FCC sends Sinclair-Tribune merger to hearing, likely killing deal

FCC Chairman Ajit Pai announced that he had “serious concerns” about the Sinclair-Tribune merger, and said he would send the merger to an administrative review process. This move likely kills the massive media consolidation deal.

The $3.9 billion mega-merger was announced more than a year ago and faced broad opposition.

"The proposed Sinclair-Tribune merger would result in job cuts at dozens of stations across the country and would harm the ability of local stations to broadcast information vital to their communities in a responsible and unbiased manner,” NABET-CWA President Charlie Braico said in Nov. 2017. “This merger is not in the interest of broadcast industry employees and is not in the interest of the American people."

CWA – along with NABET-CWA and The NewsGuild-CWA – strongly opposed the merger. In its most recent petition to deny the merger, CWA wrote that the potential Sinclair-Tribune merger would violate the congressionally mandated 39 percent national audience cap, reduce competition, harm localism, eliminate jobs, and diminish viewpoint diversity.

“Applicants fail to demonstrate that any purported merger-related benefits exceed the substantial public interest harms. The Commission should deny the Sinclair-Tribune merger,” CWA concludes.

Links:

Sinclair to buy Tribune for $3.9 billion (Speed Matters, May 12, 2017)

NABET-CWA joins broad coalition to stop Sinclair-Tribune merger (Speed Matters, Nov. 9, 2017)

CWA, NABET, and NewsGuild File FCC Petition to Deny Sinclair-Tribune Merger (CWA, June 20, 2018)