Sinclair Executive Changes: Smith To Executive Chairman, Ripley To President-CEO

Sinclair Broadcast Group today announced executive promotions and changes that will become effective Jan. 1, 2017:

• David Smith from chairman, president and chief executive officer to executive chairman. Smith will have direct oversight of the development, implementation and globalization of the next generation broadcast platform (ATSC 3.0) and expansion of the company’s news franchise. he will also be directly involved with public policy as it relates to the broadcast industry.

• Christopher Ripley from chief financial officer to president-CEO. He will oversee and manage the company’s business and operations. Ripley will report to the board of directors.

• Lucy Rutishauser from SVP corporate finance and treasurer to SVP chief financial officer and treasurer. She will have direct oversight of the company’s treasury, accounting, tax, finance, business intelligence & analytics, investor relations and corporate communications departments.

Commenting on the changes, Smith said: “We are excited about the announced executive changes and believe they will better position us to grow in a changing media landscape where networks and distributors are getting bigger and consumers have more viewing choices on more devices. The organizational changes provide greater focus and oversight in those critical areas that strengthen our longer term strategies to be multi-platformed, vertically integrated and compete in the broader media ecosystem, ultimately driving value. We have the utmost confidence in Chris and Lucy’s ability to oversee and improve upon their new respective areas.

“In addition, my revised role allows me to focus on our most important assets: local and national news content, and the launch of the ‘Next Gen’ Broadcast Platform and associated single frequency network, IP network infrastructure and user data collection which are expected to revolutionize the way television broadcasters transmit data and interface with end user consumers.”