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Entertainment Studios

From Wikipedia, in a visual modern way
Entertainment Studios, Inc.
FormerlyCF Entertainment (1993–2003)
TypePrivate
Industry
Founded1993
FounderByron Allen
Headquarters
Century City, Los Angeles, California
,
United States
Key people
Byron Allen (chairman, CEO)
Total assets$1 billion (2017)
OwnerAllen Media Group
Number of employees
200 (2017)
Divisions
Subsidiaries
Websiteentertainmentstudios.com Edit this at Wikidata
Footnotes / references
[1][2][3]

Entertainment Studios, Inc., also known as Allen Media Group, is an American media and entertainment company based in Los Angeles. Owned and founded in 1993 by businessman Byron Allen, the company was initially involved in the production and distribution of first-run television series for U.S. television syndication. Under the Entertainment Studios Networks division, it also operates a group of digital cable and satellite channels, which broadcast a mix of original programs and the company's syndicated content.

In the late 2010s, the company made several major expansions to its operations, including: entering the film distribution market; acquiring The Weather Channel from NBCUniversal and Bain Capital; partnering with Sinclair Broadcast Group to operate the regional sports network chain Bally Sports via Diamond Sports Group; and its acquisition of television stations from another minority-owned media group, Bayou City Broadcasting.

Discover more about Entertainment Studios related topics

Los Angeles

Los Angeles

Los Angeles, often referred to by its initials L.A., is the commercial, financial, and cultural center of Southern California. Los Angeles is the largest city in the state of California, the second most populous city in the United States after New York City, and one of the world's most populous megacities. With a population of roughly 3.9 million residents within the city limits as of 2020, Los Angeles is known for its Mediterranean climate, ethnic and cultural diversity, being the home of the Hollywood film industry, and its sprawling metropolitan area. The majority of the city proper lies in a basin in Southern California adjacent to the Pacific Ocean in the west and extending partly through the Santa Monica Mountains and north into the San Fernando Valley, with the city bordering the San Gabriel Valley to its east. It covers about 469 square miles (1,210 km2), and is the county seat of Los Angeles County, which is the most populous county in the United States with an estimated 9.86 million residents as of 2022.

Byron Allen

Byron Allen

Byron Allen Folks is an American businessman, television producer, and comedian. He is the founder of the U.S. media company Entertainment Studios, which has interests in television production, broadcasting, film production, and digital media.

Broadcast syndication

Broadcast syndication

Broadcast syndication is the practice of leasing the right to broadcasting television shows and radio programs to multiple television stations and radio stations, without going through a broadcast network. It is common in the United States where broadcast programming is scheduled by television networks with local independent affiliates. Syndication is less widespread in the rest of the world, as most countries have centralized networks or television stations without local affiliates. Shows can be syndicated internationally, although this is less common.

Entertainment Studios Networks

Entertainment Studios Networks

Entertainment Studios Networks is a group of seven high-definition cable networks operated by Entertainment Studios Inc., a company owned by and featuring comedian Byron Allen.

Digital cable

Digital cable

Digital cable is the distribution of cable television using digital data and video compression. The technology was first developed by General Instrument. By 2000, most cable companies offered digital features, eventually replacing their previous analog-based cable by the mid 2010s. During the late 2000s, broadcast television converted to the digital HDTV standard, which was incompatible with existing analog cable systems.

Film distribution

Film distribution

Film distribution is the process of making a movie available for viewing by an audience. This is normally the task of a professional film distributor, who would determine the marketing and release strategy for the film, the media by which a film is to be exhibited or made available for viewing and other matters. The film may be exhibited directly to the public either through a movie theater or television, or personal home viewing. For commercial projects, film distribution is usually accompanied by film promotion.

NBCUniversal

NBCUniversal

NBCUniversal Media, LLC is an American multinational mass media and entertainment conglomerate corporation owned by Comcast and headquartered at 30 Rockefeller Plaza in Midtown Manhattan, New York City, United States.

Bain Capital

Bain Capital

Bain Capital is an American private investment firm based in Boston. It specializes in private equity, venture capital, credit, public equity, impact investing, life sciences, and real estate. Bain Capital invests across a range of industry sectors and geographic regions. As of 2022, the firm managed approximately $160 billion of investor capital. The firm was founded in 1984 by partners from the consulting firm Bain & Company. The company is headquartered at 200 Clarendon Street in Boston with 22 offices in North America, Europe, Asia, and Australia.

