By Harper
Neidig - 05/18/17 06:00 AM EDT
The proposed acquisition by Sinclair Broadcasting
Group of Tribune Media Company is inflaming criticism of the Federal
Communications Commission (FCC), which helped pave the way for the deal by
relaxing media ownership restrictions.
Sinclair announced earlier this month that it had
reached an agreement to buy Tribune for $3.9 billion. The announcement came
several weeks after the FCC voted to ease restrictions on the amount of local
television stations that broadcasters can own.
Broadcasters are now limited to serving 39 percent
of the country’s households. Last month, the FCC reinstated what’s known as the
UHF discount, which makes stations that used to broadcast on ultra-high
frequency count less toward the 39 percent ownership limit.
Without the discount, Sinclair already reaches 38
percent of U.S. households, according to an analysis from Fitch Ratings. Once
the discount goes into effect, the Fitch study finds, Sinclair’s share will
drop to 25 percent — giving the company more room to buy local television
stations.
The deal with Tribune is still likely to push
Sinclair over the media limit, and the company has said that it will explore
ways to avoid exceeding the cap.
Activists immediately pounced on the arrangement
after the deal was announced. Free Press CEO Craig Aaron called it a “scandal,”
and John Bergmayer, a senior counsel at Public Knowledge, urged the Department
of Justice and the FCC to scrutinize the deal.
Free Press and several other groups are trying to
block the discount from going into effect. They petitioned the FCC to hold off
on implementing the rule and asked a federal court to review it, arguing that
the Republican majority at the agency did not have sufficient reason to
reinstate the discount, which the FCC repealed last year under the Obama
administration.
And a trio of House Democrats — Reps. Doris Matsui
(Calif.), Mike Doyle (Pa.) and Anna Eshoo (Calif.) — called on the House Energy
and Commerce Committee to hold a hearing to scrutinize the acquisition and the
FCC’s actions.
FCC Chairman Ajit Pai has said that he agrees that
the UHF discount has outlived its usefulness but argues that it shouldn’t be
modified or removed without also reviewing the overall ownership limit, which
he has promised the FCC will do.
Critics say that if the Sinclair-Tribune deal is
allowed to go through, it could lead to higher costs for consumers and a
stifling of independent media voices.
“The fundamental concern is that no media company
should be that big,” said Andrew Jay Schwartzman, a law professor at Georgetown
University and part of the legal team seeking to block the UHF discount.
“Beyond that, Sinclair gaining this kind of scope is
especially troublesome. It has an established track record of shortchanging its
viewers by cutting costs, duplicating programming on multiple stations in a
market and placing profits ahead of service.”
Sinclair did not respond to requests for comment.
The FCC declined to comment.
Some critics have even questioned whether Sinclair
is getting special treatment because of its conservative leaning. The company
faced criticism last year after Politico reported that President Trump’s
adviser and son-in-law, Jared Kushner, had bragged behind closed doors about an
arrangement Sinclair had with the Trump campaign for better coverage.
Sinclair reportedly secured one-on-one interviews
with then-candidate Trump by promising that the interview would be broadcast
without any commentary. Scott Livingston, the company’s vice president of news,
told Politico at the time that the offer was also extended to Democratic
nominee Hillary Clinton’s campaign and that her running mate, Sen. Tim Kaine (D-Va.), took advantage of the arrangement.
A month ago, Sinclair hired Boris Epshteyn, a former
Trump administration aide, as the network’s chief political analyst.
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