Sinclair Broadcast Group
Sinclair, Inc., doing business as Sinclair Broadcast Group, is a publicly traded American telecommunications conglomerate that is controlled by the descendants of company founder Julian Sinclair Smith. Headquartered in the Baltimore suburb of Cockeysville, Maryland, the company is the second-largest television station operator in the United States by number of stations after Nexstar Media Group, owning or operating 193 stations across the country in over 100 markets, covering 40% of American households.
Sinclair is the largest owner of stations that are affiliated with Fox, NBC, CBS, ABC, MyNetworkTV, The CW, and The CW Plus. Sinclair owns four digital multicast networks, Comet, Charge!, The Nest, and Roar, and the sports-oriented cable network Tennis Channel. In June 2021, Sinclair became a Fortune 500 company, having reached 2020 annual revenues of billion, equivalent to $billion in.
The company is widely regarded as politically conservative, and has been noted for featuring politically motivated programming decisions that promote conservative political positions. This has included news coverage and specials in the lead-up to elections that are in support of the Republican Party.
History
Early roots
The company's roots date back to the late 1950s, when electrical engineer Julian Sinclair Smith and his wife Carolyn B. Smith, owning 34.5% of the shares, along with a group of shareholders, formed the Commercial Radio Institute, a broadcasting trade school in Baltimore, Maryland. In March 1958, Commercial Radio Institute applied to build an FM radio station in Baltimore. In April 1959, the Federal Communications Commission granted the construction permitfor the estimated construction project. Sinclair's first station, WFMM-FM, signed on the air in February 1960. In 1967, Smith, as Chesapeake Engineering Placement Service, partly owned by the name-shortened Commercial Radio Inc., applied for and was granted, a construction permit for a new UHF television station in Baltimore, expected to be operating by September 1968 on channel 45, no call sign yet assigned.Chesapeake Television Corporation
Channel 45, with the call sign WBFF, joined on April 11, 1971. By that time, Chesapeake Engineering Placement Service had changed its name to Chesapeake Television Corporation. The Commercial Radio Institute, by then a division of Chesapeake Television Corporation, founded WPTT in Pittsburgh, in 1978, and WTTE in Columbus, Ohio, in 1984. All three stations originally were independents. In 1986, WBFF and WTTE became charter affiliates of the Fox Broadcasting Company at its launch. The Fox affiliation in Pittsburgh went to higher-rated WPGH-TV, which was purchased by Sinclair in 1990.Chesapeake's first foray into local news came in the early 1980s when it launched a newscast on WPTT, a rarity at this time for stations not affiliated with the then-major networks. This newscast was called WPTT News. In the opening segment, the letters "news" were formed from a compass indicating the four cardinal directions. This opening segment, featuring then-anchorman Kevin Evans, appeared briefly, and was audible, in the movie Flashdance during a scene where Jennifer Beals' character returns home and turns on the television.
The presentation was relatively low-budget, with the anchor simply reading copy, with no field video shots other than the weather read over a stock video shot denoting the conditions outside. It was not a factor in taking ratings away from then-market laggard WIIC-TV, now WPXI, much less solid runner-up WTAE-TV and then-locally owned Group W powerhouse KDKA-TV. As WBFF did not air newscasts until 1991 and WTTE would not air any newscasts from its 1984 sign-on until Sinclair purchased ABC affiliate WSYX in 1996, this marked the company's only foray into local news for years, a genre it became much more involved in from the mid-1990s on.