Regional sports network

Regional sports network

A regional sports network (RSN) in the United States and Canada is a television channel that presents sports programming to a local media market or geographical region.

Bally Sports

Bally Sports

The Bally Sports Regional Networks are a group of regional sports networks in the United States owned by Diamond Sports Group, a joint-venture company of the Sinclair Broadcast Group and Entertainment Studios. The naming rights to the network were sold to casino operator Bally's Corporation.

Diamond Sports Group

Diamond Sports Group

Diamond Sports Group LLC is an American media and entertainment company operating as a subsidiary of Sinclair Broadcast Group, and partnered with Entertainment Studios. The company operates Bally Sports, a group of regional sports channels that was formerly known as the Fox Sports Networks.

Bayou City Broadcasting

Bayou City Broadcasting

Bayou City Broadcasting, LLC was a broadcasting company founded in December 2007 and was owned by DuJuan McCoy. The company was based in The Woodlands, Texas. It is defunct as of September 2020 due to its acquisition by Entertainment Studios.

History

Entertainment Studios was founded in 1993 as CF Entertainment by Byron Allen.[4][5] The company was initially focused on producing low-cost, syndicated non-fiction programming, including interview series and court shows (largely scripted from actual testimony). Allen served as host for some of these programs.[6] In December 2003, CF became Entertainment Studios.[5]

Entertainment Studios green-lit its first film and stage projects in December 2011, when it acquired the rights to develop a biographical film and theatrical play on the life of Sammy Davis, Jr. from Davis' daughter with actor/singer, Tracey Davis.[7]

The company ventured into scripted programming in 2012, with the third-quarter launch of the sitcoms Mr. Box Office and The First Family.[8] Both were set for 104 episodes[8] over two years under a model of accelerated production similar to Debmar-Mercury's 10-90 Model.[9] The two half hour shows were picked up as a two-hour weekend primetime programming block with two episodes of each show back to back by Tribune, Weigel and CBS Television Station groups.[8] The company launched its eighth cable channel and first ad-supported service, Justice Central.TV, on December 10, 2012.[10]

Across 2015, the company separately sued AT&T, Comcast and Charter Communications for racial discrimination in being biased against minority run entertainment companies in not carrying its cable channels. AT&T settled in December with the addition of 7 of Entertainment Studios' channels added to AT&T's DirecTV line up. Entertainment Studios added similar suits against Charter and the FCC.[11] The Comcast case, though initially dismissed at the district court, was allowed to go forward by the Ninth Circuit; Comcast was able to successfully petition the Supreme Court to hear its case in Comcast v. National Association of African-American-Owned Media in November 2019.

In October 2015, Entertainment Studios acquired Freestyle Releasing for an undisclosed amount "said to be sealed for high-eight figures". Freestyle also had an output deal with Netflix.[4] The Freestyle purchase was used to bolster an expansion into film distribution, via its new Entertainment Studios Motion Pictures division.[12][13] Its first release, 47 Meters Down, took in $44 million in box office revenue.[6]

In June 2016, Entertainment Studios acquired TheGrio, a news website focusing on stories of interest to African Americans.[14] In mid-September 2017, the company announced plans to launch an over the top sports streaming service known as Sports.tv.[15]

On March 22, 2018, Entertainment Studios announced its intent to acquire The Weather Channel's television assets from an NBCUniversal/Bain Capital/Blackstone Inc. partnership. The actual value was undisclosed, but was reported to be around $300 million; the channel's non-television assets, which were separately sold to IBM two years prior, were not included in the sale.[3]

In September 2018, Entertainment Studios announced that it had arranged $500 million worth of credit facilities through Deutsche Bank Securities, Jefferies Financial Group, Brightwood Capital Advisors and Comerica. Allen explained that these funds were to be used for further "large-scale" acquisitions, productions, and other general expenses.[6][16] In an interview with Variety, Allen stated that he was "not a seller", and that he was "one or two acquisitions away from being a fairly large company".[6] On May 3, 2019, it was announced that, under the subsidiary Diamond Sports Group, Entertainment Studios would be an equity and content partner in Sinclair Broadcast Group's acquisition of Fox Sports Networks (now known as Bally Sports).[17]

On May 6, 2019, Entertainment Studios announced that it would expand into television station ownership by establishing the new unit, Allen Media Broadcasting.

