Sinclair Broadcast Group has struck a deal with Tribune Media to buy the 42-station broadcast group for $3.9 billion, the largest acquisition in Sinclairs history, the companies announced Monday.
A deal would give Baltimore-based Sinclair further control of the country's TV stations, which could be enabled by the FCC's recent vote to ease ownership caps. With the addition of Tribune stations, Sinclair would reach 72% of U.S. households, according to president and CEO Chris Ripley. Nexstar Media, the group with the second-highest reach, covers 39% of the country, according to Sinclair.
Sinclair currently owns or runs 173 TV stations, as well as cables The Tennis Channel and multicast networks including TBD, Comet TV and This TV. In addition to its 42 television stations in 33 markets, Tribune owns cable network WGN America, digital multicast network Antenna TV, minority stakes in the TV Food Network and CareerBuilder, and a variety of real estate assets.
Sinclair said that a merger would also give Sinclair immense digital reach, as Tribunes currently reaches about 60 million uniques and Sinclair reaches 50 million.
Ripley said Sinclairs purchase of Tribune was driven as much by the opportunity it offers for creating and delivering enhanced services under the next-gen broadcast standard, ATSC 3.0, as it was for the financial benefits of an acquisition. Sinclair has been the industrys leading proponents of the adoption and implementation of the IP-based broadcast standard.
He also said he believes Sinclair can turn WGNA into a money-maker by scaling back high-price originals in favor of cheaper options including lower-cost series and syndicated content.
Sinclair expects to close the purchase during the fourth quarter of 2017.
Sinclairs purchase of Tribune will give it 28% of the countrys Fox affiliates-more than any other station group. It also will have the largest number of ABC, CW and MyNetwork affiliates, Ripley said.
Tribunes portfolio includes 14 Fox affiliates, 12 CW affiliates, six CBS affiliates, three ABC affiliates, two NBC affiliates, three MyNetworkTV affiliates and two independent stations.
Combining assets will give Sinclair leverage in negotiating affiliate agreements with the networks, leading to increased retransmission revenue, the company said. Other savings opportunities include combining staff, reducing outside services and creating a larger content creation and distrubution network, it said.
This is a transformational acquisition for Sinclair that will open up a myriad of opportunities for the company, Ripley said in a statement. The Tribune stations are highly complementary to Sinclair's existing footprint and will create a leading nationwide media platform that includes our country's largest markets. The acquisition will enable Sinclair to build ATSC 3.0 (Next Generation Broadcast Platform) advanced services, scale emerging networks and national sales, and integrate content verticals. The acquisition will also create substantial synergistic value through operating efficiencies, revenue streams, programming strategies and digital platforms.
The deal is subject to the FCCs approval. Sinclair may be required to sell certain stations in markets where it currently owns stations. Divestitures will be determined through the regulatory approval process.
In an investors call, Ripley said he does not believe merging with Tribune will require divestiture, although there are potential overlap issues in 14 markets. We dont think we need to sell any of them, he said. The overlaps have no impact on overall competition.
If regulators do require divestiture, however, it will likely involve stations in St. Louis and Salt Lake City, he said. While Sinclair would sell if need be, the group sees swaps as all the better, he said.
According to Sinclair, the mergers immediate financial value creation includes: Core TV business (stations & WGNA) expected pro forma average 2017/2018 EBITDA of at least $650 million; Implied multiple of less than 7.0x EBITDA on the core television and entertainment business; and more than 40% average 2016/2017 free cash flow per share accretion
In April, Sinclair struck a deal to purchase Bonten Media and Cunningham Broadcasting for $240 million, adding 14 stations in eight markets to its footprint.
Nexstar Media and a joint Fox/Blackstone venture had been reported as other potential bidders for Tribune. According to Reuters, Fox never submitted a bid.
The Tribune deal comes after the broadcast group announced in 2016 that it would be undergoing a strategic review. Last year, Tribune Media sold its data company Gracenote to Nielsen; It also sold real estate assets including its iconic Tribune Tower in Chicago.
Tribune Media was created in 2014 when the broadcast group spun off from Tribunes publishing arm. The company restructured after a wrenching four-year bankruptcy.
In March, CEO Peter Liguori stepped down from the position, which he held since 2013. He has not been replaced.
