Sinclair Pays Nexstar $60M, Some Assets, to Settle Tribune Suit

Sinclair and Nexstar have settled Tribune's lawsuit against Sinclair--which Nexstar purchased--over Sinclair's failure to close its previous deal to buy Tribune. 

Sinclair will give Nexstar $60 million cash and some assets. 

That is according to a filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). 

Sinclair and Nexstar are dismissing the lawsuit with prejudice, meaning it can't be refiled.  

Neither admitted liability or wrongdoing in the terminated merger, which fell apart after the FCC designated it for hearing over concerns about Sinclair's sidecar deals to align the merger with FCC rules. 

In announcing the order, Pai had said at the time: "The evidence we’ve received suggests that certain station divestitures that have been proposed to the FCC would allow Sinclair to control those stations in practice, even if not in name, in violation of the law."

Both Sinclair and Nexstar said the suit had been settled "to avoid the costs, distraction, and uncertainties of continued litigation." 

In addition to the $60 million cash, as part of the settlement, Sinclair is selling WDKY-TV Lexington, Ky., to Nexstar, subject to FCC approval. 

Sinclair has also sold "certain non-license assets associated with KGBT-TV Harlingen, Tex. (Sinclair will continue to operate KGBT-TV).  

They have also modified a carriage agreement for some of Sinclair's digital networks by Tribune stations acquired by Nexstar. 

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.