In June 2020, Comcast agreed to carry Entertainment Studios' Comedy.TV, JusticeCentral.TV, Recipe.TV, and The Weather Channel, and to retransmission consent for the Allen Media Broadcasting television stations, as part of a settlement of the Supreme Court racial discrimination lawsuit.[18]

In May 2021, Allen sued fast food chain McDonald's for $10 billion, alleging that the company "intentionally discriminated against Entertainment Studios and Weather Group through a pattern of racial stereotyping and refusals to contract" for advertising across its properties.[19][20]

In July 2022, Allen Media Group acquired Black News Channel out of bankruptcy from Shahid Khan for $11 million;[21] it was discontinued as a separate service, with its carriage merged into TheGrio.TV.[22][23]

Discover more about History related topics

Byron Allen

Byron Allen

Byron Allen Folks is an American businessman, television producer, and comedian. He is the founder of the U.S. media company Entertainment Studios, which has interests in television production, broadcasting, film production, and digital media.

Court show

Court show

A court show is a broadcast programming subgenre of either legal dramas or reality legal programming. Court shows present content mainly in the form of legal hearings between plaintiffs and defendants presided over by a judge, often in one of two formats: a scripted/improvised format performed by an actor; or an arbitration-based reality format with the case handled by an adjudicator who was formerly a judge or attorney.

Green-light

Green-light

To green-light is to give permission to proceed with a project. The term is a reference to the green traffic signal, indicating "go ahead".

Biographical film

Biographical film

A biographical film or biopic is a film that dramatizes the life of a non-fictional or historically-based person or people. Such films show the life of a historical person and the central character's real name is used. They differ from docudrama films and historical drama films in that they attempt to comprehensively tell a single person's life story or at least the most historically important years of their lives.

Play (theatre)

Play (theatre)

A play is a work of drama, usually consisting mostly of dialogue between characters and intended for theatrical performance rather than just reading. The writer of a play is called a playwright.

Mr. Box Office

Mr. Box Office

Mr. Box Office is an American sitcom that debuted in first-run syndication in the United States on September 22, 2012. The show was created by Byron Allen and produced by his production company Entertainment Studios.

Debmar-Mercury

Debmar-Mercury

Debmar-Mercury is a television syndication company. A wholly-owned subsidiary of Lionsgate, it was formed from a merger of Debmar Studios and Mercury Entertainment in 2006.

AT&T

AT&T

AT&T Inc. is an American multinational telecommunications holding company headquartered at Whitacre Tower in Downtown Dallas, Texas. It is the world's largest telecommunications company by revenue and the third largest provider of mobile telephone services in the U.S. As of 2022, AT&T was ranked 13th on the Fortune 500 rankings of the largest United States corporations, with revenues of $168.8 billion.

Comcast

Comcast

Comcast Corporation, headquartered in Philadelphia, is the largest American multinational telecommunications conglomerate. It is the second-largest broadcasting and cable television company in the world by revenue, the largest pay-TV company, the largest cable TV company and largest home Internet service provider in the United States, and the nation's third-largest home telephone service provider. It provides services to U.S. residential and commercial customers in 40 states and the District of Columbia. As the parent company of the international media company NBCUniversal since 2011, Comcast is a producer of feature films for theatrical exhibition, and over-the-air and cable television programming.

Charter Communications

Charter Communications

Charter Communications, Inc., is an American telecommunications and mass media company with services branded as Spectrum. With over 32 million customers in 41 states, it is the second-largest cable operator in the United States by subscribers, just behind Comcast, and the third-largest pay TV operator behind Comcast and AT&T. Charter is the fifth-largest telephone provider based on number of residential lines.

DirecTV

DirecTV

DirecTV is an American multichannel video programming distributor based in El Segundo, California. Originally launched on June 17, 1994, its primary service is a digital satellite service serving the United States. It also provides traditional linear television service delivered by IP through its U-verse TV brand and a Virtual MVPD service through its DirecTV Stream brand. Its primary competitors are Dish Network, traditional cable television providers, IP-based television services, and other over-the-top video services.

