Gray Closes Quincy Buy, Spinoffs To Allen Media

Gray Television on Monday completed its acquisition of Quincy Media Inc. (QMI) and its divestment of 10 Qunicy stations in the seven Gray/QMI overlap markets to Byron Allen’s Allen Media Broadcasting. As a result of these transactions, Gray has become the owner of 12 additional local television stations serving eight new markets as well as WGEM-AM-FM Quincy, Ill.

Gray now owns TV stations serving 102 television markets that collectively reach 25.4% of U.S. television households, including the No. 1-ranked station in 76 markets and the first and/or second highest ranked television station in 93 markets according to Comscore’s average all-day ratings for calendar year 2020.

Upon the anticipated completion of Gray’s acquisition of Meredith Corp. later this year, Gray will become the owner and operator of Meredith’s 17 stations across 12 markets. At that time, Gray will become the nation’s second largest television broadcaster, with a portfolio of television stations serving 113 markets reaching approximately 36% of U.S. TV households. The Meredith transaction is subject to approval by Meredith’s shareholders and customary closing conditions and regulatory approvals, including certain consents necessary to effectuate the spin-off of Meredith’s national media group immediately prior to closing.

Allen Media Grows

Simultaneously with the Gray closing, Allen Media Group has closed on its $380 million cash acquisition of 10 television stations in seven markets divested from the Gray Television merger with Quincy Media. AMG also owns 12 television networks including The Weather Channel and the free-streaming service Local Now. AMG was founded by Byron Allen in 1993.
The acquisition substantially increases the size of the AMG broadcast television group and adds complimentary markets to its existing portfolio. The AMG broadcast television group now includes 25 broadcast television stations in 19 markets across the country.

As part of its divestiture agreement, Gray agreed to sell to AMG 10 television stations owned by Quincy, each of which operates in a market in which Gray also owns and operates a television station. These 10 major network-affiliated stations now joining the AMG television station portfolio are:

KVOA (NBC) Tucson, Arizona (DMA 64)

WKOW (ABC) Madison, Wis. (DMA 81)

WSIL-KPOB (ABC), Paducah, Ky.-Harrisburg, Ill. (DMA 84)

KWWL (NBC) Cedar Rapids, Iowa (DMA 92)

WXOW-WQOW (ABC) La Crosse-Eau Claire, Wis. (DMA 129)

WAOW-WMOW (ABC), Wausau-Rhinelander, Wis. (DMA 136)

WREX (NBC) Rockford, Ill. (DMA 139)

“I truly appreciate Gray and Quincy, two of the best broadcast groups in the business, working with us to acquire and transfer these amazing assets. Over the past year-and-a-half, we have invested close to $1 billion to acquire best-in-class, top-tier, broadcast network affiliates,” said Byron Allen, Founder/Chairman/CEO of Allen Media Group. “We plan to invest approximately ten billion dollars to acquire more ABC, CBS, NBC, and FOX television stations over the next two years with the goal of being the largest broadcast television group in America. All of our media assets, including these broadcast television stations, will work in concert to amplify our free-streaming service, Local Now.”