Adonis Hoffman, former chief of staff to FCC Commissioner Mignon Clyburn and chairman of Business in the Public Interest, said any divestitures by Sinclair would create opportunities for other groups looking to bulk up.
The free market is alive and well in broadcast, Hoffman said.
Hoffman sees the deal as a way for the two broadcast groups to get the kind of scale that will provide more balance in retransmission deals with large MVPDs.
FCC Chairman Ajit Pai has talked about the need for reviewing ownership regulations given that big cable companies can merge. The 30% cap on cable operators' national sub footprint was thrown out by the courts back in 2009 as arbitrary and capricious while broadcasters remain limited by local duopoly rules and the 39% national ownership cap.
Most recent headlines
06/10/2025
France T l visions, France's leading broadcaster, has received the 2025 EBU ...
04/09/2025
Monumental Sports & Entertainment (MSE), in collaboration with Dalet, has been a...
30/08/2025
WASHINGTON The Federal Communications Commission has adopted its FY 2025 Regulatory Fees Order that establishes the regulatory fee rates for the broadcast stati...
29/08/2025
Australian Red Cross and SBS launch training to help workplaces in the fight aga...
29/08/2025
The National Film and Video Foundation (NFVF), an agency of the Department of Sp...
29/08/2025
L3Harris Technologies has concentrated decades of expertise across the entire enterprise to develop affordable and reliable best-of-breed solutions to rapidly c...
29/08/2025
BURBANK, Calif. The CW Network and the Pac-12 Conference have announced a new media rights deal that will extend their broadcast partnership beginning with the ...
29/08/2025
NEW YORK Gracenote has released a new analysis of its global video dataset showing that the number of FAST channels grew nearly 14% from Q1 2025 and 76% since 2...
29/08/2025
SAN JOSE, Calif. Harmonic has announced a series of improvements to its live sports streaming solution that the company said will improve fan engagement, protec...
29/08/2025
NEW YORK and LOS ANGELES Fox Corp. and YouTube TV last night announced a renewal of the full portfolio of Fox networks, including Fox News Channel, Fox Business...
29/08/2025
Budapest, Hungary, August 2025 - The integration of Microsoft Teams Rooms (MTR) with Lightware's Taurus universal matrix switchers delivers a new level of f...
29/08/2025
Frequency, the engine behind many of the world's best-known streaming television channels, today announced it will launch Studio Live, a next-generation uni...
29/08/2025
In an era when AI and cyber resilience are essential, Scality will mark the 10th anniversary of Scality Day on October 16, 2025 in Paris. This flagship global e...
29/08/2025
Disguise's In-House Creative and Technical Teams Pre-Visualised, Programmed and Delivered Content for the Experience, All Powered by EX 3+
Technology solu...
29/08/2025
Disguise will be demonstrating the latest workflows for TV, film and live events on a number of partner booths at the show
Disguise, the industry-leading tech...
29/08/2025
STOCKHOLM, Sweden Accedo will showcase Accedo Compose, its AI agent-powered modular orchestration layer that assists streaming providers in transitioning client...
29/08/2025
LOS ANGELES Cineverse has announced that it is working with Xperi to bring four of its streaming channels to automobiles for the first time as part of the DTS A...
29/08/2025
DALLAS & ATLANTA Gray Media has announced an agreement with the sports streaming service Victory+ to simulcast 17 Dallas Stars NHL games in 15 television market...
29/08/2025
NEW YORK AND CULVER CITY Comcast NBCUniversal and Amazon have announced new and extended distribution agreements that will expand the content available on their...
29/08/2025
FOOTHILL RANCH, Calif. RED Digital Cinema will feature its Cine-Broadcast Module supporting live broadcast workflows during IBC2025, Sept. 12-15, at the RAI Ams...
29/08/2025
29 Aug 2025
Kyivstar Rings Opening Bell at Nasdaq Marking Landmark Listing and ...
29/08/2025
More than half of all NFL games live on Sky for the first timeFriday 29 August 2025
Sky Sports has announced a new three-year deal with the NFL, extending its ...
29/08/2025
Back to All News
RIV4LRIES: The Trailer of the New Series With Samuele Carrino ...
