Allen Media Group (AMG) founder and CEO Byron Allen is ‘moguling’ again. Yes, we just made up a word – moguling. It’s a fitting description for what Allen does as he continues his quest to become the largest broadcast media conglomerate in the country.
Allen is purchasing Honolulu ABC affiliate KITV for $30 million, according to Deadline. It is the latest acquisition in his stated $10 billion spending plan to realize his aforementioned goal.
“Over the past year we’ve invested over $500 million to acquire best-in-class, top-tier, broadcast network affiliates,” Allen said “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.”
KITV covers a wide array of the Hawaiian islands through rebroadcast deals with other networks, Deadline reported. Its former owners were brothers Brian and Kelly Lilly, who believe KITV is in good hands with Allen.
Brian said AMG “recognizes the investment in news and will build on our success.”
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In addition to KITV, Allen purchased 11 broadcast stations from USA Television in February; four TV stations in July 2019 from Bayou Broadcasting in Louisiana; 21 regional sports networks (RSN) from Walt Disney last summer; The Weather Channel and others.
He also tried, unsuccessfully, to purchase giant broadcaster Tegna with an $8.5 billion cash offer.
Allen made multiple headlines for the racial discrimination lawsuit he brought against Comcast in 2015 for failing to license his channels. The case went all the way to the Supreme Court but did not work out as Allen had hoped. They eventually settled the case.
“Unfortunately, the Supreme Court has rendered a ruling that is harmful to the civil rights of millions of Americans. This is a very bad day for our country,” Allen said in a statement after the court’s judgment. “We will continue our fight by going to Congress and the presidential candidates to revise the statute to overcome this decision by the United States Supreme Court, which significantly diminishes our civil rights.”
