he nonetheless practices the artwork after debuting on The Tonight Present at age 18), had turned AMG right into a rollup automobile lately, buying not solely its secure of native TV stations but in addition manufacturers like The Climate Channel and The Grio. The corporate additionally produces syndicated TV programming, together with a slate of courtroom and decide exhibits, and Comics Unleashed, which is taking on the post-Late Present timeslot on CBS.
The mogul has by no means been shy about expressing his ambitions. He informed The Hollywood Reporter in a 2020 profile that he would like to personal CNN: “I’m near the identical age when Rupert Murdoch got here right here to America,” he stated. “He was in his 50s. I’m 59. What you see in the present day might be 10,000 occasions greater.”
And final yr, his firm stated that it made a $14 billion provide for Paramount International, although it didn’t disclose who its strategic companions can be in any such bid.
AMG has a streaming presence via FAST channels, a Climate Channel streaming possibility and choices like HBCU Go, however the firm is modest in scale in comparison with different unbiased TV firms, underscoring the challenges of constructing the bounce to digital.