Entertainment Studios, Inc., one of the largest independent producers and distributors of first-run syndicated television programming for broadcast television stations, and owner of seven 24-hour HD cable television networks, has acquired the digital news platform TheGrio.
"We are excited to have TheGrio join Byron Allen's ever-expanding Entertainment Studios media empire," says David A. Wilson, Co-Founder and Executive Editor of TheGrio. "Byron shares our vision of growing TheGrio into the leading video content creator and distribution platform for African-Americans. We look forward to developing the next iteration of TheGrio, and the fact that it will remain 100 percent African American-owned is very significant."
"David Wilson and his founding partner Dan Woolsey have done an incredible job these past 7 years building TheGrio, and we are one thousand percent committed to continue expanding this digital news community's reach across all global media platforms, including our broadcast television syndication programs, cable television networks, and motion picture division," said Byron Allen, Founder, Chairman, and CEO of Entertainment Studios. "We plan on investing heavily in digital publishing, and TheGrio has an excellent management team, making it the perfect asset to start our portfolio of online publishing."
Founded by Allen in 1993, Entertainment Studios, Inc. owns seven 24-hour HD cable networks serving nearly 80 million subscribers: PETS.TV, COMEDY.TV, RECIPE.TV, CARS.TV, ES.TV, MYDESTINATION.TV, and JUSTICECENTRAL.TV. The company also produces, distributes, and sells advertising for 40 television programs, making it one of the largest independent producers/distributors of first-run syndicated television programming for broadcast television stations.
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.
Originally launched in 2009, TheGrio was purchased by NBC News in 2010 and eventually became a news division for MSNBC in 2013. In 2014, TheGrio founders purchased their company back from NBC News and has since tripled its traffic rate.
