Sinclair Broadcast Group

Type: Public
On the web: http://www.sbgi.net

To find out what's happening at Sinclair Broadcast Group (SBG), you could just consult the TV Guide. The company is a leading television operator with about 60 stations serving 35 midsized markets around the country. Its portfolio reaches more than 20% of US households and includes affiliates of FOX and the other three major networks, as well as several affiliated with The CW Network and MyNetworkTV. More than 45 of SBG's stations are owned and operated, while the rest it operates under local market agreements; it has duopolies (more than one station) in about 20 of its markets. The four sons of founder Julian Sinclair Smith (including CEO David Smith) control about 85% of the company.

Key numbers for fiscal year ending December, 2008:
Sales: $754.5M
One year growth: 5.1%
Net income: ($241.5)M

Officers:
Chairman, President, and CEO: David D. Smith
VP and COO: Steven M. Marks
EVP and CFO: David B. Amy

Competitors:
Hearst Television
Local TV
Media General

Incorporated: 1965
SIC: 4832 Radio Broadcasting Stations; 4833 Television Broadcasting Stations; 6719 Holding Companies Nec; 7812 Motion Picture & Video Production

Headquartered in Baltimore, Maryland, Sinclair Broadcast Group, Inc. owns and/or provides programming services to television stations in 20 different markets and to radio stations in eight different markets around the country. The company is one of the largest broadcasting groups in the nation, with the television portion of the company's business reaching approximately 15 percent of all U.S. households, and the radio portion ranked as one of the United States' top-20 groups.

What is now Sinclair Broadcasting started out as one man, Julian Smith, and an idea he had for a television station in Baltimore, Maryland. Smith, a Johns Hopkins-educated engineer, had worked for twenty years as an aerospace engineer. But in 1965, at the age of 45, he filed for an FCC license for a UHF television station in Baltimore. Although it was difficult at that time to receive anything other than local affiliates of the three major networks, Smith was not dissuaded. It took five years for him to receive his license from the FCC, and at that point he left his career in engineering to work in the television industry full-time. The company's first television station, WBFF-TV Channel 45, finally went on the air in 1971.

Smith's first son, Frederick, followed in his father's footsteps by attending Johns Hopkins, but instead earned his degree in dentistry. Smith's second son, David, dropped out of electronics school after only a few years. "I didn't want to be a digit head; I wanted to be an entrepreneur," he later claimed in a 1996 interview with Forbes magazine. Thus, at the age of 23, David Smith joined his father's company. While his father was the visionary of the family, David became the money maker. Along with an engineer who had done work for their company, David became co-owner of Comark, a maker of television transmitters. The project's smash success would later allow them to sell the enterprise for almost $5 million in 1986. Prior to that, in 1981, David left Comark to return to the family business when his father's health began to fail. By then the company owned stations in Pittsburgh, Baltimore and Columbus.

Due to Julian Smith's health problems, six outside investors--who owned nearly 50 percent of the company's stock--decided they wanted him to end his involvement with the company. Julian Smith owned just 40 percent of the company's shares. In 1986, however, David Smith was able to persuade one of the outsiders, who happened to hold a 10.2 percent share, to take the Smith's side of the issue. The Smith family and their ally were now 50.2 percent owners, and were soon able to buy the other stock holders out with $20 million in cash and notes.

It was at this time, in 1986, that the name Sinclair Broadcast Group name was coined, and the company began its affiliation with the Fox Broadcasting Co. David Smith borrowed $15 million against the company so that he was able to buy his father's interest in Sinclair. He first turned his attention to one of the company's stations in Pittsburgh--WPTT--that had been losing money for years. Smith realized that he would either have to sell the station or buy up the competitors; he chose to buy. It was a risky move, but the decisions paid dividends in the long-run. Within a decade, his purchase was worth around $300 million.

Soon thereafter, Sinclair began acquiring more and more non-affiliate television stations from ABRY Communications LP. These five additional stations in Baltimore, MD; Milwaukee, WI; and Birmingham, AL helped make the Company an influential television station owner that, conversely, did not own a property in the top 10 market.

