Tribune/Sinclair Merger dead

[ncted]

Not sure if this is the right forum for this, but I thought it was significant news.

Tribune Terminates $3.9 Billion Sinclair Merger, Sues Broadcast Rival

 

[navychop]

Paywall.


Sent from my iPhone using the SatelliteGuys app!

 

[osu1991]

Tribune Kills Sinclair Merger, Files Suit - TV News Check

At the same time as it ends the $3.9 billion deal, it files a lawsuit seeking compensation “for all losses incurred as a result of Sinclair’s material breaches of the merger agreement.” It also releases its second quarter earnings results that included Television and Entertainment segment revenues of $486.4 million, up 4% from $466.1 million in 2Q 2017.

 

[SamCdbs]

Crux of the dispute, IMHO, is this.

Tribune either did not do its homework, or thought all the internet conspiracy theorist stuff about the FCC pandering to Sinclair was real.

Sinclair tried to approach this merger the same way it has grown its company for 20 + years. The law says no company can own more than 1 of the Big 4 stations in the same market. Sinclair ignores this law by having dummy companies "own" its second Big 4 station. Some of these are such shams the "owners" have been dead for 15 years.

The FCC called BS, and Sinclair, faced with actually obeying the law, lost interest.

Hopefully the FCC will FINALLY enforce the law and VOID and SEIZE Sinclair's licenses and resell these to others, applying the $$ to the national debt.

 

[ncted]

Hopefully the FCC will FINALLY enforce the law and VOID and SEIZE Sinclair's licenses and resell these to others, applying the $$ to the national debt.

That was a good laugh. Thanks for that.

 

[Trip]

You should read Tribune's lawsuit. Holy crap. If this is accurate, what was Sinclair thinking?

http://www.tribunemedia.com/wp-cont...t-for-Damages-Tribune-v-Sinclair_accepted.pdf

I even learned a new word reading it. Near the end, Tribune calls itself a victim of Sinclair's "outrageous obduracy." Merriam-Webster says it means "stubborn persistence in wrong-doing."

- Trip

 

[ncted]

You should read Tribune's lawsuit. Holy crap. If this is accurate, what was Sinclair thinking?

http://www.tribunemedia.com/wp-cont...t-for-Damages-Tribune-v-Sinclair_accepted.pdf

I even learned a new word reading it. Near the end, Tribune calls itself a victim of Sinclair's "outrageous obduracy." Merriam-Webster says it means "stubborn persistence in wrong-doing."

- Trip

Good reading.

 

[harshness]

Someone (or their pooch) is probably a little crabby in Maryland.

Sinclair was thinking that they were bulletproof and they had free rein to take over the planet.

Edison Carter was right.

 

[Mgsports]

Fox Television did renew like WDAF,KTVI and so on.

 

[navychop]

Who says legal documents make for dry reading?!!!

Looks like a slam dunk. But I’m sure Sinclair’s lawyers will attempt to drag it out and outwait Tribune. Gee, how did I get that idea?


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[harshness]

Who says legal documents make for dry reading?!!!

I never expected to see the term "double whammy" in a legal document.

 

[SamCdbs]

The lawsuit outline that Sinclair simply does not obey laws it does not like. Sadly, it is just a private dispute between two big companies, outlining WHAT THE FCC SHOULD HAVE BEEN DOING FOR THE LAST 20 YEARS.

 

[harshness]

Sadly, it is just a private dispute between two big companies, outlining WHAT THE FCC SHOULD HAVE BEEN DOING FOR THE LAST 20 YEARS.

Sinclair will squeal that the previous FCC administration didn't go out of their way to enforce the terms of the Comcast-NBC merger so it is plainly unfair single them out. Precedent (by decisive action or casual inaction) seems to count more than the incontrovertible letter of the law.

 

[ShawnHill1]

If this, in some way, can lead to the FCC to force a break-up of Sinclair (with whatever legalese they have in their disposal), I'm for it. I couldn't care less about of their political slant, but no company should have this much control of the American airwaves.

 

[harshness]

If this, in some way, can lead to the FCC to force a break-up of Sinclair (with whatever legalese they have in their disposal), I'm for it.

It is not reasonable to hold that there is any precedent that they might be "broken up" but there's clear policy on the books that they have some serious divestiture of individual stations that they haven't been keeping up with. They are not alone in this malfeasance as the FCC has been letting them get away with it.

 

[Dantheflash2018]

It is not reasonable to hold that there is any precedent that they might be "broken up" but there's clear policy on the books that they have some serious divestiture of individual stations that they haven't been keeping up with. They are not alone in this malfeasance as the FCC has been letting them get away with it.

 

[Dantheflash2018]

Good Question, Cunningham Broadcasting (Sinclair 's Partner) will sell KTXD -TV in Greenville, Texas to another Company?