Just moments ago, Tribune Broadcasting announced that it would abandon the sale of its TV stations to Sinclair Broadcasting Group and sue Sinclair for breach of contract. Last month, the Federal Communications Commission published an order setting the merger of Sinclair and Tribune for a hearing before an administrative law judge, finding, among other things, that there were “substantial and material question of fact as to whether Sinclair affirmatively misrepresented or omitted material facts with the intent to consummate this transaction without fully complying with our broadcast ownership rules.”
The following statement should be attributed to Gigi Sohn:
Today is a good day for every American who believes that diversity of voices in the media is better for our democracy. The combination of Sinclair and Tribune would have created a media mega-monster that would have put far too much power over local news and information in the hands of one company. Moreover, as the FCC found in its Hearing Designation Order, Sinclair may have misrepresented to the agency whether it was really ceding control of some of the TV stations it had promised the government that it would divest. If true, this allegation raises a legitimate question as to whether Sinclair is fit to be a broadcast licensee at all, not just a licensee of Tribune’s stations.
This transaction had but two supporters – Sinclair and Tribune. It was opposed by large and small cable companies, rural broadband providers, conservative cable channels and the public interest community. Chairman Pai and his colleagues did right by the American people and the entire broadcast industry by putting the brakes on this merger.
Gigi Sohn is a Distinguished Fellow at the Georgetown Law Institute for Technology Law & Policy and the Benton Foundation Senior Fellow and Public Advocate. She was Counselor to former FCC Chairman Tom Wheeler from November 2013-December 2016. Gigi can be reached for comment at the above email address or at 202-253-0876. More on Gigi can be found at gigisohn.com.