Warner Brothers and Paramount began a mad scramble after Warner Brothers' November, 1993 announcement that it would introduce its own WB Network the following summer. Independent stations were key to secure a fledgling network. The owners of these important independent stations included Sinclair, as well as Clear Channel TV, and Cannell Communications. The following year, in October 1994, Sinclair turned its own deal and bought WLFL-TV in Raleigh/Durham, North Carolina from Paramount Stations Group for an undisclosed amount. The station was then aligned with Paramount's new broadcast network, which was scheduled to start in 1995. The Federal Communications Commission (FCC) was requested to investigate Sinclair's purchase of the Raleigh/Durham television station, however, due to the fact that Sinclair already owned local station WRDC and the FCC regulations ban the ownership of more than one station in a given market. According to Sinclair, another entity--Communications Corp. of America--would retain control of WRDC, which it had reportedly purchased just two months earlier using a 98 percent equity investment from Sinclair.

In early 1995, Sinclair purchased non-license assets for television station WTVZ from Max Television Co. for $47 million. The company was operating under a lease management agreement, until the station's federal license transfer was approved by the FCC license. At that point, Sinclair owned 11 television stations. Thus, in March of 1995, the company filed for clearance for an initial public stock offering of 3.75 million shares for $19-$21 a share. The proceeds of a possible $78.75 million were going be used to repay bank debt.

Instead of the 3.75 million shares planned for Sinclair's initial public offering on June 8, 1995, five million shares sold for $21 each, with stock prices closing up at $24.125. The larger-than-expected proceeds were slated to pay off the company's significant interest expenses from the previous year, which totaled $25.4 million.

Nearly a year later, in the spring of 1996 Sinclair became the owner of WYZZ-TV in Bloomington/Peoria, Illinois. This acquisition was particularly noteworthy in that it gave Sinclair the distinction of becoming the second TV group to pass the former limit of national ownership of 12 stations. One month later, plans for a joint bid on Palmer Communications were announced by Sinclair and River City Television.

In just a matter of days after the joint bid announcement was made, Sinclair indicated that it had acquired privately-held River City Broadcasting of St. Louis for approximately $1.2 billion. This purchase, which included River City's Sacramento Channel 13 (KOVR), made the company the country's seventh-largest television owner, with a total of 29 stations and the capability to reach 14.82 percent of all U.S. households. Its stock soared 18 percent--to $32.25--in reaction to these developments. Also part of the agreement were River City's 19 radio stations, which positioned Sinclair among the United States' top 10 station owner/operators, with 34 stations in 27 different markets. Its affiliates included ABC, CBS, Fox and UPN. Financial information released after the announcement revealed that River City showed an operating loss for 1995 and had $525 million in liabilities.

The broadcasting assets of the two companies were combined, forming a new subsidiary known as Sinclair Communications Inc.. This newly-formed public company had a market value of approximately $2.3 billion, and was set to control multiple television and radio stations in approximately 15 cities around the country. After the completion of the merger, the new company was expected to aggressively pursue acquisition of multiple additional stations in other markets.

In July of 1997, Sinclair completed the acquisition of the Heritage Media Group, which included both television and radio properties. This arrangement increased Sinclair's total holdings to 56 radio stations and 27 television stations. During the same time period, Sinclair worked with Glencairn Ltd. to develop more duopolies. A $1.2 billion deal was announced that year, and was slowly being realized as Sinclair exercised its option to buy one of Glencairn's stations at a time to spread out the cost of the deal.

As always, David Smith continued looking for new venues for his business. The latter half of 1996 brought about the concept of Supercast, which would provide what Sinclair calls "internet and internet-type information" to computers, but without a wired connection to the internet. Reportedly able to transmit data at seven times the conventional 14.4 kilobit computer modem, Supercast would receive the television signal with modem and antenna plugged directly into a PC expansion slot on a standard computer. Although Intel had already created a similar product, and other companies continually testing their versions, Sinclair still forged ahead.

