Fox To Buy Seven SinclairTribune TV Stations

Sinclair Broadcast Group has agreed to sell seven TV stations it is acquiring from Tribune Media to Fox Television Group, sources told The NYPost.

The 21st Century Fox unit will be acquiring Fox affiliate stations in Seattle, Denver, Cleveland, Sacramento, San Diego and Salt Lake City. The buyer will also be acquiring a CW channel in Miami.

Sinclair on Tuesday afternoon announced it had definitive agreements to sell 23 of the 42 stations it’s buying from Tribune, passing them on to buyers including Standard Media Group and Meredith Corp. The seven going to Fox are part of that package of 23, two sources confirmed.

21st Century Fox has agreed to sell much of its business, including its studios, to Disney for $54 billion. As part of the deal, it is planning to spin off Fox News, its sports networks FS1 and FS2 along with the television stations into the “New Fox” company.

Adding the Sinclair stations will give the “New Fox” more bargaining power with national advertisers.

Meanwhile, Sinclair in its $6.6 billion purchase of Tribune Media needs to stay under the Federal Communication Commissions’ 39 percent national audience ownership cap, and these divestitures will help.