Weather Channel Is Sold To Comedian's Media Firm -- WSJ
March 23 2018 - 03:02AM
Dow Jones News
By Joe Flint
This article is being republished as part of our daily
reproduction of WSJ.com articles that also appeared in the U.S.
print edition of The Wall Street Journal (March 23, 2018).
Comedian-turned-media-entrepreneur Byron Allen struck a deal to
acquire the Weather Channel from Comcast Corp. and private-equity
firms Blackstone Group LP and Bain Capital for $300 million.
Mr. Allen said Thursday that he is buying the Atlanta-based
television network through his company, Allen Media LLC.
The head of Entertainment Studios Inc., which owns eight cable
networks such as Pets.TV and Comedy.TV and produces movies and
television shows, Mr. Allen said the widely distributed Weather
Channel will provide leverage to expand the rest of his
holdings.
"It is a stronger relative to help pull us along," Mr. Allen
said. He plans to acquire other independent media assets to better
position his company in the wake of consolidation among bigger
media firms, including AT&T Inc.'s purchase of satellite
broadcaster DirecTV and proposed acquisition of Time Warner Inc.,
which is being challenged in court by the Justice Department.
Once in more than 95 million homes, the Weather Channel's
national distribution has fallen over the past decade to just over
80 million homes. Much of the subscriber losses can be attributed
to consumers cutting the cord to their traditional pay-TV packages
in favor of lower-priced streaming services, an issue facing cable
networks across the dial.
The Weather Channel does have its own special set of issues that
could make future growth challenging. Weather information is now
readily available to consumers via mobile devices. Efforts by the
Weather Channel to go beyond rain and snow and into entertainment
and reality programming have fallen flat, and cable and satellite
operators have squeezed the network to lower its distribution
fees.
Mr. Allen said he doesn't plan major changes in the network's
format beyond more investment. "An app can only for the most part
tell you what the temperature is; it can't give you the in-depth
information you need to navigate you and your family's life," he
said.
For Comcast, Bain and Blackstone, the sale ends a
less-than-stellar run with the Weather Channel assets.
NBCUniversal, then owned by GE, along with the private-equity firms
purchased the Weather Channel from closely held Landmark
Communications in 2008 for about $3.5 billion. Comcast inherited
NBCUniversal's 25% stake in the Weather Channel when it bought
NBCUniversal from GE. In 2015, the owners sold the digital assets
to IBM for about $2 billion.
The involvement of Comcast and Mr. Allen in a deal is a case of
strange bedfellows. Mr. Allen's Entertainment Studios filed a $20
billion racial discrimination lawsuit in 2016 against Comcast, a
case that is still going through the appeals process. That suit
alleged Comcast didn't comply with an agreement it made to the
Federal Communications Commission to launch new networks with
African-American ownership as part of getting approval to purchase
NBCUniversal.
Mr. Allen said he is continuing with his suit against Comcast
and that the Weather Channel purchase isn't related to his legal
fight.
A Comcast spokesman declined to comment the company's legal
fight with Mr. Allen.
Mr. Allen is also in a similar fight with Charter Communications
Inc.
He said one of the suits will be settled and the other one he
will "take all the way." Asked which he would settle, Mr. Allen
said, "That depends on them."
A Charter spokeswoman declined to comment on the company's legal
issues with Mr. Allen.
Jaewon Kang contributed to this article.
Write to Joe Flint at joe.flint@wsj.com
(END) Dow Jones Newswires
March 23, 2018 02:47 ET (06:47 GMT)
Copyright (c) 2018 Dow Jones & Company, Inc.
Comcast (NASDAQ:CMCSA)
Historical Stock Chart
From Feb 2024 to Mar 2024
Comcast (NASDAQ:CMCSA)
Historical Stock Chart
From Mar 2023 to Mar 2024