Supreme Court of the United States

Supreme Court of the United States

The Supreme Court of the United States (SCOTUS) is the highest court in the federal judiciary of the United States. It has ultimate appellate jurisdiction over all federal court cases, and over state court cases that involve a point of U.S. Constitutional or federal law. It also has original jurisdiction over a narrow range of cases, specifically "all Cases affecting Ambassadors, other public Ministers and Consuls, and those in which a State shall be Party." The court holds the power of judicial review, the ability to invalidate a statute for violating a provision of the Constitution. It is also able to strike down presidential directives for violating either the Constitution or statutory law. However, it may act only within the context of a case in an area of law over which it has jurisdiction. The court may decide cases having political overtones, but has ruled that it does not have power to decide non-justiciable political questions.

Television series distributed by Entertainment Studios

Entertainment Studios has historically been known for its syndicated programs, which are distributed using a bartered model that does not require stations to pay a rights fee. The company sells national advertising inventory guaranteeing an audience in aggregate across all of its programs, and shares the revenue with stations.[24] Allen explained to Bloomberg in 2013 that this business model was attractive to stations that cannot afford to acquire programs from the syndication market, and that "we offer, across all our television shows, probably 20 million to 25 million viewers a week".[24]

The company has employed various cost-cutting techniques, including using non-union staff, and streamlining productions to reduce their complexity—a technique that also allows it to produce programming at an accelerated pace.[24] A prominent example of these practices are present in the company's court shows, which are dramatized with actors rather than arbitration-based like other popular entries in the genre; Allen explained that with this model, "we don't have the cost of airfare, hotels, security; we don’t have the costs of the claims, the settlements."[24] The studio's first production—Entertainers with Byron Allen—bypassed budget constraints by filming interviews at press junkets, using equipment that was provided by film studios for use by the media.[25]

These practices have allowed some of Entertainment Studios programs to bring in sizable amounts of advertising revenue, even with clearances in lesser-viewed time slots such as late night, or without having produced new episodes in an extended period of time.[24]

Court shows

Sitcoms

Game shows

Syndicated specials

  • Comedy Jam
  • Feel the Beat
  • Happy Holidays America
  • We Have a Dream

Talk and magazine series

  • Beautiful Homes & Great Estates
  • Career Day
  • Comics Unleashed
  • Designers, Fashions & Runways
  • Entertainers with Byron Allen
  • Global Business People
  • The Gossip Queens
  • Latin Lifestyles
  • Kickin' It with Byron Allen
  • Urban Style
  • The Writer's Hot List
  • The Young Icons

Other shows

Discover more about Television series distributed by Entertainment Studios related topics

Broadcast syndication

Broadcast syndication

Broadcast syndication is the practice of leasing the right to broadcasting television shows and radio programs to multiple television stations and radio stations, without going through a broadcast network. It is common in the United States where broadcast programming is scheduled by television networks with local independent affiliates. Syndication is less widespread in the rest of the world, as most countries have centralized networks or television stations without local affiliates. Shows can be syndicated internationally, although this is less common.

Barter

Barter

In trade, barter is a system of exchange in which participants in a transaction directly exchange goods or services for other goods or services without using a medium of exchange, such as money. Economists distinguish barter from gift economies in many ways; barter, for example, features immediate reciprocal exchange, not one delayed in time. Barter usually takes place on a bilateral basis, but may be multilateral. In most developed countries, barter usually exists parallel to monetary systems only to a very limited extent. Market actors use barter as a replacement for money as the method of exchange in times of monetary crisis, such as when currency becomes unstable or simply unavailable for conducting commerce.

Bloomberg News

Bloomberg News

Bloomberg News is an international news agency headquartered in New York City and a division of Bloomberg L.P. Content produced by Bloomberg News is disseminated through Bloomberg Terminals, Bloomberg Television, Bloomberg Radio, Bloomberg Businessweek, Bloomberg Markets, Bloomberg.com, and Bloomberg's mobile platforms. Since 2015, John Micklethwait has served as editor-in-chief.

