Tribune files a breach of contract suit against Sinclair.
Tribune Media said Thursday that it would terminate its proposed merger with Sinclair Broadcast Group, while announcing a $1 billion lawsuit against the conservative television giant on grounds that it engaged in “misconduct” and precluded the U.S. government from approving the deal.
In the lawsuit, Tribune accused Sinclair of engaging in “belligerent and unnecessarily protracted negotiations” with the FCC as well as the Justice Department, which reviewed the merger over its potential effects on competition. By failing to divest television stations as regulators recommended, Tribune said Sinclair had “breached” the companies’ merger agreement, which required them to make their best efforts to secure federal approval.
From the Internet Archive (www.archive.org) we reclaim some of our Lost Comments:
mikec says:
August 9, 2018 2:25 pm at
Once again we’re witness to signs the toxic, inbred, bloated, over-financed corporate muck that is decimating radio & TV O/O continues to implode, explode and take many good people down with it. I guess this means the status quo for local ownership & affiliation agreements
pugetsound says:
August 9, 2018 5:10 pm at
Don’t forget, KCPQ 13 is being purchased by FOX. That should happen soon.
mikec says:
August 9, 2018 8:36 pm at
quite right Jason, and it looks like Fox may get acquired by Disney-ABC. I’ll stick to my statement that we’re likely to not see any changes in programming or affiliation. Hopefully Fox doesn’t mess with Q13’s local news/info coverage.
pugetsound says:
August 12, 2018 11:58 pm at
Possibly.
Then again, FOX buys Q13 and KZJO 22
Disney/ABC buys FOX
FOX network stays with Q13
ABC affiliation moves to JOE TV KZJO 22
No??
CBS buys KIRO – or moves the affiliation to KSTW 11
KIRO becomes the CW affiliate
KING remains an NBC affiliate
KOMO becomes the MY TV affiliate, drops most news programming, staying with just an hour at 5 and 11, with regular Sinclair “must runs” nightly
mikec says:
August 13, 2018 2:46 pm at
stranger moves have happened in other markets! I never gave any thought to KZJO-22 & what happens once Tribune sells these to Disney-Fox!! Okay…time for me to revise my “TV network roulette”:
KOMO-4 = becomes CW & ADDS to their news output on air; Sinclair has other CW affiliates elsewhere
KING-5 = NBC, no change
KIRO-7 = ABC, the huge FOR SALE sign that Cox has dangling from the KIRO tower will be too tempting for Fox-Disney to pass on! I really can’t see CBS buying a 2nd full-power outlet in our market
KSTW-11 = CBS
KCPQ-13 = Fox, owned by Disney-Fox
KZJO-22 = MyTV, Disney-Fox will spin this off to acquire KIRO
that’s my argument, and I’m sticking to it!
pugetsound says:
August 15, 2018 7:18 pm at
Geez! This could certainly happen…and I can see that the news choices are dwindling when 3 companies own most of the tv stations.