Byron Allen Buys The Weather Channel Network For $300 Million

Comedian and producer Byron Allen has purchased the Weather Channel TV network as he is trying to expand his film and TV production company into a major media business.

His company, Entertainment Studios Inc., has bought the 36-year-old network from its owners of the past decade: the Blackstone Group, Bain Capital and Comcast. He started his company 25 years ago from his dining room table, and is now one of the largest privately held media companies in the world.

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Allen released a statement after acquiring the channel, “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 is currently working to expand his TV production company into a major media business, his studio currently owns the HD cable networks JusticeCentral.tv, Cars.tv, Pets.tv and Recipe.tv. Now he wants to add weather to the main focus. “Snowstorms, rain, mudslides, our lives and our families’ safety depend on this info,” Allen said in an interview. “When a big storm happens, it’s the Super Bowl of weather. As many as 30 million people watch.”

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The chief executive Dave Shull said, “Byron Allen’s purchase of our innovative and forward-thinking organization will increase the value we bring to our viewers, distributors and advertisers.”

The website Weather.com and related mobile apps are not included in his assets. The website and mobile apps were acquired by IBM back in January 2016.