The Sudden Demise of Sinclair’s Merger With Tribune

In the 14 months since Sinclair Broadcast Group announced its plan to acquire Tribune Media, the biggest deal in local broadcasting has been met with intense scrutiny and mounting concern.

If approved, the $3.9 billion transaction would increase Sinclair’s market share substantially, leaving the conservative local-news giant with 233 television stations and an unprecedented 72 percent household penetration in the United States. In order to stay under the Federal Communications Commission’s 39 percent national ownership cap—a safeguard for media diversity across the country—Sinclair planned to sell some of Tribune’s stations and some of its own, totaling 23 in all.

But in orchestrating these station sales, Sinclair has become a victim of what many analysts have come to see as its own arrogance.

On July 16, Ajit Pai, the chairman of the Federal Communications Commission, performed a surprising about-face, expressing “” about Sinclair’s divestiture plans. Sinclair’s deals were sketchy to say the least, orchestrating problematic that would allow them to control certain stations even without owning them, he said.