Sinclair Broadcast Group and Comark Digital Services sponsored a DiviCom demonstration of live multi-channel DTB broadcast from the show floor at NAB '98. Unfortunately, however, it had become apparent that while the technology existed, implementation would not be practical as early as had been expected. Digital television would pose high costs to both broadcasters and consumers--high enough to make the project appear to be not worth it, for the time being. Furthermore, a shortage of trained individuals to build the digital transmitter towers existed, and more problems were posed by the hefty $3000-$5000 price tags that early HDTVs would carry.

Meanwhile, an enticing offer was made to Sinclair by Warner Brothers near the end of the decade which caused a major clamor due to the huge blow to United Paramount Network (UPN) that resulted. UPN was informed of the termination of their contract with Sinclair, when the company was offered an $84 million, 10-year deal to switch the affiliation of five major markets over to the Warner Brothers network. A dazed UPN had no comment on the subject until it filed a law suit against Sinclair for breaking a contract that bound the two companies until January of 2001. Sinclair replied by filing against UPN in return, stating that proper notification regarding the contract had been given to UPN.

A December 9, 1997 Maryland Court judgment was made in favor of Sinclair, stating that they had given "timely and proper notice" of UPN's contract termination. Sinclair issued a press release of its plans to begin broadcasting WB Network programming effective January 16, 1998. A similar law suit was again filed by UPN. Sinclair announced, in reply, that the Los Angeles Superior Court had issued an Order staying UPN's action against Sinclair, based on the previous Maryland Court judgment in Sinclair's favor. With all legal obstacles cleared, Sinclair decided to cease its affiliation with UPN for four of its stations, and was prepared to turn at least six stations over to WB outlets in January, 1998.

In an effort to repay a debt to an outstanding revolving credit facility, 5.3 million common shares of Sinclair was made available for sale in September of 1997. With shares priced at $36.50 each, the offering was financed through underwriters led by Smith Barney Inc. Shortly after this offering, the company announced that it had completed the public offerings of approximately $150 million of Class A Common Stock and $150 million aggregate liquidation amount of Convertible Exchangeable Preferred Stock. Net proceeds to the company from these offerings were roughly $285.7 million.

Three more deals were completed in July of 1998, allowing Sinclair to announce that it had become one of the largest owners of radio and television stations in the United States. The largest of these purchases was Max Media Properties LLC of Virginia Beach--the owner of nine television stations and eight radio stations--and was acquired by Sinclair for a $252 million cash agreement. As the end of the decade approached, Sinclair's goal was set at obtaining 100 TV stations and over 100 radio stations.

Principal Subsidiaries

Chesapeake Television, Inc. (MD); Chesapeake Television Licensee, Inc. (DE); FSF-TV, Inc. (NC); KABB, Inc. (DE); KABB Licensee, Inc. (DE); KDNL, INC.(DE); KDNL Licensee, Inc. (DE); KSMO, Inc. (MD); KSMO Licensee, Inc. (DE); KUPN, Inc. (MD); KUPN Licensee, Inc. (DE); SCI - Indiana, Inc. (DE); SCI - Indiana Licensee, Inc. (DE); SCI - Sacramento, Inc. (DE); SCI - Sacramento, Inc. (DE); Sinclair Communications, Inc. (MD); Sinclair Radio of Albuquerque, Inc. (MD); Sinclair Radio of Albuquerque Licensee, Inc. (DE); Sinclair Radio of Buffalo, Inc. (MD); Sinclair Radio of Buffalo Licensee, Inc. (DE); Sinclair Radio of Greenville, Inc. (MD); Sinclair Radio of Greenville Licensee, Inc. (DE); Sinclair Radio of Los Angeles, Inc. (MD); Sinclair Radio of Los Angeles Licensee, Inc. (DE); Sinclair Radio of Memphis (MD); Sinclair Radio of Memphis Licensee, Inc. (DE); Sinclair Radio of Nashville, Inc. (MD); Sinclair Radio of Nashville Licensee, Inc. (DE); Sinclair Radio of New Orleans, Inc. (MD); Sinclair Radio of New Orleans Licensee, Inc. (DE); Sinclair Radio of St. Louis, Inc. (MD); Sinclair Radio of St. Louis Licensee, Inc. (DE); Sinclair Radio of Wilkes Barre, Inc. (MD); Sinclair Radio of Wilkes Barre Licensee, Inc. (DE); Superior Communications of Kentucky, Inc. (DE); Superior Communications of KY License, Inc. (DE); Superior Communications of Oklahoma, Inc. (OK); Superior Communications of OK License, Inc. (DE); Tuscaloosa Broadcasting, Inc. (MD); WCGV, Inc. (MD); WCGV Licensee, Inc. (DE); WDBB, Inc. (MD); WLFL, Inc. (MD); WLFL Licensee, Inc. (DE); WLOS, Inc. (MD); WLOS Licensee, Inc. (DE); WPGH, Inc. (MD); WPGH Licensee, Inc. (MD); WSMH, Inc. (MD); WSMH Licensee, Inc. (DE); WSTR, Inc. (MD); WSTR, Inc. Licensee (MD); WSYX, Inc. (MD); WTTE, Channel 28, Inc. (MD); WTTE, Channel 28 Licensee, Inc. (MD); WTTO, Inc. (MD); WTTO, Licensee, Inc. (DE); WTVZ, Inc. (MD); WTVZ, Licensee, Inc. (MD); WYZZ, Inc. (MD); WYZZ, Licensee, Inc. (DE).

