Sinclair, Tribune Close to Merger Deal

[Megatron81 181]

Not surprise that the FCC wants more info from Sinclair will be interesting what they will say when it's due on Oct 5TH. No way that Sinclair can keep all the stations they have to divest at least 6 to 10 stations which Fox17 is one of them and I believe that Fox will get their O&O in Seattle as Sinclair will sell to Fox.

[oklahomanewsman 210]

Will it really become an election issue? I highly doubt that. No one is seriously talking about the illegitimacy of this merger beyond the cliff notes John Oliver said a few months ago.

 

If this merger falls apart - and if it does, Tribune will have a nine-digit fee to pay Sinclair as a result - it will be because Sinclair was counting on Altji I. M. Paid Off and the DOJ to ignore the rules outright, and didn't have a Plan B in place.

 

Would Sinclair be that brazen and reckless? Possibly.

 

Will they get their just desserts and have this merger rejected? Highly unlikely. There's no serious opposition to this deal that would realistically pry through what is an obvious opening by Sinclair's current radio silence. The chances of this going through are all but certain.

I firmly believe (as CircleSeven noted) that the FCC had to request more information from Sinclair because the Democrats believed that Pai was giving Sinclair special treatment.

 

It'll be interesting to see what Sinclair plans to do with the overlapping stations but two things are for certain:

 

1. Sinclair-Tribune is 6% over the cap (with the UHF Discount)

2. There will be divestitures

[CircleSeven 1944]

If they want the deal to close in 4Q 2017 as they want, they definitely have to divest everything they can to get into national and market caps. If they fight it, this could drag well into 2018, and perhaps become an election issue.

 

Look. This deal will not get done by the end of the year. I don't care how many times Chris Ripley preaches this over and over and over. This deal will carried over through the new year. They better pray that it doesn't prolong into the spring. And it would potentially be a double whammy if that UHF loophole court case starts around that same time frame.

[Rusty Muck 4167]

Not surprise that the FCC wants more info from Sinclair will be interesting what they will say when it's due on Oct 5TH. No way that Sinclair can keep all the stations they have to divest at least 6 to 10 stations which Fox17 is one of them and I believe that Fox will get their O&O in Seattle as Sinclair will sell to Fox.

Actually, it IS a surprise given the conman who is chairing the commission. I find it hard to believe that Paid Off signed off on this.

[GoldenShine9 1509]

Look. This deal will not get done by the end of the year. I don't care how many times Chris Ripley preaches this over and over and over. This deal will carried over through the new year. They better pray that it doesn't prolong into the spring. And it would potentially be a double whammy if that UHF loophole court case starts around that same time frame.

 

If the court case begins, the deal is DOA.

[CircleSeven 1944]

If the court case begins, the deal is DOA.

No. The deal don't have to be DOA, should Pai greenlight the deal first. The deal would've possibly been DOA if they granted that "emergency" stay. But then if the courts rule in favor of Free Press and all the advocacy groups when the case concludes, then it would be Sinclair that have to do significant divestitures (should they be ordered to do so).

Actually, it IS a surprise given the conman who is chairing the commission. I find it hard to believe that Paid Off signed off on this.

 

I also have a feeling that Sinclair was well aware that this letter was going to come about. Because before that letter, they announced that it was going to beef up its investigative reporting by launching its national unit. On the eighth request, section D, asking about their plans about investigative journalism for the Trib stations post-transction.

[CircleSeven 1944]

Well after that NYT piece was posted, the House Democrats sent out this letter to Pai, as they were concern that "he may have taken a series of actions to benefit Sinclair that could show a "pattern" of preferential treatment and may have been inappropriately coordinated with the White House and the company".

 

Even former Chairman Wheeler thinks this is happening.

 

Follow-Up.

 

Pai says he's been "going by the book" and he says that there isn't any inappropriate coordination between the Commission, the White House and Sinclair.

 

From the B&C:

FCC Chairman Ajit Pai says there has been no inappropriate coordination between the Donald Trump White House, Sinclair and the FCC over the Sinclair/Tribune merger, and that there has been no pattern of preferential treatment shown Sinclair in a deal whose vetting has been by the book and on a timetable common to such transactions, including under other regimes.

 

That came in a Sept. 15 letter in response to the House Energy & Commerce Committee Democrat’s own letter last month expressing concern that that was the case.

