Aspiring media mogul Byron Allen sold off 10 local TV stations for $171 million as his struggling company unwinds its portfolio.
Allen Media Group — which owns The Weather Channel — sold its ABC, NBC, CBS and Fox affiliates based in Alabama, Illinois, Indiana and Louisiana to Gray Media, which has 180 local stations in 113 markets in the South and Midwest.
The deal is expected to close in the fourth quarter, pending FCC approvals, according to Gray.
Allen Media Group – which also owns affiliates in Honolulu, Hawaii and California – put 28 local TV stations across 21 local markets up for sale in June with help from Moelis & Company.
The comedian-turned-entrepreneur’s company has suffered as media ad spending has steadily declined across the industry and interest rates have remained stubbornly high, pushing the firm to order mass layoffs last year, The Post previously reported.
Earlier this year, local meteorologists at Allen Media stations were forced to give tearful goodbyes after the company replaced them with a feed from The Weather Channel.
Allen Media planned to lay off or reassign at least 50 meteorologists across all of its local stations as it built a new Atlanta hub to lead coverage at The Weather Channel, which the company acquired for $300 million in 2018.
The Weather Channel also trimmed its workforce last October, and shut down its Spanish-language version as part of “extensive cost-cutting measures.”
In February, the company refinanced its $100 million revolving credit facility in its latest attempt to cut costs and give itself time to sell off the stations.
Allen, meanwhile, has continued to snap up new deals, taking over the 12:30 a.m. slot on CBS with “Comics Unleashed,” a half-hour comedy show that he will host.
Allen has led a handful of unsuccessful bids for media giants over the past few years, last year offering to take over Paramount for $30 billion.
The FCC recently greenlit the long-awaited $8.4 billion deal between CBS owner Paramount and David Ellison’s Skydance Media.
In 2023, Allen reportedly offered Disney $10 billion for ABC and some of its cable networks.
He also reportedly considered making an offer for E.W. Scripps.
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