Further Reading

Brodesser, Claude, et al., "Sinclair Broadcast Group, Inc. Switches Affiliation of Five Television Stations From the United Paramount Network to the Warner Brothers Network, Erasing UPN's Former Distribution Advantage," Media Week, July 21, 1997, p.2.

Foisie, Geoffrey, "Sinclair, Edwards Buy LMAs From ABRY," Broadcasting and Cable, August 30, 1993, p. 31.

Gubernick, Lisa, "I Didn't Want to be a Digit Head," Forbes, September 9, 1996, pp. 80-84.

Lafayette, Jon, "Sinclair Plans Side-by-Side Digital Demonstration: Baltimore Will See 1080I, 480P," Electronic Media, June 8, 1998, p.39.

Leffall, J., "HDTV Demonstration Gets Imperfect Reception: Live Digital Screening Brings Mixed Reviews," Baltimore Sun, June 11, 1998, p1C.

LeFranco, Robert, "Tough Customers," Forbes, June 1, 1998, p.78.

Peck, Jeanne, "Baltimore's Sinclair Broadcast Group Seeks Approval to go Public," Daily Press (Newport News), March 30, 1995.

— Melissa West

Sinclair Broadcast Group, Inc.

Type	Public (NASDAQ:SBGI)
Founded	1971
Headquarters	Hunt Valley, Maryland, USA
Key people	David D. Smith, Chairman & CEO David B. Amy, CFO
Industry	Telecommunications
Products	Television
Revenue	▲$639.2 Million USD (2008)
Net income	▼ $241.5 Million USD (2008)
Website	www.sbgi.net

The Sinclair Broadcast Group (SBG) NASDAQ: SBGI is the operator of the largest number of local television stations in the United States with a total of 57 stations across the country in 35 primarily small and medium markets, many of which are located in the South and the Midwest. Broadcasts by SBG stations can be received by 24 percent of American households. The company is based in Hunt Valley, Maryland.

Contents 1 History 2 Background 3 Digital Television 4 Relationship to Glencairn/Cunningham 5 Possible bankruptcy 6 Nightline controversy 7 Kerry film controversy 8 Retransmission disputes 8.1 Suddenlink 8.2 Mediacom 8.3 Time Warner Cable 8.4 Comcast 9 Notes 10 Sinclair-owned stations 10.1 Former Sinclair-owned stations 11 See also 12 References 13 External links 13.1 Sinclair 13.2 Anti-Sinclair activism 13.3 News/comment

History

The company, founded by Julian Sinclair Smith, originated in 1971 as the Chesapeake Television Corporation with the launch of WBFF (channel 45) in Baltimore. A subsidiary of Chesapeake Television Corp., the Commercial Radio Institute, later founded WPTT (channel 22, now WPMY) in Pittsburgh, in 1978; and WTTE (channel 28) in Columbus, Ohio, in 1984. All three stations originally were independents, though WBFF and WTTE became charter affiliates of the Fox Broadcasting Company at its launch in 1986.