-----

Citing various news stories, including from B&C, about rule changes, White House meetings, and more that the legislators suggest add up to big questions about whether the independent agency has been truly independent, the Democrats, led by House Energy & Commerce Committee ranking member Frank Pallone (D-N.J.), had suggested that the chairman had expedited the review of the Sinclair-Tribune merger to allow Sinclair to grow quickly, despite calls for extension of time and for Sinclair to provide more information to quantify or validate its public interest claims for the deal.

[ColtFromGulfcoast 695]

Follow-Up.

 

Pai says he's been going by the book and he says that there isn't any inappropriate coordination between the Commission, the White House and Sinclair.

 

From the B&C:

 

Yeah and I'm 6'7 and a multi-millionaire.

[TennTV1983 743]

Follow-Up.

 

Pai says he's been going by the book and he says that there isn't any inappropriate coordination between the Commission, the White House and Sinclair.

Of course he would issue a statement like that in defense of Der Führer Drumpf and his cronies. Denial will only get you so far though.

[oklahomanewsman 210]

I will say this:

 

The only reason why Pai's review on this merger has been "by the book" is because those same democrats also pressured the FCC to question Sinclair-Tribune whether this merger is in the best interest or not.

 

If those democrats didn't do what they did, this merger review by this point would not have been "by the book" as a matter of fact at this point you could say that we would be in discussions on whether to raise the ownership cap right now.

[Rusty Muck 4167]

Follow-Up.

 

Pai says he's been "going by the book" and he says that there isn't any inappropriate coordination between the Commission, the White House and Sinclair.

Translation: Paid Off is 110% guilty as sin.

 

Of course he would issue a statement like that in defense of Der Führer Drumpf and his cronies. Denial will only get you so far though.

Appropriate karma would have him wearing jumpsuit orange, but of course he's a Republican. So of course he'll get away with it. Even if he's caught... he'll be pardoned... so he's got nothing to fear.

[Rusty Muck 4167]

Welp, I forgot that Paid Off was never actually confirmed by the Senate to his chairmanship post. And the rumors of insider dealing with the Smith family is not helping his case to be confirmed.

 

It's not that being denied the chairmanship will force him out - Paid Off is still a commissioner until the end of 2018. But a drawn-out confirmation process to the chairmanship will undermine his authority, even if he's confirmed (in the case of Betsy "Amway" DeVos, through Pence delivering a tie-breaking vote - there's little chance any Democrat will vote for him, so that outcome is highly likely).

 

That's why he issued that denial of favoritism towards Sinclair a few days ago. He didn't count on that being leaked until after he was confirmed.

[CircleSeven 1944]

Some opponents protested outside of the Hunt Valley headquarters over the weekend.

 

And advocacy group Allied Progress wrote a letter to Livingston asking to drop Boris from the commentaries. Livingston insisted that he will remain on the air.

[CircleSeven 1944]

Translation: Paid Off is 110% guilty as sin.

Here's that letter Pai sent Rep. Pallone in FULL.

Welp, I forgot that Paid Off was never actually confirmed by the Senate to his chairmanship post. And the rumors of insider dealing with the Smith family is not helping his case to be confirmed.

He could get a confirmation vote, as early as next week.

[Rusty Muck 4167]

He could get a confirmation vote, as early as next week.

Imagine that. Republicans openly throwing out the rule of law for their own fascist dreams.

 

Altji Paid Off will 100% get away with his corruption.

[Rusty Muck 4167]

And advocacy group Allied Progress wrote a letter to Livingston asking to drop Boris from the commentaries. Livingston insisted that he will remain on the air.

Nitwit Livingston would defend Osama bin Epshteyn to the hilt even if Robert Mueller implicates Epshteyn as part of the Trump Russia corruption probe.

 

Republicans always put party over country. Always.

[CircleSeven 1944]

Some opponents protested outside of the Hunt Valley headquarters over the weekend.

OMG! Guess who covered the protesters last weekend? You wouldn't believe it. FOX FORTY-FIVE!

 

Meanwhile. Connecticut Senator Richard Blumenthal wrote a letter to Pai, urging him to reject the deal.

 

And John Legend wrote an op-ed blashing Sinclair, as he still trying to find a network to carry Underground after WGN America cancelled the series earlier this spring.

[CircleSeven 1944]

Imagine that. Republicans openly throwing out the rule of law for their own fascist dreams.

 

Altji Paid Off will 100% get away with his corruption.

 

As Pai is waiting for his vote, they confirmed the appointment of Makan Delrahim as Assistant AG of the antitrust unit.

