FCC’s Pai unleashes conservative TV giant
Deregulation opens doors for Sinclair Broadcast, including $3.9B bid for Tribune Media
WASHINGTON — The day before President Donald Trump’s inauguration, the top executive of Sinclair Broadcast Group, the nation’s largest owner of television stations, invited an important guest to the headquarters of the company’s Washington-area ABC affiliate.
The invitation from David D. Smith, the chairman of Sinclair, went to Ajit V. Pai, a commissioner on the Federal Communications Commission who was about to be named the broadcast industry’s chief regulator.
Smith wanted Pai to ease up on efforts under President Barack Obama to crack down on media consolidation, which were threatening Sinclair’s ambitions to grow even bigger. Smith did not have to wait long. Within days of their meeting, Pai was named chairman of the FCC. And during his first 10 days on the job, he relaxed a restriction on television stations’ sharing of advertising revenue and other resources — the topic that Pai discussed with Smith and one of his business partners, according to records examined by The New York Times.
It was only the beginning. Since becoming chairman in January, Pai has undertaken a deregulatory blitz, enacting or proposing a wish list of fundamental policy changes advocated by Smith and his company. Hundreds of pages of emails and other documents obtained under the Freedom of Information Act reveal a rush of regulatory actions has been carefully aligned with Sinclair’s business objectives.
The moves, which include easing a cap on how many stations a broadcaster can own, have opened up lucrative opportunities for Smith, among them a $3.9 billion bid to buy Tribune Media, another large owner of stations.
Pai’s deregulatory drive has also helped win him a following as a champion of pro-business, conservative causes — even leading some Republicans to approach him since he was first named to the FCC in 2012 about running for elected office.
Tina Pelkey, spokeswoman for Pai, said the new chairman had not taken steps to help Sinclair specifically; his concerns relate to the broadcast industry generally.
Loosened regulatory requirements, Sinclair executives said, will help even the playing field and benefit millions of Americans who rely on TV for news and entertainment by allowing the companies to invest in new equipment and technology.
Critics say the rollback undermines the heart of the FCC mission to protect diversity, competition and local control in broadcast media.
It also gives an increasingly prominent conservative voice in broadcast television — Sinclair has become known for its right-leaning commentary — an unparalleled national platform, as television remains the preferred source for most Americans of news, according to Pew Research Center, a nonpartisan think tank.
A merger with Tribune would transform Sinclair into a media juggernaut, with reach into 7 of 10 homes through more than 200 stations in cities as diverse as Eureka, Calif., and Huntsville, Ala.
If Sinclair’s past is any guide, the changes for viewers could be profound. The company has a history of cutting staffs and shaving costs by requiring stations to share news coverage, in that way reducing unique local content. And it has required stations to air conservative-leaning segments, including law-and-order features from its “Terrorism Alert Desk,” as well as punditry from Republicans like Boris Epshteyn, a former surrogate to Trump, who was still seen visiting the White House after joining Sinclair.