Smith's son David D. Smith began taking a more active role in the 1980s. In 1985, the Chesapeake Television Corporation changed its name to Sinclair Broadcast Group. In 1990, David Smith 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.

Though Sinclair became a public company in 1995 and is currently traded on NASDAQ under the symbol SBGI, the Smith family still retains a majority financial interest, and all four Smith brothers serve as executives or directors.

Background

Network	# Stations
Fox	19
MyNetworkTV (MNTV)	17
ABC	9
CW	8
CBS	2
NBC	1
This TV	5

Many stations are owned outright by the company, but many others are affiliated through local marketing agreements (LMA). Sinclair pioneered the LMA concept in 1991.

The stations are affiliates of various television networks: ABC, CBS, NBC and Fox. Sinclair also owned or managed several affiliates of the WB and UPN networks, which both launched in January 1995. In September 2006, the WB and UPN merged their operations into a new network, the CW. Eight of Sinclair's WB stations, along with independent KFBT (now KVCW) in Las Vegas, became affiliates of the new network. At the same time, Sinclair aligned 17 of its stations (ten former WB affiliates, six former UPN stations, and independent WFGX) with MyNetworkTV, a new programming service owned by Fox's parent News Corporation. Sinclair's relationship with Fox/News Corporation was also strengthened after Sinclair agreed to a six-year affiliation renewal for its 19 Fox-affiliated stations. The deal also includes flagship WBFF in Baltimore, despite Fox owning a station, MyNetworkTV affiliate WUTB, in the same market.

On December 22, 2006, WTWC-TV in Tallahassee, Florida, renewed its affiliation agreement with NBC, keeping the station affiliated with the network through the end of 2016. [1]

Sinclair had experimented with using a centralized news organization called News Central that provided prepackaged news segments for distribution to several of the group's stations. These segments were integrated into programming during local news broadcasts. Mark E. Hyman, a high-ranking executive at Sinclair, also created conservative editorial segments called "The Point" that were broadcast on all of the group's stations with news departments. In addition, most of the stations that aired News Central emulated the prepackaged news studio appearance for local stories. This model was ultimately unsuccessful, and on March 31, 2006, News Central ended its national news broadcasts (although the "Point" commentaries lasted until November 30, 2006). Most stations running the News Central format ended up cancelling their news coverage altogether, although some stations that did so have subsequently contracted with competing stations in their markets to produce their newscasts.

Sinclair still produces a one-minute national news briefing for its stations, entitled Washington Newsroom. Starting in 2007, Sinclair launched a new newscast on some of its' stations, completely separate from local news operations, called American Crossroads. Like News Central and "The Point", the program, hosted by Jeff Barnd (a news anchor at WBFF) covers national news stories and offers a conservative editorial segment.

Digital Television

In February 2009 Sinclair announced that many stations will adhere to the original DTV transition date of February 17, 2009. Sinclair stations' analog transmitters will be turned off then.^[1] Several stations, like WMSN in Madison, Wisconsin and WSMH in Flint, Michigan will end analog transmission on June 12 due to the FCC denying early shut-down to some of them in order to keep one commercial analog signal on in a market until the new transition.

Relationship to Glencairn/Cunningham

Between 1994 and 1997, nine stations owned by Glencairn Ltd. entered LMAs with Sinclair-owned stations in the same cities. Glencairn was owned by Edwin Edwards, a former Sinclair executive, who also personally owned WPTT in Pittsburgh. It held itself out as a minority-owned broadcaster.

