****UPDATE: Later on Wednesday the FCC voted to send the proposed deal to the hearing process. Industry insiders say this may effectively scuttle the deal in the long run. ****
by David Shepardson, Reuters News Service.
FILE PHOTO: Chairman of the Federal Communications Commission Ajit Pai speaks at the Conservative Political Action Conference (CPAC) at National Harbor, Maryland, U.S., February 23, 2018. REUTERS/Joshua Roberts
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Sinclair, the top U.S. TV broadcast group, said it will drop plans to divest stations in Dallas, Chicago and Houston to “expedite” the transaction after the FCC suggested that under its plan the company would still control the stations.
It is not clear if the last-ditch effort will be enough to sway regulators, who also raised concerns about whether Sinclair has misled the government.
The Justice Department is also still reviewing the deal and the FCC may have other concerns before it is willing to approve the deal.
FCC chairman Ajit Pai, whom Democrats have accused of making a string of decisions benefiting Sinclair, said Monday that evidence suggested “certain station divestitures that have been proposed to the FCC would allow Sinclair to control those stations in practice, even if not in name, in violation of the law.”
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Sinclair, which owns 192 stations, is withdrawing applications to divest stations in Dallas, Houston and Chicago. Reuters first reported on Monday the identity of the three stations.
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The problem Sinclair has is Fox News has their tentacles around Trump and dont want to see any more competition on the right. Will be a tough deed.