*Byron Allen’s Allen Media Broadcasting, a division of Byron Allen’s Allen Media Group, is acquiring Honolulu ABC affiliate KITV from SJL Broadcasting for $30 million.
The media mogul plans to spend another $10 billion over the next two years to buy more network affiliates, per Yahoo.
The acquisition includes KITV’s satellite station and translators, including KHVO-ABC 13 in Hilo and KMAU-ABC-12 in Wailuku, as well as four digital cable networks — MeTV, Hawaii TV, Start TV and Heroes & Icons, according to the report.
The acquisition brings the number of major network stations owned and/or operated by AMB to 16 across 12 U.S. markets.
“Over the past year we’ve invested over $500 million to acquire best-in-class, top-tier, broadcast network affiliates,” Allen, founder, chairman and CEO of Allen Media Group, said in a statement. “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.”
READ MORE: Byron Allen: Media Mogul Settles $20 Billion Racial Discrimination Lawsuit with Comcast
This was issued today by Entertainment Studios/Allen Media Group Founder and Chairman Byron Allen. “Black America speaks. America should listen.”https://t.co/cRuBoidkja
— EntertainmentStudios (@ESGlobalMedia) June 8, 2020
Allen’s latest TV buy follows the settlement he reached with Comcast last month, which will now carry his Comedy.TV, Recipe.TV and JusticeCentral.TV — via its Xfinity cable television packages, NBC News reports.
Allen sued Comcast for $20 billion in 2015 for refusing to carry his lifestyle channels, arguing that it was because of his race. He also sued cable provider Charter for $10 billion for refusing to carry his networks.
His attorneys linked a section of the Civil Rights Act of 1866 to the case, which says all people should have “the same right” to contracts as whites.
Allen took his battle with Comcast all the way to the U.S. Supreme Court, which in March ruled that the media mogul had to prove race was the reason Comcast refused to carry his channels.
The Supreme Court sent the case back to the 9th Circuit Court of Appeals, but in July Allen agreed to withdraw the lawsuit as part of the settlement, per Urban Hollywood 411.
Earlier this year, the media mogul paid $305 million to acquire 11 broadcast television stations from USA Television Holdings and USA Television MidAmerica Holdings, according to Yahoo.com.
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