[Georgie56 3066]

OMG! Guess who covered the protesters last weekend? You wouldn't believe it. FOX FORTY-FIVE!

 

Meanwhile. Connecticut Senator Richard Blumenthal wrote a letter to Pai, urging him to reject the deal.

 

And John Legend wrote an op-ed blashing Sinclair, as he still trying to find a network to carry Underground after WGN America cancelled the series earlier this spring.

 

I didn't know John Legend knew what Sinclair was until now.

[Rusty Muck 4167]

As Pai is waiting for his vote, they confirmed the appointment of Makan Delrahim as Assistant AG of the antitrust unit.

Watch as the DOJ promptly drops every single review against Sinclair and gives the merger the biggest fucking rubber stamp possible.

 

Delrahim is as much a thoroughly corrupt, evil thug as Altji Paid Off is. Don't trust a single thing he does... even breathe.

[Eat News 4738]

Watch as the DOJ promptly drops every single review against Sinclair and gives the merger the biggest fucking rubber stamp possible.

 

Are at least a big rubber stamp for the effort.

https://www.rubberstamps.com/assets/products/ROUND BIG EFFORT STAMP.jpg

 

Everybody gets a trophy right?

 

 

[CircleSeven 1944]

Now the House Dems wants more info, specifically they want more info relating to correspondence between Pai's office and Sinclair reps.

House Energy & Commerce Committee Democrats want more from FCC Chairman Ajit Pai on the commission's review of the proposed Sinclair-Tribune merger.

Specifically they want any correspondence between Sinclair and Pai's office, info they said was not supplied pursuant to an earlier request for information on the deal vetting.

_________

 

"Chairman Pai failed to provide the requested correspondence between his office and Sinclair representatives," they said. They also said they still have questions about the timing of the UHF discount's return and the "adequacy of the initial public comment periods for the proposed merger." Pai told them the comment period was in line with other mergers.

 

“We received your September 8, 2017 letter, and we appreciate the efforts of Commission staff to collect the information included in your response, but the narrative you provided failed to respond to several of our specific questions and raised additional questions,” they wrote. “Your failure to provide the requested correspondence between your office and Sinclair representatives is most troubling. We reiterate our request that you provide all correspondence between you and members of your office and representatives of Sinclair, including any lobbyists and lawyers representing Sinclair, since November 8, 2016, regardless of whether it is subject to a FOIA request.”

They want Pai to respond to this latest request by October 12.

 

Meanwhile, Senate Dems have wrote a different letter to Pai to "hold off" any changes to the media ownership rules until the FCC finish conducting its analysis (Good Luck with that). This comes as Pai's reconfirmation vote comes as early as Monday.

[oklahomanewsman 210]

So essentially the FCC wants more info from Sinclair on how they plan to address the 10 overlapping markets now House Democrats want more info from the FCC regarding their conversations with Sinclair.

 

Boy these next 2 weeks are gonna get interesting with Sinclair needing to reply back to FCC's request for more infor by next Thursday, Pai replying back to House Democrat's request for more info the next week (October 12th)

 

Stay tuned....

[CircleSeven 1944]

Now this has nothing to do with this transaction, but there might be a connection......

 

Cunningham has bought London Broadcasting's KTXD for $9.5M.

 

Now why they're using their shell to acquire KTXD? Wouldn't they use Sinclair proper to acquire the second station?

 

But wait. Sinclair would be 6% over the national ownership after the deal is completed. So I'm not sure if KDAF would be kept or spun-off.

 

This week, Sinclair has to respond to that FCC letter into how they'll comply to the current ownership rules in regards to this transaction. Could Sinclair be in the process of assigning its non-in-house news produced, big four markets to its shells (like KDAF, KIAH, WSFL and WUCW)? Or could they spin-off its station to a buyer that has no ties to Sinclair. Tegna is in three of those markets.

 

Whatever they'll do, this would be an interesting week to watch.

[The Frog 393]

This is the reason:

The deal confirms rumors that Sinclair has been trying to buy low-cost independent in major markets.

 

Sources say that Sinclair plans on using the second stations as so-called lighthouse stations during the transition to the ATSC 3.0 broadcast standard.

 

When the Sinclair main stations move to ATSC 3.0, it will simulcast on the lighthouse stations in the current ATSC 1.0 standard so as not to disrupt service to people watching over the air with ATSC 1.0 sets.

 

http://www.tvnewscheck.com/article/107764/cunningham-sinclair-buys-dallas-tv