Sinclair Broadcast Group

What was once an imaginative mobile news app has become a big part of Sinclair’s national strategy — one that critics say pushes its conservative views on audiences.

Sinclair’s purchase of Tribune Media, the fourth-largest TV deal of the century, accounts for 85% of that total, according to Kagan.

Sinclair is “injecting Fox-worthy content into the mouths of your local news anchor,” he warned in a 20-minute segment on Last Week Tonight. And with its acquisition of Tribune Media, he says, through local newscasts it will reach more than 2.2 million every day, more than Fox News Channel does in primetime.

The commission also granted Sinclair’s request that KCFW Kalispell, Mont., continue to operate as a satellite of KECI Missoula, Mont., under the satellite exception to the duopoly prohibition in smaller markets, those with fewer than eight independent voices.

The United States will experience a coast-to-coast total solar eclipse Aug. 21 — the first in 99 years. For the reporters, anchors and news crews at local TV stations, coverage of the celestial event is a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity. With just under two months to go, many stations are deep into their coverage planning.

GSN and Sinclair Broadcast Group have teamed to introduce a new distribution model. They will share Snap Decision, a new comedic half-hour game show hosted by The Carmichael Show‘s David Alan Grier, which will launch simultaneously on cable network GSN and in broadcast syndication on Sinclair stations nationwide. Snap Decision, produced by GSN and Tornante-Sinclair, will debut with four back-to-back half-hour episodes on Monday, Aug. 7, from 9-11 p.m. on GSN, and then will move into its regular Tuesday slot at 9 p.m. the following night. The show will air weekdays on 20 Sinclair stations nationwide beginning Aug. 7.

The just-disclosed paperwork for the $6.6 billion Sinclair purchase of Tribune Media says Sinclair may have to sell stations in 10 markets to comply with the FCC local rule and an unspecified number more to come into line with the national cap. “To the extent that divestitures may be necessary, applications will be filed upon locating appropriate buyers and signing appropriate purchase agreements,” the parties say. But they note that their need to sell stations may change if the FCC relaxes its rules.

The VP and director of Sinclair Broadcasting Group, which has often been criticized for its conservative slant, donated to Rep. Greg Gianforte’s campaign the day after the Montana Republican was charged with assaulting a reporter. The donation of $1,000 by Frederick G. Smith, a member of the family that owns the company, came on May 25, the day after Gianforte was elected, according to Federal Election Commission reports. Smith also gave $1,000 to Gianforte’s campaign in March.

TV station powerhouse Sinclair Broadcast Group raised a few eyebrows in April when it hired Boris Epshteyn as its chief political analyst. Epshteyn, after all, was a combative TV surrogate for President Trump during the presidential campaign and briefly was a Trump administration press aide, raising an obvious question: How independent would his political analysis be? The answer, judging from Epshteyn’s first few weeks on the job, seems to be not very.

The fledgling consortium started by Nexstar, Sinclair and Univision, now covers about 90% of the U.S. It plans to work to promote ATSC 3.0 innovation and develop products and services that can drive spectrum utilization, virtual MVPD platforms, multicast channels, automotive applications, single frequency networks and wireless data applications.

Good Morning Arkansas has been good indeed for Sinclair’s KATV — so good that the Little Rock, Ark., ABC affiliate will be expanding the news, talk and lifestyle format with a live and local 3 p.m. show. Good Afternoon Arkansas, the first afternoon show of its kind in the market, will make its debut on Sept. 4.

A new deal extends affiliations for its owned or operated affiliates in four markets and includes the network’s OTT CBS All Access, commitment to launch Sinclair’s CBS affiliates on YouTubeTV’s new live television service in available markets, as well as assignment of Tribune’s CBS affiliation agreements to Sinclair.

In a letter to advertisers, EVP Steve Marks says the mega-station group will use comScore exclusively for audience measurement starting in 2018.

Every notable television series takes time to find its sweet spot, or in trade lingo, its voice with viewers. More than midway through its second year, Full Measure with Sharyl Attkisson, Sinclair’s Sunday magazine-format half-hour news program, has done exactly that — by holding lawmakers and shapers accountable.

Senate Democrats have asked for a special hearing on Sinclair’s proposed $3.9 billion deal for Tribune Media, and Sinclair has welcomed the chance to work with legislators. Rebecca Hanson, Sinclair VP of strategy and policy, said the broadcaster is looking forward to showing policymakers the benefits the Tribune deal has in store for consumers and communities. But she also warned that the deal is necessary for broadcasters like Sinclair to keep pace with larger pay-TV operators.

Steve Mosko, who led Sony Pictures Television until he left the studio last June, is in talks to take on a key role at Sinclair Broadcast Group. With Sinclair poised to acquire Tribune Media for $3.9 billion, Mosko is being eyed in order to put his original programming experience to use as the combined station groups move to expand their operations.

2016 Spot Revenue: $2.9 billion (includes revenue of stations owned by Sinclair sidecar groups Cunningham Broadcasting, Dreamcatcher and Stephen Mumblow) Stations: 233 in 108 markets Coverage: 72% Ownership: Sinclair Broadcasting Group Inc. (Nasdaq: SBGI) […]

When Sinclair melds with Tribune, it will surpass the Fox station group in terms of market reach and becomes, I believe, the first stop of syndicators selling new shows. It will be able to deliver a program to at least two-thirds of the nation’s TV homes all by itself. And Sinclair will have even more muscle in negotiating terms. In fact, it will be in a position to demand equity in the shows it agrees to carry.

With the addition of the Spanish-language broadcaster, the new group will reach approximately 90% of the U.S. with its effort to promote innovation and develop and explore products and services associated with ATSC 3.0 and their monetization opportunities.