Court show

Court show

A court show is a broadcast programming subgenre of either legal dramas or reality legal programming. Court shows present content mainly in the form of legal hearings between plaintiffs and defendants presided over by a judge, often in one of two formats: a scripted/improvised format performed by an actor; or an arbitration-based reality format with the case handled by an adjudicator who was formerly a judge or attorney.

Entertainers with Byron Allen

Entertainers with Byron Allen

Entertainers with Byron Allen is an American interview television series hosted by Byron Allen, which usually aired in syndication during low-profile weekend time slots, such as early afternoons against competing sports events or in overnight periods.

Film studio

Film studio

A film studio is a major entertainment company or motion picture company that has its own privately owned studio facility or facilities that are used to make films, which is handled by the production company. Most firms in the entertainment industry have never owned their own studios, but have rented space from other companies.

Graveyard slot

Graveyard slot

A graveyard slot is a time period in which a television audience is very small compared to other times of the day, and therefore broadcast programming is considered far less important. Graveyard slots usually displayed in the early morning hours of each day, when most people are asleep.

Late night television

Late night television

Late night television is one of the dayparts in television broadcast programming. It follows prime time and precedes the overnight television show graveyard slot. The slot generally runs from about 11:00 p.m. to 2:00 a.m. ET, with variations according to the time zone and broadcaster.

America's Court with Judge Ross

America's Court with Judge Ross

America's Court with Judge Ross is an American syndicated court show produced by Entertainment Studios (ES). The program features former Los Angeles County Superior Court Judge Kevin A. Ross presiding over nontraditional/dramatized small claims court cases. Retired Los Angeles County Sheriff's Department captain Bruce Thomas serves as the show's bailiff. Nominated for a Daytime Emmy Award in 2012 for Outstanding Legal/Courtroom Program, the series currently films in Culver City, California.

Mablean Ephriam

Mablean Ephriam

Mablean Deloris Ephriam, Esq. is a former Los Angeles prosecuting attorney. She is best known as the adjudicator of the courtroom series Divorce Court for seven seasons from 1999–2006. She was replaced by Judge Lynn Toler in the show's 2006-07 season. Ephriam is also known for her judge roles in Tyler Perry's Madea films.

Glenda Hatchett

Glenda Hatchett

Glenda A. Hatchett is the star of the former court show, Judge Hatchett and current day The Verdict with Judge Hatchett, and founding partner at the national law firm, The Hatchett Firm.

Funny You Should Ask (2017 game show)

Funny You Should Ask (2017 game show)

Funny You Should Ask is a syndicated American game show that launched in 2017. It is distributed by Entertainment Studios and hosted by Jon Kelley. Reruns air on the Entertainment Studios cable television channel Comedy.TV, on Game Show Network, and through syndication.

Assets

Entertainment Studios Networks

Main article: Entertainment Studios Networks

Cable and digital

  • Automotive.TV
  • Cars.TV
  • Comedy.TV
  • ES.TV[28]
  • MyDestination.TV
  • Pets.TV
  • Recipe.TV[28]

Television channels

Allen Media Broadcasting

Allen Media Broadcasting, LLC is an American television station operating company owned by Entertainment Studios.

On May 6, 2019, Entertainment Studios announced that it would expand into television station ownership by acquiring the stations of Bayou City Broadcasting for $165 million, including Evansville, Indiana's WEVV-TV and WEEV-LD, and Lafayette, Louisiana's KADN-TV and KLAF-LD. The stations would operate under the new unit, Allen Media Broadcasting.[29] The sale was completed on July 31, 2019.[30]

On October 1, 2019, Allen Media agreed to purchase 11 stations from USA Television, a subsidiary of Heartland Media, for $290 million.[31] The sale of the Heartland stations was approved by the FCC on November 22, 2019,[32] and it was completed on February 11, 2020.[33]

In March 2020, Allen Media made an offer for the Tegna TV station group as the third known bidder.[34]

On August 17, 2020, the company announced its purchase of Hawaii ABC affiliate KITV from SJL Broadcasting for $30 million.[35]

