Relaxed FCC rules could smooth out Sinclair takeover of Tribune Media
Federal regulators on Thursday weakened rules meant to support independent local media, potentially paving the way for Sinclair Broadcast Group Inc. to take over Tribune Media Company.
Now, one company can own newspapers and broadcast stations in one market, undoing a ban in place since 1975. Thursday’s decision by the Federal Communications Commission also makes it easier for one company to own two broadcast TV stations in one market and coordinate operations with stations owned by others.
TV station giant Sinclair is expected to benefit from the changes, amid their pending deal for rival Tribune Media that regulators still must clear. They both own TV stations that air local news and programming from the major networks, ABC, CBS, NBC and Fox, around the country.
If the merger goes through, Sinclair would own or operate more than 200 stations nationwide — including Tribune- owned WGNChannel 9. Tribune Media has 42 TV stations and WGN radio, and Sinclair owns 173 stations.
Although the FCC changes won’t affect AT& T’s pending bid for Time Warner and its cable channels, they come as cable and phone companies have grown into industry giants through acquisitions. The newspaper and broadcasting industries say they need the changes to deal with growing competition from the web and cable companies.
The Republican- dominated FCC approved the changes in a 3- 2 vote along party lines. The two Democratic commissioners and other critics say that dumping these rules, by encouraging consolidation, hurts media diversity. Free Press, a group that opposes media mergers, said Thursday that it will challenge the rule changes in court.
“This act will pave the way for massive broadcast conglomerates to increasingly provide local viewers with nationalized cookiecutter news and corporate propaganda that’s produced elsewhere,” said Sen. Bill Nelson, a Florida Democrat.
The FCC previously granted exceptions for companies such as News Corp. to own both a newspaper and a radio or TV station in the same market. Scrapping the rule would let more companies do so without needing to make the case for an exception.
The Sinclair deal has drawn criticism from an unusual coalition: consumer advocacy groups that generally oppose media consolidation, conservative media companies that are rivals to the right- leaning Sinclair and cable and satellite TV companies that worry that a beefedup Sinclair will be able to get even higher fees from them.
The rule changes, however, would not apply to AT& T and Time Warner because the FCC is not reviewing that and neither company owns a TV or radio station or a local paper. The Justice Department is still reviewing that $ 85 billion deal. Its widely expected approval has run into hurdles.