29/08/2025
Get ready for an inspiring and emotional insight into the world of competitive Irish dancing with My Story: Tomi Champion of the World airing on RT 2 this monda...
29/08/2025
RT has today announced that David McCullagh is to be the new presenter of RT Radio 1's flagship Today programme, which airs every weekday at 10am, replaci...
28/08/2025
By Kristin Feeley, Director, Documentary Film & Artist Programs
If you want to tell untold stories, if you want to give voice to the voiceless, you've got ...
28/08/2025
Directed by Steven Bognar and Julia Reichert, Sundance Institute-supported Amer...
28/08/2025
Corridos have been a cornerstone of M sica Mexicana for generations, telling stories rooted in everyday life. Now, a new chapter is taking shape: motivational c...
28/08/2025
Los corridos han sido un pilar de la M sica Mexicana durante generaciones, contando historias enraizadas en la vida cotidiana. Ahora, un nuevo cap tulo est tom...
28/08/2025
Earlier this month, we promised our Verano Forever party would bring the heat, a...
28/08/2025
L3Harris will provide the Polish F-16V fleet with the Viper Shield electronic warfare system as part of an upgrade program....
28/08/2025
Bilbao, August 26, 2025 - AgileTV, an international television and video technol...
28/08/2025
Ken Wilkinson is an Emmy Awards nominated New York audio engineer who specialises in production sound mixing for film, commercial, episodic and documentary work...
28/08/2025
NEW YORK FuboTV today announced that it will launch Fubo Sports, a skinny bundle that focuses on sports with a subscription price of $56 monthly....
28/08/2025
NEVADA City, Calif. At IBC2025, Sept. 12-15 at the RAI Amsterdam, Telestream will debut its new Global Ingest strategy, introducing a next-generation ingest arc...
28/08/2025
Dr. Rhoda Bernard Releases Groundbreaking Debut Book on Accessible Arts Educatio...
28/08/2025
TAG Video Systems, the leader in software-based IP end-to-end workflow monitoring, deep probing, and real-time visualization, has named Oliver Gappa as Sales Di...
28/08/2025
AI-based voice enhancement will be among a series of innovations making their IBC 2025 debut on the DHD stand B46 in Hall 8 at the RAI Amsterdam Convention Cent...
28/08/2025
Telef nica Servicios Audiovisuales (TSA), the leading system integrator and service provider in the media sector in Spain, with the support of Appear, the globa...
28/08/2025
To fully immerse sailing fans in the world's biggest offshore yacht race, production company, Optical Media turned to LiveU's On-site Production solutio...
28/08/2025
Working with Calrec on its most recent overhaul, radio and television broadcaster, WNED has migrated to a fully IP infrastructure with multiple Type R consoles,...
28/08/2025
Cleeng, the Subscriber Retention Management (SRM ) inventor, has unveiled Cleeng Pro, the first-ever direct-to-consumer (D2C) subscription management platform t...
28/08/2025
Zixi, the industry leader in live broadcast-quality video over IP, today announced that French media distribution platform OKAST has selected Zixi to enable rel...
28/08/2025
Solution offers a streamlined, speaker-free architecture to optimize integration with premium external loudspeakers and advanced loudness metering
Nixer Pro Au...
28/08/2025
Cinegy, the premier provider of software-defined television technology, has announced a strategic partnership with Vision One Touch Film Production Services L.L...
28/08/2025
Telestream, a global leader in media workflow technologies, will debut its new Global Ingest strategy at IBC2025, introducing a next-generation ingest architect...
28/08/2025
Tier 1 operator selects Broadpeak to power high-performance, unified CDN solution across Norway, Sweden and Finland
Broadpeak, a leader in streaming and moneti...
28/08/2025
Leading video software provider, Synamedia, today announced that 24 Frames Digital, one of India's leading live event streaming service providers, has chose...
28/08/2025
Meet VisualOn at IBC2025: See What's Next in AI-Powered Video Streaming Join VisualOn at IBC2025 and discover how our AI-driven Optimizer and advanced media...
Sinclair Broadcast Group has struck a deal with Tribune Media to buy the 42-station broadcast group for $3.9 billion, the largest acquisition in Sinclairs history, the companies announced Monday. 