On April 29, 2021, it was announced that Allen Media would purchase 10 stations in seven markets from Gray Television for $380 million, from a divestiture of stations owned by Quincy Media, as a condition of Gray's purchase of Quincy. These are stations where Gray already owned a station, and are mostly in the Upper Midwest.[36] In a separate deal with Gray, announced in July, Allen has acquired WJRT-TV in Flint, Michigan, while Gray retained competing WNEM-TV through its merger with Meredith Corporation's local news division.[37]

On December 15, 2021, it was announced that Allen Media would purchase WCOV-TV, WIYC and WALE-LD, all serving Montgomery, Alabama, from Woods Communications Corporation for $28.5 million, pending FCC approval; at the time, the deal was expected to close in the first half of 2022.[38] The sale would give the stations an in-state sibling in Huntsville-based ABC affiliate WAAY-TV.

Television stations

Stations are arranged in alphabetical order by state and city of license.

Note:

City of license / Market Station Channel
TV (RF) 		Owned since Network affiliation
Huntsville, Alabama WAAY-TV § 31 (17) 2020 ABC
Montgomery, Alabama WALE-LD 17 (16) Acquisition pending as of 2021 Montgomery Weather Channel, Laff (DT2), Ion Mystery (DT3), Jewelry Television (DT4), Movies! (DT5), Heroes & Icons (DT6), Comet (DT7)
WCOV-TV 20 (22) Fox, Antenna TV (DT2), This TV (DT3)
WIYC 48 (19) Cozi TV, Decades / MyNetworkTV (DT2), Heroes & Icons (DT3), Court TV (DT4), TBD (DT5), Comet (DT6), Charge! (DT7)
Tucson, Arizona KVOA ¤ 4 (23) 2021
Chico - Redding, California KHSL-TV § 12 (36) 2020
KNVN 24 (24) 2020 1
Honolulu, Hawaii KITV 4 (20) 2021
Hilo, Hawaii KHVO
(Satellite of KITV) 		4 (18) 2021
  • ABC
  • MeTV (DT2)
Wailuku, Hawaii KMAU
(Satellite of KITV) 		4 (29) 2021
  • ABC
  • MeTV (DT2)
Harrisburg - Carbondale, Illinois WSIL-TV ¤ 3 (34) 2021 ABC
Poplar Bluff, Missouri KPOB-TV ¤
(Satellite of WSIL-TV) 		15 (15) 2021 ABC
Rockford, Illinois WREX ¤ 13 (13) 2021
  • NBC
  • MeTV (DT3)
Evansville, Indiana WEVV-TV # 44 (28) 2019
WEEV-LD #
(Repeater of WEVV-DT2) 		47 (21) 2019 Fox/MyNetworkTV
Fort Wayne, Indiana WFFT-TV § 55 (20) 2020 Fox
Terre Haute, Indiana WTHI-TV § 10 (10) 2020
  • CBS
  • Fox/MyNetworkTV (DT2)
  • The CW (DT3)
West Lafayette, Indiana WLFI-TV § 18 (11) 2020
  • CBS
  • The CW (DT2)
Mason City, Iowa - Rochester, Minnesota KIMT § 3 (24) 2020
  • CBS
  • MyNetworkTV (DT2)
Waterloo - Cedar Rapids, Iowa KWWL ¤ 7 (7) 2021
  • NBC
  • MeTV (DT3)
Lafayette, Louisiana KADN-TV # 15 (16) 2019
  • Fox
  • NBC (DT2)
  • MyNetworkTV (DT3)
KLAF-LD # 14 (14) 2019 NBC
Flint - Saginaw, Michigan WJRT-TV ¤ 12 (12) 2021 ABC
MeTV (DT2)
Tupelo - Columbus, Mississippi WTVA § 9 (11) 2020
  • NBC
  • ABC (DT2)
WLOV-TV 27 (16) 2020 2 Fox
Eugene, Oregon KEZI § 9 (9) 2020 ABC
Medford - Klamath Falls, Oregon KDRV § 12 (12) 2020 ABC
KDKF §
(Satellite of KDRV) 		31 (29) 2020 ABC
La Crosse - Eau Claire, Wisconsin WXOW ¤ 19 (28) 2021 ABC
WQOW ¤
(Semi-satellite of WXOW) 		18 (25) 2021 ABC
Madison, Wisconsin WKOW ¤ 27 (26) 2021 ABC
Wausau - Crandon, Wisconsin WAOW ¤ 9 (9) 2021 ABC
WMOW ¤
(Satellite of WAOW) 		4 (13) 2021 ABC

Other Notes:

  • 1 Owned by Maxair Media, LLC., Allen Media operates the station under a shared services agreement (SSA).
  • 2 Owned by Coastal Television Broadcasting Company LLC., Allen Media operates the station under a shared services agreement.