Several advocacy groups led by Free Press have petitioned the federal appeals court in Washington for an emergency stay of the FCC April decision to relax the national ownership cap. The FCC action “undermines the public interest goals of diversity, competition and localism,” the group say. The FCC has until Thursday to reply to the motion.

The Missoula, Mont., NBC affiliate’s news director, Julie Weindel, would not collect or share footage of newly elected congressman Greg Gianforte’s assault of The Guardian reporter Ben Jacobs for NBC News in New York and the network’s affiliates as the story was breaking.

Last week, Sinclair Broadcast Group VP of advanced technology, Mark Aitken, announced at the annual Advanced Television Systems Committee meeting that the station group will give 1 million ATSC 3.0 receiver chips to each mobile phone maker that promises to put them in devices sold in the United States. The offer demonstrates the group’s commitment to moving TV forward.

Sinclair Broadcast Group has struck a deal with Tribune Media to buy dozens of local TV stations. And what Fox News is for cable, Sinclair could become for broadcast: programming with a soupcon — or more — of conservative spin.

The Pearl station groups are betting on targeted advertising and see TV sets with consumer-friendly interfaces as a critical stepping stone to that. Sinclair wants to bring the mobile audience back to broadcasting and explore datacasting. And the Big Four broadcast networks? Their vision is no vision at all.

The proposed acquisition by Sinclair Broadcast Group of Tribune Media is inflaming criticism of the FCC, which helped pave the way for the deal by relaxing media ownership restrictions. Activists immediately pounced on the arrangement after the deal was announced.

A group of House Democrats are calling for a hearing on the proposed merger between Sinclair Broadcast Group and Tribune Media Co. Minority members of the House Energy and Commerce Committee — Reps. Anna Eshoo (Calif.), Mike Doyle (Pa.) and Doris Matsui (Calif.) — called for the acquisition to be scrutinized by the panel, especially in the wake of a recent FCC vote.

In a joint filing to the FCC,Free Press, United Church of Christ, Prometheus Radio Project, Media Mobilizing Project, Media Alliance, National Hispanic Media Coalition and Common Cause say the commission’s plan “lacks any legal or policy support and effectively contravenes the statutory limit on national television ownership.”

They are called “must-runs,” and they arrive every day at TV stations owned by the Sinclair Broadcast Group — short video segments that are centrally produced by the company. Station managers are directed to work them into the broadcast over a period of 24 or 48 hours. In interviews over the past several days, eight current and former KOMO employees described a newsroom where some have chafed at Sinclair’s programming directives, especially the must-runs, which they view as too politically tilted and occasionally of poor quality.

With Tribune, Sinclair goes from a large collection of TV stations to a national broadcasting platform with ambitions that go far beyond those of the Big Four networks. And that larger footprint, Sinclair figures, will allow it to roll out game-changing innovations including ATSC 3.0, mobile datacasting and targeted interactive advertising. These all have the potential to remake the entire television broadcasting business into a force that can vigorously compete with online and mobile.

The pending sale of Tribune Media to the Sinclair Broadcast Group is just the latest step in Sinclair’s journey to position itself to offer next-gen TV with a nationwide footprint and a special emphasis on mobile.

Nexstar CEO Perry Sook told analysts today: “We made an appraisal of Tribune at some point,” he said. “I think you can safely assume since we weren’t announced as the winning bidder yesterday it’s because the price crossed our walking-away threshold.”

Two months ago, Sinclair warned its viewers about the media’s ‘fake news.’ Now it’s about to take over some of the nation’s biggest stations. Aside from concerns about Sinclair’s political leanings, critics of the Sinclair-Tribune deal also worry about the effects from the increasing consolidation of broadcast station owners.

Sinclair CEO Chris Ripley says the best way to think of the deal is that Sinclair is paying $6.5 billion when Tribune’s debt is factored in, but that there is between $2 billion and $2.5 billion in “non-core” assets that when subtracted brings down the price for the core assets (stations and WGN America) to between $4 billion and $4.5 billion or around 7 times EBITDA.

The Sinclair Broadcast Group is near a deal to buy Tribune Media, people briefed on the matter said Sunday, as it seeks to expand its empire of local television stations in the wake of rule changes by the Trump administration. Sinclair is expected to pay about $44 a share for Tribune, one of those briefed said, valuing the company at about $3.8 billion. A deal could be announced as soon as Monday, although talks were continuing, leaving the possibility that an agreement might not materialize.

The news this week that Fox and Blackstone are forming a joint venture to acquire Tribune Media had researchers, analysts and plain old columnists like me wondering why, and sorting through the implications not only for Fox, but also for Sinclair, Nexstar and CBS.

The largest owner of TV stations, Sinclair Broadcast Group has a history of supporting Republican causes. But as Sinclair tries to grow, it is locking horns with Fox.

The company attributes the softness to weakness in the food and retail categories and the loss of revenue from for-profit technical schools that have gone out of business. The good news was auto, which grew 3%.

The increase to $602.5 million is helped by a 25% rise in digital revenue. The company’s total revenue grew 12% to $650 million.

Millennials looking for a no-spin video news and entertainment space are flocking to Circa, a digital platform launched by Sinclair Broadcast Group last summer. Circa’s team of 60-plus journalists have apparently found a formula for creating original video-driven stories and reformatting compelling footage from SBG’s local newscasts into the kind of fast-paced videos that millennials prefer for mobile consumption and social sharing.

21st Century Fox’s plan to form a joint venture with Blackstone to buy Tribune Media would create value from cost synergies and by putting Fox into six more NFL markets, says the securities research firm. What’s more, it blocks Sinclair from acquiring the Tribune stations — a move that would boost Sinclair’s national programming ambitions and get it more leverage in reverse comp dealings.