However, Carolyn Smith, wife of Sinclair founder Julian Smith and mother of current Sinclair CEO David Smith, supplied Glencairn's initial capital and controlled 70 percent of Glencairn's stock. In December 2001, after complaints from Jesse Jackson and several other media companies, the FCC fined Sinclair $40,000 for illegally controlling Glencairn. Sinclair tried to merge outright with Glencairn in 2001 and purchase Edwards' Pittsburgh station. However, the FCC only allowed four of the stations to come directly under the Sinclair banner. Glencairn kept the other six stations and changed its name to Cunningham Broadcasting. Nearly all of Cunningham's stock (90 percent) is owned by trusts in the name of four members of the Smith family, and all six Cunningham stations have LMAs with Sinclair stations. Based on these arrangements, Glencairn/Cunningham has served merely as a shell corporation with the sole purpose of evading Federal Communications Commission ownership rules.

In three markets, Cunningham owns the fourth-highest rated station while Sinclair owns one of the three highest-rated stations. The FCC's duopoly rules do not allow common ownership of two of the four highest-rated stations in a single market. In Cunningham's three other markets, there are too few stations or unique station owners to permit a Sinclair duopoly. The FCC requires a market to have eight unique station owners once a duopoly is formed.

Possible bankruptcy

In a filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission on July 14, 2009, Sinclair stated that if they cannot refinance its $1.33 billion debt or if Cunningham becomes insolvent due to nonpayment on a loan worth $33.5 million, then Sinclair may be forced to file for chapter 11 bankruptcy.^[2]

Nightline controversy

In 2004, Sinclair attracted controversy when it decided that seven of its ABC-affiliated stations would not broadcast an April 30 airing of Nightline, which was a tribute to the soldiers killed in the 2003 invasion and subsequent occupation of Iraq.[2]

The group issued a statement that said in part, "The action appears to be motivated by a political agenda designed to undermine the efforts of the United States in Iraq." ABC responded, saying that the program was meant to be "an expression of respect which seeks to honor those who have laid down their lives for this country."

For differing reasons, the decision to not air the episode attracted criticism both from supporters and opponents of the Iraq war. Affected stations were in the following markets:

• St. Louis
• Columbus, Ohio
• Asheville, North Carolina
• Greensboro, North Carolina
• Charleston, West Virginia
• Pensacola, Florida
• Springfield, Massachusetts

WTXL in Tallahassee, Florida, formerly owned by Media Venture Management but, at that time, operated by Sinclair under a local marketing agreement, decided to air the program. In some of the affected areas, such as Pensacola, other broadcasters stepped into the breach to air the broadcast.

On an unrelated note, three other Sinclair-owned stations which are now ABC affiliates -- WKEF in Dayton, Ohio, WICS in Springfield, Illinois and WICD in Champaign, Illinois -- also did not air the controversial episode of Nightline because they were affiliated with NBC at the time.

Kerry film controversy

In October 2004, it was reported that Sinclair would order all 62 of its affiliate stations to preempt prime time programming to air Stolen Honor: Wounds That Never Heal, a documentary critical of U.S. presidential candidate John Kerry's anti-Vietnam War activism, just two weeks before the November 2 election. [3] The film was produced by Carlton Sherwood, a former associate of Tom Ridge, and accuses John Kerry of prolonging the Vietnam War because of his anti-war activism. The organization Swift Boat Veterans for Truth, an anti-Kerry organization whose name become well known in the 2004 election year, was cross-promoting the film as part of a $1.4 million advertising campaign. [4]

In response, the Democratic National Committee filed a legal motion with the Federal Election Commission stating that it is inappropriate for the media organization to air "partisan propaganda" in the last 10 days of an election campaign. [5]

Sinclair fired its Washington bureau chief Jon Lieberman, stating he revealed company business when he publicly discussed the documentary in an interview published October 18, 2004, in the Baltimore Sun.

Sinclair later aired an edited version of the documentary.

SBGI stock took a dive during and leading up to this time period as stockholders who threatened lawsuits and portions of the general public became enraged. The stock did not fully recover until late 2006.

Retransmission disputes

Suddenlink

In the summer of 2006, Charter Communications streamlined its operations, which included selling off portions of its cable system which were "geographically non-strategic". Charter accounts in the Huntington-Charleston, West Virginia market area were purchased by Suddenlink Communications. Sinclair requested a $40 million one-time fee, and a one-dollar-per subscription per month fee from Suddenlink for retransmission rights of both WCHS-TV and WVAH-TV on the Suddenlink cable system [6]. This led to a protracted media battle and smear campaign between the two companies, and Sinclair pulled the two stations off the air on cable systems covering the neighboring Beckley, West Virginia market.