Sinclair Broadcast Group
1985–2010
Smith's son David D. Smith began taking a more active role in the company in the 1980s. In 1985, the Chesapeake Television Corporation changed its name to Sinclair Broadcast Group. In 1990, David and his three brothers bought their parents' remaining stock and went on a buying spree that eventually made it one of the largest station owners in the country, through the purchases of stations and of companies that owned groups of stations.Sinclair pioneered the concept of the local marketing agreement in American television in 1991, when it sold WPTT to its general manager Eddie Edwards in order to purchase fellow Pittsburgh station WPGH-TV to comply with FCC ownership rules of the time that prohibited duopolies, while agreeing to allow Sinclair to retain operational responsibilities for the station. However, while LMAs would become an integral part of the company's business model in subsequent years, Sinclair's plans to acquire KOKH-TV in Oklahoma City through Glencairn, which would subsequently attempt to sell five of its 11 existing LMA-operated stations to Sinclair outright in turn was challenged by the Rainbow/PUSH coalition to the Federal Communications Commission in 1998, citing concerns over a single company controlling two broadcast licenses in the same market in violation of FCC rules. The coalition argued that Glencairn passed itself off as a minority-owned company which, since the Smith family controlled most of the company's stock, was technically a Sinclair arm that planned to use the LMA with KOKH to gain control of the station and create an illegal duopoly with KOCB. In 2001, the FCC levied a $40,000 fine against Sinclair for illegally controlling Glencairn. Sinclair became a publicly listed company in 1995, raising $105 million in a sale of 5 million shares at its opening on NASDAQ on June 6. The Smith family retained a controlling interest.
In 1994, Sinclair signed a deal with Paramount and its UPN network, bringing five affiliates WPTT-TV in Pittsburgh, WNUV-TV in Baltimore, WCGV-TV in Milwaukee, WSTR-TV in Cincinnati and KSMO-TV in Kansas City to the network. In 1996, Sinclair bought out Superior Communications for $63 million. In 1997, Sinclair reached a deal with The WB to convert many of the UPN affiliates to The WB. Following the disputes, in August 1998, Sinclair and UPN signed a new agreement. In February 1998, Sinclair bought out Sullivan Broadcasting for $1 billion. In 1998, Sinclair bought out Max Media Properties, for $252 million. In November 2004, Sinclair sold off KSMO-TV in Kansas City to Meredith Corporation for $26.8 million. In December 2004, Sinclair divested KOVR-TV in Sacramento to Viacom, now Paramount Global, for $285 million.
In 2004, as a response when LIN Media signed ABC affiliates WDTN and WAND to NBC, Sinclair Broadcast Group converted two of its NBC affiliates WICS/WICD and WKEF to ABC. In July 2009, in a filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission, Sinclair stated that if the company could not refinance its $1.33 billion debt, or if Cunningham Broadcasting became insolvent due to nonpayment on a loan worth $33.5 million, Sinclair may be forced to file for Chapter 11 bankruptcy. The company seemingly recovered its financial fortunes enough, and began a major string of acquisitions involving television stations and other properties two years later.
2011–2013
The beginning of the 2010s saw Sinclair's acquisition strategy intensify. In May 2011, Ring of Honor, a professional wrestling promotion, was purchased for an undisclosed amount. ROH's flagship program Ring of Honor Wrestling was added onto the schedules of many Sinclair-operated stations. In September 2011, Four Points Media Group was purchased for $200 million, equivalent to $ in. Sinclair assumed managerial control of the stations from Nexstar Broadcasting Group. Four Points owner Cerberus Capital Management paid Nexstar cash compensation for the prematurely terminated time brokerage agreements. In November 2011, Sinclair purchased Freedom Communications' television stations for $385 million, equivalent to $ in, making Sinclair the ninth-largest broadcast group in the United States.At the same time, Sinclair purchased WWHO, a CW affiliate in the Columbus, Ohio, market, from LIN TV. Owing to Sinclair's existing Columbus duopoly of WSYX and WTTE, WWHO was resold to Manhan Media, who entered into a shared services agreement with Sinclair. In May 2012, a groupwide affiliation renewal with Fox reached, included an option for Sinclair to purchase WUTB, Baltimore's MyNetworkTV station, from Fox Television Stations before March 31, 2013. Sinclair purchased WUTB and resold it to Deerfield Media—controlled by Manhan Media owner Stephen P. Mumblow—on November 26, 2012, pairing with WBFF and WNUV. Concurrently, Fox had an option to purchase up to any combination of six different MyNetworkTV and CW stations in four different markets from Sinclair, which it declined.
On July 19, 2012, Sinclair acquired six stations from Newport Television, along with existing operational agreements for two other stations, for $412.5 million, equivalent to $ in, as part of a larger dispersal of Newport's 22-station portfolio. That same day, Sinclair purchased Tampa station WTTA for $40 million, equivalent to $ in. Two of Sinclair's existing stations in markets affected by the Newport deal, WSTR-TV and KMYS, were sold to Deerfield Media. Deerfield also acquired KBTV-TV, Beaumont, Texas's Fox affiliate, from Nexstar, with Sinclair assuming operations and merging it into CBS affiliate KFDM. The non-license assets of ABC affiliate WHAM-TV in Rochester, New York, were sold by Newport to Sinclair, with Deerfield purchasing the station's license.
