FCC Boss Tries to Hide His Latest Gift to Sinclair Broadcasting

[Yo_Mama_Been_Loggin]

The Federal Communications Commission on Friday quietly approved the transfer of seven major television station licenses owned by Bluestone Television/Bonten Media to Sinclair Broadcast Group -- without informing the agency's sole Democratic commissioner, Mignon Clyburn. Current FCC boss Ajit Pai spent a lot of time complaining about transparency at the FCC when he was a regular commissioner under former FCC boss Tom Wheeler. Yet much like his professed dedication to bridging the digital divide, this dedication to transparency appears to only be skin deep.


Clyburn stated on Twitter that the FCC appears to have tried to bury the news of the approval ahead of the July 4 weekend, and didn't even inform her of the decision. She wound up learning about the decision from her own agency via news reports.

Pai has long opposed media ownership and consolidation limits, and unsurprisingly has made letting these companies grow immensely larger his top agency priority. That has involved attempts to restore the so-called UHF discount, which would let major media companies exceed previous restrictions on the number of stations that they can own.

The efforts have been consistently criticized as damaging to local media outlets and regional reporting. Comedian John Oliver took aim at Sinclair in a segment on his program, Last Week Tonight, but didn't really focus too much on how the current FCC is busy making this possible.

https://www.dslreports.com/shownews/FCC-Boss-Tries-to-Hide-His-Latest-Gift-to-Sinclair-Broadcasting-139887

[onenote]

1. It sucks that Sinclair keeps getting bigger, but no one opposed this transaction

So Commissioner Clyburn couldn't have been too surprised the application was granted. It was an action by the Media Bureau -- didn't require a vote by the Commissioners.

[Best_man23]

3. The New Der Sturmer

Just waiting for the anti-Muslim, anti-immigrant caricatures to start showing up on the broadcasts.

If your local TV station is purchased by Sinclair, you need to get a list of every local business advertising on that station, and tell them you and all you know will boycott their business until the ad is pulled off the Sinclair station.

[Qutzupalotl]

5. Here's a list of Sinclair stations for use in activism:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_stations_owned_or_operated_by_Sinclair_Broadcast_Group

[Best_man23]

7. Thanks for the link

[hedda_foil]

2. And they're taking over Tribune Media too.

[KelleyKramer]

4. That's the big one!

They are going to do a local TV takeover the way Clear Channel did to radio

That's bad news for everyone who is not a billionaire

[Gidney N Cloyd]

6. Sinclair's growth has been amazingly fast. I bet their(real)finances would be an interesting read...

[onenote]

8. Not particularly fast

Sinclair's origins date to 1971. Starting around 1990 it became an aggressive buyer of station and also a pioneer in the practice of entering into local marketing agreements and joint sales agreements that allowed it run stations without owning them (and thus without running afoul of the local and national ownership caps then in place. By 2001, it had owned well over 50 stations and had agreements allowing it run dozens others. As the FCC relaxed its ownership rules, Sinclair converted its LMA and JSA relationships into ownership deals. It's most recent burst of activity is more of what it has been doing for more than 25 years.

[Gidney N Cloyd]

9. Huh. I must be thinking of another ownership group, then.

There was one that was wrapped up in a scandal a few election cycles back but now the whole episode escapes me.