Media mogul Byron Allen has bid $10 billion to buy Walt Disney Co.’s ABC TV network, local stations and the FX and National Geographic cable channels, an Allen spokesperson told TheWrap.

Allen Media Group owns 36 affiliate broadcast TV stations of ABC, NBC, CBS and FOX networks in 21 U.S. markets and 12 24-hour HD TV networks with close to 220 million subscribers. Allen properties include The Weather Channel, The Grio an HBCUGo.

Allen Media Group also produces, distributes, and sells advertising for 73 TV programs, making it one of the largest independent producers an distributors of first-run syndicated TV programming for broadcast TV stations.

A warrior in the fight against racial discrimination in corporate America, Allen has threatened in the past to sue the entire advertising industry if they don’t spend fairly with Black media.

The cable network industry has been in decline for years and strikes by writers and actors guilds have exacerbated the problem this year, with scant fresh content on cable and broadcast networks.

This year’s falling viewership likely resulted in significantly lower ad revenues for ABC and the cable networks being sold, wrote Derek Baine, managing director at Media Forecasting Experts, a consultancy that helps media companies forecast business models.

However, there could still be bidding wars for ABC and other Disney properties, Blaine wrote in a Forbes column.

In addition to Allen, Disney has talked about selling its ABC network and TV stations to local broadcaster Nexstar Media Group Inc., people familiar with the discussions told Bloomberg.

Disney said Thursday it’s considering strategic options for its traditional TV networks, but no decisions have been made.

Disney CEO Bob Iger suggested in a July interview with CNBC that linear TV assets “may not be core” to Disney and he was open to divesting them. Negotiations could help establish the value of those assets that investors have increasingly seen as dead weight, Bloomberg reported. Iger continues being pressured to sell amid a rapid decline of cable subscribers.

A stand-up comic-turned-TV show producer, Allen has been on a media-buying shopping spree in the past several years. He quickly became one of the largest Black American-owned companies of local TV stations in the U.S.

Allen spent more than $1.3 billion in recent years to buy the Weather Channel and a string of local stations from Tucson to Honolulu. He has made bids to buy other media properties and his name has been associated with proposed acquisitions of TV station owner Tegna Inc. and the BET cable network.

Texas-based Nexstar is the largest owner of U.S. TV stations and majority owner of The CW network, with 200 owned or partner TV stations in 116 markets, including many affiliated with Fox, NBC and CBS. 

“With Nexstar already owning NewsNation, the little-watched cable news channel that embraces bothsidesism and was happy to host a town hall with notorious anti-vaccine conspiracy theorist Robert F. Kennedy Jr. earlier this year, what would that mean for the future of ABC News and its editorial direction?” Oliver Darcy asked in a CNN report. “Would Nexstar move to meld the two and supercharge its cable news operation with the more robust resources of ABC News?”

ABC broadcast network, FX and Nat Geo reportedly generated $1.25 billion in earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortization (EBITDA) over the last 12 months, Forbes reported. About 55 percent of the cash flow comes from the ABC network and the remaining 45 percent comes from the cable networks.

“There have been few and far between transactions for cable networks in recent years due to the impact of cord cutting and cord shaving, which has significantly shrunk cash flow at most cable networks,” Baine wrote. “The fact that Byron Allen has faith in the sector may lead to more cable networks coming to market.”

Allen’s offer for Disney’s assets is based on the $1.25 billion EBITDA. If that number is lower or higher, Allen would change his proposed price, which is based on a multiple of eight times Ebitda.

Allen would work with banks and private equity firms to finance an acquisition, the person told Bloomberg. He could sell the local TV stations he already owns that are unaffiliated with ABC to reduce friction with other networks such as CBS and NBC.