Byron Allen’s Entertainment Studios Inc., one of the largest independent producers and distributors of first-run syndicated television programming for broadcast television stations, has acquired the New York-based digital news platform TheGrio. Formerly an NBC News website, TheGrio focuses on news and social media for African-Americans.
“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.”
Wilson and Woolsey are perhaps best known for directing Meeting David Wilson, the 2008 MSNBC documentary chronicling the African-American Wilson’s meeting with the similarly named David B. Wilson, a descendant of a white slave-owners.
Entertainment Studios also owns seven 24-hour HD cable television networks.
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