WireImage (Byron Allen)
Comedian-turned-media-mogul Byron Allen enlarged his portfolio with the purchase of “The Weather Channel” television basic cable network on Thursday.
Allen’s Entertainment Studios Inc. reportedly bought the Weather Group from The Blackstone Group, Bain Capital and Comcast/NBCUniversal for around $300 million according to reports from Deadline, but no terms of the sale have been disclosed.
“The Weather Channel is one of the most trusted and extremely important cable networks, with information vitally important to the safety and protection of our lives. We welcome The Weather Channel, which has been seen in American households for nearly four decades, to our cable television networks division. The acquisition of The Weather Channel is strategic, as we begin our process of investing billions of dollars over the next five years to acquire some of the best media assets around the world,” Allen said in a released statement.
The digital ownership (weather.com) and weather channel were purchased by Blackstone Group, Bain Capital and Comcast 10 years ago for $3.5 billion.
Allen is the sole proprietor of Entertainment Studios, which was founded in 1993 and became the largest independent producer of first-run syndicated programming reported by the news source. His success includes six 24-hour HD television networks and films via Entertainment Studios Motion Pictures.
