US comedian and producer Byron has struck a deal to acquire the Weather Channel TV network for a reported US$300mln as he looks to grow his film and television business.
Allen’s Entertainment Studios Inc bought the channel from Blackstone Group, Bain Capital and Comcast Corporation (NASDAQ:CMCSA).
The deal includes the popular cable TV network, but not the online assets such as weather.com and the related mobile apps, which were sold off to IBM (NYSE:IBM) in 2016 for US$2bn.
Friday’s sale brings to an end a fairly disappointing investment for Blackstone, Bain and Comcast.
The trio shelled out US$3.5bn for the network and its digital property back in 2008, and have recouped just US$2.3bn of that from the sales.
Allen – the sole owner of Entertainment Studios – said he plans to invest more into the Weather Channel to expand both is international local distribution.
“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,” said Allen.
“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.”
Entertainment Studios released three films in 2017 – 47 Meters Down, Friend Request and Hostiles – generating gross box office receipts of just over US$100mln.