Sinclair Yet to Submit New Tribune Deal Info

The FCC has yet to restart the 180-day shot clock on its vetting of the proposed Sinclair-Tribune merger, but that is because Sinclair has yet to submit the info the FCC wants to vet.

Sinclair signaled Jan. 4 it would be filing new divestiture applications and amendments related to the deal and the Justice Department's antitrust review.

Demand Progress Seeks Investigation of FCC's Sinclair/Tribune Deal Review

The FCC signaled at the time that it was stopping the clock as of the Jan. 4 request, though the announcement actually came Jan. 11.

A Sinclair source confirmed that the company had yet to submit the new info.

The FCC also stopped the clock back in October to give commenters more time to weigh in on the deal, given Sinclair's additional explanation of the public interest benefits, as well as how it would spin off stations to comply with FCC rules," a "how" that now appears to be changing.

Related: McCaskill to FCC: Sinclair Deal Would Need St. Louis Spin-off

Sinclair has said it would spin off whatever stations it has to to comply with relevant FCC rules, but the FCC has made it easier for broadcast groups to add more stations by restoring the UHF discount and loosening the duopoly and crossownership rules.

John Eggerton

Contributing editor John Eggerton has been an editor and/or writer on media regulation, legislation and policy for over four decades, including covering the FCC, FTC, Congress, the major media trade associations, and the federal courts. In addition to Multichannel News and Broadcasting + Cable, his work has appeared in Radio World, TV Technology, TV Fax, This Week in Consumer Electronics, Variety and the Encyclopedia Britannica.