In February 2013, Cox Media Group sold five television stations, their smallest by media market rankings, to Sinclair, with Deerfield Media assuming ownership of Cox-operated KAME-TV in Reno. Sinclair purchased Schaumburg, Illinois–based Barrington Broadcasting on February 28, 2013, including six other stations operated by Barrington. The former Cox and Barrington stations are operated through subsidiary Chesapeake Television, focusing on smaller markets and with management separate from Sinclair proper. Two Barrington stations, along with the lease for a third, were initially set to be transferred to Cunningham Broadcasting, but were ultimately sold to an affiliate of Northwest Broadcasting owner Brian Brady.
Prevailing in a bidding war with LIN Media, Sinclair purchased Fisher Communications in April 2013, for $373.3 million, equivalent to $ in, including 20 television stations in the western United States, operational control of one station, and three radio stations in Seattle. This deal returned Sinclair to radio ownership, since the divestment of their radio portfolio between 1999 and 2000. The deal was initially met with financial scrutiny. The law firm Levi & Korsinsky notified Fisher shareholders with accusations that Fisher's board of directors were breaching fiduciary duties by "failing to adequately shop the Company before agreeing to enter into the transaction", and Sinclair was underpaying for Fisher's stock. Shortly after the announcement, a lawsuit was filed by a Fisher shareholder. The suit was settled in July 2013 and the merger approved shortly thereafter.
On June 3, 2013, Titan TV Broadcast Group sold four stations, along with operating agreements for two stations, to Sinclair. Prior to the deal, a seventh station, KDBC-TV in El Paso, Texas, to Cunningham, fueling speculation KDBC-TV would be consolidated with Sinclair-owned KFOX-TV. Sinclair exercised its option to purchase KDBC-TV outright citing KDBC-TV's fourth-place ranking in the El Paso market while KFOX ranked sixth, making it permissible under FCC duopoly regulations. Dielectric Communications, a key supplier of television broadcasting antennas, was purchased from SPX on June 18, 2013. SPX had intended to close down all of Dielectric's operations by the end of July, in turn threatening a FCC-proposed incentive auction and subsequent repacking of television broadcast spectrum.
In July 2013, as part of a refocus on the Politico website and newspaper, Allbritton Communications sold their seven station portfolio—including Washington, D.C.'s WJLA-TV—to Sinclair, for $985 million, equivalent to $ in. This deal was complicated by multiple regulatory hurdles and a proposed barring of future joint sales agreements by the FCC. Originally planning to divest four Sinclair-owned stations in three markets with Allbritton stations to Deerfield and Armstrong Williams-controlled Howard Stirk Holdings, and continuing to operate them under JSAs,
In March 2014, Sinclair announced intentions to divest three stations and one existing LMA to independent third parties. Unable to find a buyer, Sinclair proposed in May 2014, to return to the FCC the licenses for WCFT-TV in Tuscaloosa, Alabama, WJSU-TV in Anniston, Alabama, and WCIV in Charleston, South Carolina, transferring the intellectual properties of those three stations to existing Sinclair-owned stations. One other Allbritton station, WHTM-TV in Harrisburg, Pennsylvania, was sold to Media General for $83.4 million. After nearly a year of delays, the deal was approved by the FCC in July 2014, and completed on August 1. WCIV, WCFT-TV and WJSU-TV were ultimately sold to Howard Stirk Holdings.
In September 2013, Sinclair purchased eight stations owned or operated by New Age Media. As part of the deal, three stations—WSWB in Scranton/Wilkes-Barre, Pennsylvania, WTLH in Tallahassee, Florida, and WNBW-DT in Gainesville, Florida—would be sold by owner MPS Media to Cunningham, with Deerfield purchasing WTLF in Tallahassee. New Age Media and MPS Media terminated the deal on October 31, 2014. Sinclair purchased the non-license assets for all eight stations and began operating them through master service agreements the next day.