Byron Allen To Launch TheGrio.TV As An Over-The-Air Broadcast Television Network And Free Digital Streaming App To Target African-American Viewers

LOS ANGELES, Dec. 3, 2020 /PRNewswire/ -- Byron Allen's Allen Media Group is proud to announce its recently-acquired MGM over-the-air broadcast television network Light TV will officially transition to TheGrio.TV television network on January 15, 2021 – the start of the Martin Luther King, Jr. holiday weekend. The newly-rebranded broadcast television network TheGrio.TV will feature African American-focused content reaching over 100 million U.S. households via over-the-air broadcast television stations, cable/telco/satellite platforms, and free digital streaming.

TheGrio.TV – with its new network brand slogan "Our Culture Forever" – will feature movies, sitcoms, dramas, concerts, talk shows, variety shows, game shows, news, and lifestyle content.

At one time owned by NBCUniversal, TheGrio.com was purchased by Byron Allen in 2016 when it had less than 1 million monthly active users. In Summer 2020, TheGrio.com achieved its peak of over 10.5 million monthly active users. TheGrio.com is now one of the most visited news and entertainment sites for the African-American community, and is the largest employer of African-American journalists. In the past 2 years, Allen Media Group has invested over one billion dollars in acquiring media assets, including The Weather Channel in 2018, and 16 ABC-NBC-CBS-FOX broadcast network affiliate television stations around the country. Allen Media Group plans to invest an additional $10 billion over the next two years to acquire other strategic media assets.

"The Grio – which means 'storyteller' in Africa – is the first platform to offer an online digital news destination, a free streaming app providing local news, weather, sports, traffic, and entertainment content geofenced to the user's zip code, and an over-the-air broadcast television network," said Byron Allen, Founder/Chairman/CEO of Allen Media Group. "TheGrio.TV is especially important to me as it will both serve and uplift all viewers. TheGrio.TV is the first and only 100 percent African American-owned and targeted broadcast television network and free digital platform – making us truly authentic, without being filtered or controlled by others outside of the community."

ABOUT ENTERTAINMENT STUDIOS / ALLEN MEDIA GROUP
Chairman and CEO Byron Allen founded Entertainment Studios in 1993. Headquartered in Los Angeles, it has offices in New York, Chicago, Atlanta, and Raleigh.  Entertainment Studios owns 16 ABC-NBC-CBS-FOX network affiliate broadcast television stations and ten 24-hour HD television networks serving nearly 180 million subscribers: THE WEATHER CHANNEL, PETS.TV, COMEDY.TV, RECIPE.TV, CARS.TV, ES.TV, MYDESTINATION.TV, JUSTICE CENTRAL.TV, THE GRIO.TV, and THIS TV. Entertainment Studios will add its eleventh network, THE WEATHER CHANNEL EN ESPANOL in 2021.

Entertainment Studios also owns the LOCAL NOW free-streaming AVOD service, powered by THE WEATHER CHANNEL and content partners, which delivers real-time, hyper-local news, weather, traffic, sports, and lifestyle information.
Entertainment Studios also produces, distributes, and sells advertising for 67 television programs, making it one of the largest independent producers/distributors of first-run syndicated television programming for broadcast television stations. Entertainment Studios International Television continues to extend the ES corporate branding and content around the globe. It currently has active license agreements and programming in South Africa, The United Arab Emirates, Australia, The Bahamas, Canada and New Zealand. With a library of over 5,000 hours of owned content across multiple genres, Entertainment Studios provides video content to broadcast television stations, cable television networks, mobile devices, multimedia platforms, and the World Wide Web.  Our mission is to provide excellent programming to our viewers, online users, and Fortune 500 advertising partners.

Entertainment Studios Motion Pictures is a full-service, theatrical motion picture distribution company specializing in wide release commercial content. ESMP released 2017's highest-grossing independent movie, the shark thriller 47 METERS DOWN, which grossed over $44.3 million. In 2018, ESMP also released the critically-acclaimed and commercially successful Western HOSTILES, the historic mystery-thriller CHAPPAQUIDDICK and the sequel to 47 METERS DOWN, 47 METERS DOWN: UNCAGED. The digital distribution unit of Entertainment Studios Motion Pictures, Freestyle Digital Media, is a premiere multi-platform distributor with direct partnerships across all major cable, digital and streaming platforms. Capitalizing on a robust infrastructure, proven track record and a veteran sales team, Freestyle Digital Media is a true home for independent films.

In 2016, Entertainment Studios purchased The Grio, a digital video-centric news community platform devoted to providing African-Americans with compelling stories and perspectives currently underrepresented in existing national news outlets. The Grio features aggregated and original video packages, news articles and opinion pieces on topics that include breaking news, politics, health, business and entertainment. Originally launched in 2009, the platform was then purchased by NBC News in 2010. The digital platform remains focused on curating exciting digital content and currently has more than 100 million annual visitors.

For more information, visit: 
www.entertainmentstudios.com
thegrio.com

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SOURCE Allen Media Group