The attorneys general of Illinois, Iowa and Rhode Island urged the Federal Communications Commission to reject Sinclair Broadcast Group Inc’s proposed $3.9 billion acquisition of Tribune Media Co, citing “excessive consolidation” in the television market
According to Reuters, Sinclair, the largest U.S. television broadcast group with 192 stations, announced plans in May 2017 to acquire Chicago-based Tribune’s 42 TV stations in 33 markets.
In April, Sinclair said it would sell 23 television stations to obtain the necessary regulatory approvals of the Tribune transaction. Sinclair, based in Hunt Valley, Maryland, said that if the deal was approved it would reach nearly 59 percent of the nation’s television households.
The three attorneys general, all Democrats, said in a filing with the FCC made public on Thursday that the deal “creates excessive consolidation, unreasonably reducing the number of voices in the broadcast television marketplace” and is “not in the public interest.”
The filing noted that Illinois and Iowa are among broadcast markets in 36 states that will be affected by the deal and said that “stations serving audiences in Illinois and Iowa are the subject of divestiture plans.”
The American Civil Liberties Union also objected to the deal in a separate filing, saying that it “consolidates an unprecedented amount of market power into one corporate entity” and would allow Sinclair to continue to operate some of the stations it is selling.
A Sinclair spokeswoman declined to comment on the filings.
Conservative news outlet Newsmax Media, satellite TV operator Dish Network Corp and trade group NCTA – the Internet & Television Association are among those voicing objections to the merger.
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