Television networks

The following over-the-air specialty networks were acquired by Allen Media Group from MGM Television in October 2020.[39]

  • TheGrio.TV, a network focusing on African-American culture.
  • This TV, a network that primarily focuses on movies from the MGM library.

Entertainment Studios Motion Pictures

Year Release Date Film title Director Gross[40] Ref
2017 June 16, 2017 47 Meters Down Johannes Roberts $44.3 million [41]
September 22, 2017 Friend Request Simon Verhoeven $3.7 million [42]
December 22, 2017 Hostiles Scott Cooper $40.9 million [43]
2018 March 9, 2018 The Hurricane Heist Rob Cohen $15.8 million [44]
April 6, 2018 Chappaquiddick John Curran $18 million [45]
2019 January 11, 2019 Replicas Jeffrey Nachmanoff $8.1 million [46]
August 16, 2019 47 Meters Down: Uncaged Johannes Roberts $22.2 million [47]
September 20, 2019 The Wedding Year Robert Luketic — [48]
November 1, 2019 Arctic Dogs Aaron Woodley $3.6 million [49]

In 2016, Entertainment Studios began to make major expansions into film distribution; at the Sundance Film Festival, the company made a surprise $20 million bid for The Birth of a Nation, losing to Fox Searchlight.[12] In July 2016, Entertainment Studios signed a multi-year home video and on-demand distribution deal with Anchor Bay Entertainment, covering future theatrical releases by the company.[28] The studio acquired its first film later that month, with the North American rights to 47 Meters Down from Dimension Films.[41] At the 2017 Toronto Film Festival, Entertainment Studios also bought Chappaquiddick, Replicas, and Hostiles.[43] Entertainment Studios aimed to distribute at least 18 films in 2018. In January of that year, on his film distribution model, Allen said:[13]

We're chasing the studio crumbs. They don't want movies that do $40 million to $60 million. We totally will be good with those numbers, and that is what we're pursuing. Our thing is we are really big on slow roll-outs and small releases. Our philosophy—we believe in wide releases. We like to have movies that are 1,500–4,000 screens and we are chasing what the studios don't want. They're chasing much bigger. And we're going to take their crumbs and make a gourmet meal. And then eventually we'll move on to chasing more than their crumbs. But today we're chasing the crumbs.

Diamond Sports Group

Main article: Diamond Sports Group

A subsidiary of the Sinclair Broadcast Group operated in partnership with Entertainment Studios, Diamond Sports Group is the mass media company that operates Bally Sports, a group of regional sports networks formerly known as the Fox Sports Networks. The company was founded in 2019 to acquire the networks from The Walt Disney Company, which was required to sell the chain as part of its acquisition of 21st Century Fox.[50][51][52]

Discover more about Assets related topics

Entertainment Studios Networks

Entertainment Studios Networks

Entertainment Studios Networks is a group of seven high-definition cable networks operated by Entertainment Studios Inc., a company owned by and featuring comedian Byron Allen.

Local Now

Local Now

Local Now is an American over-the-top internet television service owned by The Weather Group, LLC, a subsidiary of Entertainment Studios. A spinoff of The Weather Channel, Local Now primarily provides a cyclic playlist of weather, news, sports, entertainment and lifestyle segments, incorporating localized content through feeds geared to a user-specified area.

Bayou City Broadcasting

Bayou City Broadcasting

Bayou City Broadcasting, LLC was a broadcasting company founded in December 2007 and was owned by DuJuan McCoy. The company was based in The Woodlands, Texas. It is defunct as of September 2020 due to its acquisition by Entertainment Studios.

