Gray Television, Inc. (“
Gray”) (NYSE: GTN) today
reached an agreement to divest certain television stations
currently owned by Quincy Media, Inc. (“
Quincy”)
to Byron Allen’s Allen Media Broadcasting, LLC (“
Allen
Media”) for $380 million dollars in cash. Allen Media,
which owns and operates local television stations in twelve
markets, also owns 12 networks including The Weather Channel and
the free-streaming service Local Now. Allen Media Group was founded
by Byron Allen in 1993.
Earlier this year, Gray reached an agreement to acquire Quincy
for $925 million in cash. To facilitate regulatory approvals for
this transaction, Gray agreed to sell to Allen Media the following
television stations currently owned by Quincy, each of which
operates in a market in which Gray also owns and operates a
television station:
KVOA (NBC), Tucson, Arizona (Nielsen DMA Rank 64)WKOW (ABC),
Madison, Wisconsin (DMA 81)WSIL / KPOB (ABC), Paducah, Kentucky-
Harrisburg, Illinois (DMA 84)KWWL (NBC), Cedar Rapids, Iowa (DMA
92)WXOW / WQOW (ABC), La Crosse-Eau Claire, Wisconsin (DMA 129)WAOW
/ WMOW (ABC), Wausau-Rhinelander, Wisconsin (DMA 136)WREX (NBC),
Rockford, Illinois (DMA 139)
Gray’s acquisition of Quincy and Gray’s sale of the foregoing
Quincy stations to Allen Media will close simultaneously. As such,
at no time will Gray own, control or operate any of the divestiture
television stations. Gray expects to close these transactions
following receipt of regulatory and other approvals in the third
quarter of 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. Over the past year-and-a-half, we've invested
close to $1 billion to acquire best-in-class, top-tier, broadcast
network affiliates,” said Byron Allen, Founder/Chairman/CEO of
Allen Media Group. “We plan to invest approximately ten
billion dollars 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. All of our media
assets, including these broadcast television stations, will work in
concert to amplify our free-streaming service, Local
Now.”
“We are thrilled to facilitate the transfer of these fine Quincy
television stations to Byron Allen and Allen Media Group, who we
are confident will continue the strong commitments to journalism
and localism that have distinguished these stations under Quincy’s
outstanding stewardship,” said Gray’s Executive Chairman and CEO
Hilton H. Howell.
About Gray Television
Gray Television, headquartered in Atlanta, Georgia, is the
largest owner of top-rated local television stations and digital
assets in the United States. Upon the closing of its acquisition of
Quincy Media, Inc., Gray will own television stations serving 102
television markets that collectively reach 25.4 percent of US
television households, including the number-one ranked television
station in 77 markets and the first and/or second highest ranked
television station in 93 markets according to Comscore’s average
all-day ratings for calendar year 2020. Gray also owns video
program production, marketing, and digital businesses including
Raycom Sports, Tupelo Honey, and RTM Studios, the producer of
PowerNation programs and content and is the majority owner of Swirl
Films.
Wells Fargo Securities, LLC served as financial advisor to
Gray.
About Allen Media Group / Entertainment
StudiosChairman and CEO Byron Allen
founded Allen Media Group/Entertainment
Studios in 1993. Headquartered in Los Angeles, it has
offices in New York, Chicago, Atlanta, and Raleigh.
Allen Media Group owns 23 ABC-NBC-CBS-FOX
network affiliate broadcast television stations and ten 24-hour HD
television networks serving nearly 180 million subscribers:
THE WEATHER CHANNEL, PETS.TV,
COMEDY.TV, RECIPE.TV,
CARS.TV, ES.TV,
MYDESTINATION.TV, JUSTICE
CENTRAL.TV, THEGRIO.TV, and THIS
TV. Allen Media Group will add its
eleventh network, THE WEATHER CHANNEL EN
ESPANOL in 2021. Allen Media Group
also owns LOCAL NOW and THE
GRIO free-streaming AVOD services,
powered by THE WEATHER CHANNEL and
content partners, which delivers real-time, hyper-local news,
weather, traffic, sports, and lifestyle information. Allen
Media Group also produces, distributes, and sells
advertising for 67 television programs, making it one of the
largest independent producers/distributors of first-run syndicated
television programming for broadcast television
stations. Allen Media Group
International Television continues
to extend its corporate branding and content around the
globe. It currently has active license agreements and
programming in South Africa, The United Arab Emirates, Australia,
The Bahamas, Canada and New Zealand. With a library of
over 5,000 hours of owned content across multiple
genres, Allen Media Group provides video
content to broadcast television stations, cable television
networks, mobile devices, multimedia platforms, and the World Wide
Web. Our mission is to provide excellent programming to our
viewers, online users, and Fortune 500 advertising
partners.Entertainment Studios Motion
Pictures is a full-service, theatrical motion picture
distribution company specializing in wide release commercial
content. ESMP released 2017's highest-grossing independent movie,
the shark thriller 47 METERS DOWN, which
grossed over $44.3 million. In 2018, ESMP also released the
critically-acclaimed and commercially successful
Western HOSTILES, the historic
mystery-thriller CHAPPAQUIDDICK and the
sequel to 47 METERS DOWN, 47
METERS DOWN: UNCAGED. The digital distribution unit
of Entertainment Studios Motion
Pictures, Freestyle Digital Media,
is a premiere multi-platform distributor with direct partnerships
across all major cable, digital and streaming platforms.
Capitalizing on a robust infrastructure, proven track record and a
veteran sales team, Freestyle Digital
Media is a true home for independent films.In 2016,
Allen Media Group
purchased The Grio, a
highly-rated digital video-centric news community platform devoted
to providing African-Americans with compelling stories and
perspectives currently underrepresented in existing national news
outlets. The Grio features
aggregated and original video packages, news articles and opinion
pieces on topics that include breaking news, politics, health,
business and entertainment. Originally launched in 2009, the
platform was then purchased by NBC News in 2010. The digital
platform remains focused on curating exciting digital content and
currently has more than 100 million annual visitors. For more
information, visit:
www.entertainmentstudios.com# # #
Gray Contacts:
www.gray.tv
Kevin P. Latek, Executive Vice President, Chief Legal and Development Officer, 404-266-8333
Jim Ryan, Executive Vice President and Chief Financial Officer, 404-504-9828
Allen Media Group Contact:
Eric Peterkofsky
Allen Media Group/Entertainment Studios
310-277-3500 x124 eric@es.tv
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