Byron Allen buys Black News Channel for $11 million

Byron Allen’s Allen Media Group is buying the Black News Channel (BNC), with plans to revive the bankrupt cable news outlet and significantly grow its distribution footprint.

Allen’s company is acquiring “substantially all” of BNC’s assets for US$11 million, with a bankruptcy court in Tallahassee, Florida, formally signing off on the sale.

BNC is available in about 45 million homes through companies like Comcast, Charter and DirecTV, and Allen says his company can grow that distribution to about 80 million homes in the next 6 months. It’s not immediately clear, however, what Allen has in store for BNC’s lineup or programming. BNC had just rebooted its primetime lineup last year with hopes of turning things around.

BNC’s previous owner, Jacksonville Jaguars owner Shad Khan, had invested over US$100 million in BNC since its 2020 launch, before shutting it down in March.

Allen says that his company “will deliver a best-in-class network to serve the underserved African American community and the advertisers who want to reach this extremely valuable audience.