Evansville, Indiana

Evansville, Indiana

Evansville is a city in and the county seat of Vanderburgh County, Indiana, United States. The population was 118,414 at the 2020 census, making it the state's third-most populous city after Indianapolis and Fort Wayne, the largest city in Southern Indiana, and the 249th-most populous city in the United States. It is the central city of the Evansville metropolitan area, a hub of commercial, medical, and cultural activity of southwestern Indiana and the Illinois–Indiana–Kentucky tri-state area, that is home to over 911,000 people. The 38th parallel crosses the north side of the city and is marked on Interstate 69.

Lafayette, Louisiana

Lafayette, Louisiana

Lafayette is a city in the U.S. state of Louisiana, and the most populous city and parish seat of Lafayette Parish, located along the Vermilion River. It is Louisiana's fourth largest incorporated municipality by population with a 2020 census population of 121,374; the consolidated city-parish's population was 241,753 in 2020. The Lafayette metropolitan area was Louisiana's third largest metropolitan statistical area with a population of 478,384 at the 2020 census. The Acadiana region containing Lafayette is the largest population and economic corridor between Houston, Texas and New Orleans.

KADN-TV

KADN-TV

KADN-TV is a television station licensed to Lafayette, Louisiana, United States, affiliated with Fox and MyNetworkTV. It is owned by Allen Media Broadcasting alongside low-power NBC affiliate KLAF-LD. Both stations share studios on Eraste Landry Road in Lafayette, while KADN-TV's transmitter is located south of Church Point, in rural Acadia Parish.

KLAF-LD

KLAF-LD

KLAF-LD is a low-power television station in Lafayette, Louisiana, United States, affiliated with NBC. It is owned by Allen Media Broadcasting alongside Fox affiliate KADN-TV. Both stations share studios on Eraste Landry Road in Lafayette, while KLAF-LD's transmitter is located near Scott, Louisiana.

Heartland Media

Heartland Media

Heartland Media, LLC is an American media company that owns television stations in smaller markets in the United States. The company is based in Atlanta, Georgia. It operates the television broadcasting companies, USA Television Holdings, LLC and USA Television MidAmerica Holdings, LLC as a joint venture alongside MSouth Equity Partners. The company is run by Bob Prather, a former CEO of Gray Television, whose philosophy of station acquisitions, acquired during his time at Gray, is centered on "acquiring No. 1-rated stations, Big Four affiliates with strong local news operations targeting university towns and state capitols that are deeply ingrained in the fabric of their communities".

KITV

KITV

KITV is a television station in Honolulu, Hawaii, United States, serving the Hawaiian Islands as an affiliate of ABC. It is owned by Allen Media Group alongside multicultural independent station KIKU. The two stations share studios on South King Street in downtown Honolulu; KITV's main transmitter is located atop the Ala Moana Hotel in Honolulu.

Gray Television

Gray Television

Gray Television, Inc. is an American publicly traded television broadcasting company based in Atlanta, Georgia. Founded in 1946 by James Harrison Gray as Gray Communications Systems, the company owns or operates 180 stations across the United States in 113 markets. Its station base consists of all ranges of media markets, from as large as Atlanta, to one of the smallest markets, North Platte, Nebraska.

Quincy Media

Quincy Media

Quincy Media, Inc., formerly known as Quincy Newspapers, Inc., was a family-owned media company that originated in the newspapers of Quincy, Illinois. The company's history can be traced back to 1835, when the Bounty Land Register was one of four newspapers in Illinois. Over the next century, a number of mergers followed. The company moved into radio in 1947 and began television broadcasts in 1953.

Flint, Michigan

Flint, Michigan

Flint is the largest city and seat of Genesee County, Michigan, United States. Located along the Flint River, 66 miles (106 km) northwest of Detroit, it is a principal city within the region known as Mid Michigan. At the 2020 census, Flint had a population of 81,252, making it the twelfth largest city in Michigan. The Flint metropolitan area is located entirely within Genesee County. It is the fourth largest metropolitan area in Michigan with a population of 406,892 in 2020. The city was incorporated in 1855.

Source: "Entertainment Studios", Wikipedia, Wikimedia Foundation, (2023, March 25th), https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Entertainment_Studios.

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Further Reading

Turner Broadcasting System

Imagine Entertainment

WGEM-TV

MGM Television

This TV

TheGrio

Mr. Box Office

Ion Mystery

Fox Corporation

Paramount Global

Fox Entertainment

Black News Channel
References
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