Pelosi Urges Scrutiny Of Broadcast Deal After Hefty Donations

NY Post 10/27/22

Nancy Pelosi is creating static over a deal to take a massive group of TV stations private — after she and fellow House Democrats got more than $500,000 in campaign donations from Byron Allen, a comedian-turned-media mogul who wants to block the deal, reports The NY Post..

The House Speaker sent an Oct. 6 letter to FCC Chairwoman Jessica Rosenworcel expressing “serious concerns” about an agreement by Tegna — a publicly traded chain of 64 local TV stations that was spun off from newspaper giant Gannett in 2015 — to sell itself to the hedge fund Standard General for $8.6 billion.

Meanwhile, Federal Election Commission filings show that in the fourth quarter of last year Pelosi got $271,300 in campaign donations from Allen, who owns a group of cable-TV networks including The Weather Channel and is angling to nab Tegna’s nationwide broadcasting empire to widen their distribution.

During the same quarter, Allen — who earlier this month made headlines for buying a $100 million estate in Malibu, Calif. — also donated $275,000 to the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee, which backs Democratic candidates for the House, FEC filings show.

In the letter, Pelosi, along with Energy and Commerce Committee Chair Frank Pallone Jr., said she was worried the deal would raise cable bills, crimp local news coverage and spur job losses. In a written response to the FCC, Standard General denied plans to diminish local coverage and cut station jobs, calling them speculation and saying it “made a commitment in the FCC record that it was not planning any such actions.”

A spokesman for Pelosi, Henry Connelly, declined to comment on Allen’s donations. 

He said Pelosi and Pallone wrote to the FCC with similar concerns in 2017 about Sinclair Broadcasting’s proposal to buy stations from Tribune Broadcasting. That deal, which was scrapped a year later, had been controversial over Sinclair’s ties with Donald Trump.

Allen told The Post his “donations to numerous Democratic politicians and PACs have nothing to do with Tegna and everything to do with protecting our democracy.”

Insiders said Pelosi’s machinations may explain why the FCC on Sept. 29 — a week before she sent her letter — asked for more information from Standard General and Tegna, pushing the close of its merger investigation at least a few weeks beyond an initial Oct. 18 deadline. Indeed, it’s likely that the House’s Office of Legislative Affairs let the FCC Chairwoman know the letter was coming, according to one lawyer.

Delays have thrown the Tegna deal into jeopardy, insiders say. Some speculate FCC Chairwoman Rosenworcel will simply not bring the $24-a-share deal up for a vote before the four commissioners, exercising what would essentially be a pocket veto. She is under no legal obligation to bring the deal to a vote, sources said.