The Black News Channel, which filed for bankruptcy protection a few months ago and laid off most of its employees, is close to being purchased by Byron Allen’s media group Entertainment Studio Networks for $11 million, reports ajc.com.
Allen was the only bidder for the assets set by the U.S. Bankruptcy Court for the Northern District of Florida. The Black News Channel was headquartered in Tallahassee, Florida, until operations largely shut down in March. Majority stakeholder and Jacksonville Jaguars owner Shad Khan had invested more than $100 million into BNC, but audience and revenues failed to meet the company’s hefty cost structure.
Allen, who is based in Los Angeles, owns a production company, TV stations and several cable networks, most notably Atlanta-based Weather Channel, which he purchased in 2018 for $300 million.
Princell Hair, who ran Black News Channel under Khan, told The Atlanta Journal Constitution in 2021 that he was planning to move headquarters to Atlanta. A spokesman for Allen’s company Monday declined to comment about where the Black News Channel will be based once it takes over.
Allen spoke with CableFax about the purchase, saying the network failed in part because cable carriers like Comcast, Charter and Verizon refused to give Black News Channel any “sub fees,” which are given to more popular cable channels like TBS, ESPN and USA Network. New cable networks don’t usually receive such money until they generate enough audience. The Black News Channel’s ratings were tiny, though they did pick up during the Derek Chauvin trial.
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