Byron Allen’s Allen Media acquires 7 gray TV stations for $380M

Gray Television said Thursday that it has sold seven television stations to Byron Allen’s Allen Media Broadcasting for $380 million in cash, part of a divestiture related to Gray’s purchase earlier this year of Quincy Media.

The deal expands Allen Media’s portfolio to 23 ABC-NBC-CBS-Fox network affiliate broadcast stations nationwide. It now owns and operates local TV stations in 19 markets, along with owning 12 networks including The Weather Channel and the free-streaming service Local Now.

Gray sold the stations — KVOA (NBC) in Tucson, AZ; WKOW (ABC) i Madison, WI; WSIL/KPOB (ABC) in Paducah, KY- Harrisburg, IL; KWWL (NBC) in Cedar Rapids, IA; WXOW/WQOW (ABC) in La Crosse-Eau Claire, WI; WAOW/WMOW (ABC) in  Wausau-Rhinelander, WI and WREX (NBC) in Rockford, IL — in an agreement to divest certain stations currently owned by Quincy, which it had acquired for $925 million in cash. The move was to facilitate regulatory approvals since Gray already operated stations in those markets.

Gray’s acquisition of Quincy and Gray’s sale to Allen will close simultaneously, with regulatory approval now expected by Q3 2021.

“I truly appreciate Gray and Quincy, two of the best broadcast groups in the business, working with us to acquire and transfer these amazing assets,” said Byron Allen, founder, chairman and CEO of Allen Media Group. “Over the past year and a half, we’ve invested close to $1 billion to acquire best-in-class, top-tier broadcast network affiliates. We plan to invest approximately $10 billion to acquire more ABC, CBS, NBC, and Fox television stations over the next two years with the goal of being the largest broadcast television group in America.

Allen said that the assets “will work in concert to amplify our free-streaming service, Local Now.”  Deadline