Allen Closes on USA TV Purchases

Byron Allen has closed on the purchase of 11 TV stations from USA Television holdings and USA Television MidAmerica Holdings, swelling his TV station ownership holdings, but signaling there is lots more to come.

The price was $305 million. The group is a mix of network affiliates on the primary channels and associated digital subchannels in a range of markets, from California to Mississippi, Oregon to Alabama.

Allen has been adding TV stations to his growing portfolio, including four stations from Bayou City Broadcasting in in July 2019 for $165 million. He now has 15 stations in 11 markets, giving him more places to put his 64 syndicated shows.

But he suggests there will be many more to follow.

“Over the past six months we’ve invested nearly $500 million to acquire best-in-class, top-tier, broadcast network affiliates,” said Allen of those initial TV station purchases. “We plan to invest approximately ten billion dollars to acquire ABC, CBS, NBC, and FOX television stations over the next three years with the goal of being one of the largest broadcast television groups in America.”

John Eggerton

Contributing editor John Eggerton has been an editor and/or writer on media regulation, legislation and policy for over four decades, including covering the FCC, FTC, Congress, the major media trade associations, and the federal courts. In addition to Multichannel News and Broadcasting + Cable, his work has appeared in Radio World, TV Technology, TV Fax, This Week in Consumer Electronics, Variety and the Encyclopedia Britannica.