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Media mogul Byron Allen to buy Hawaii ABC affiliate KITV

COURTESY KITV

COURTESY KITV

The owner of The Weather Channel is buying local ABC television affiliate KITV.

A division of Allen Media Group and Entertainment Studios announced today that it has signed a purchase agreement to buy KITV from SJL Broadcasting for $30 million.

The deal includes transmission of KITV programming on the neighbor islands, and local carriage of four cable networks — MeTV, Hawaii TV, Start TV, and Heroes & Icons — along with a Washington, DC-based news bureau and correspondent, the buyer said.

SJL bought KITV in 2015 from Hearst. SJL had previously owned Honolulu station KHON-TV from late 2005 to 2007.

Allen Media/Entertainment Studios owns 15 TV stations affiliated with the nation’s four big networks.

Entertainment Studios, founded in 1993 by Byron Allen, began buying broadcast TV assets last year, a year after the motion picture distribution company bought The Weather Channel.

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