After several weeks of negotiations, the two companies reached an agreement which allowed WCHS-TV and WVAH-TV to continue transmission over the Suddenlink cable system. The terms of the agreement were not released to the public [7].

Mediacom

Cable TV company Mediacom filed an antitrust lawsuit against Sinclair on October 2006, claiming that Sinclair insisted on blanket carriage of 22 SBGI stations at all Mediacom cable companies where SBGI operates a TV station regardless of market differences. The District Court for the Southern District of Iowa denied Mediacom's injunction motion on October 24; Mediacom appealed to the United States Court of Appeals for the Eighth Circuit, but they dropped the appeal on December 13. ^[3]

Sinclair's retransmission agreement with Mediacom was originally set to expire on December 1, 2006, but Sinclair later extended the deadline to January 5, 2007. Despite the extension, the two sides remained at an impasse over how much money Mediacom should pay Sinclair for carriage of its stations. On January 4, the FCC's Media Bureau denied Mediacom's complaint stating that Sinclair failed to negotiate with Mediacom in good faith. After failing to respond to Mediacom's offer to take the dispute to binding arbitration before the deadline, Sinclair pulled all 22 stations from Mediacom's lineups shortly after midnight on January 6. ^[4] Despite a plea from Iowa's Congressional delegation urging the two sides to submit to binding arbitration, Sinclair rejected the plea on January 11. ^[5] The two sides discussed the dispute in front of Iowa lawmakers on January 23. ^[6] On January 30, 2007, Senators Daniel Inouye, Chairman of the US Senate Committee on Commerce, Science and Transportation and Ranking Member Ted Stevens signed a letter addressed to Kevin Martin, the chairman of the Federal Communications Commission, directing him to resolve the issue.^[7] The impasse ended on February 2 when Mediacom announced that it had reached a retransmission agreement with Sinclair for undisclosed terms. All 22 stations were restored to Mediacom systems shortly after the agreement was announced.^[8]

Many satellite providers in the impacted areas looked to capitalize on the Mediacom/SBGI conflict and ran vigorous campaigns to try to recruit disenfranchised Mediacom subscribers. Sinclair's stations in Iowa, KDSM-TV in Des Moines and KGAN in Cedar Rapids, offered $150 rebates (payable as $10 monthly credits) while other markets offered $100 rebates for switching to DirecTV. ^[9] Mediacom and the American Cable Association criticized this campaign as a type of bounty payment.^[10] Mediacom lost 14,000 subscribers during the last quarter of 2006 and an additional 18,000 subscribers during the first quarter of 2007.^[11]

Time Warner Cable

Sinclair was also involved with retransmission negotiations with Time Warner Cable, but the two sides reached an agreement on January 19, 2007^[12].

Comcast

Broadcasting & Cable reported on January 5, 2007 that Sinclair may pull 30 stations from Comcast systems after its retransmission agreement was slated to expire on February 5 ^[13]. Comcast was granted an extension so the retransmission rights were extended to March 1 ^[14]. The deadline passed at 2 a.m. early Thursday morning, March 1.[8] The two sides were still talking so the deadline was extended to March 10.[9] Comcast has stated that they will not pay cash for retransmission rights, but is willing to barter such as giving free commercials for SBGI stations on Comcast cable channels.[10] On March 9, Comcast and Sinclair jointly announced a four-year deal for retransmission rights which expire on March 1, 2011.[11]

Notes

1. ^ http://www.sbgi.net/digital_tv/about.shtml
2. ^ "Sinclair Broadcast warns of possible bankruptcy". Reuters. 2009-07-14. http://www.reuters.com/article/mergersNews/idUSBNG51304320090714. Retrieved 2009-07-14. 
3. ^ Yahoo story
4. ^ Des Moines Register
5. ^ Multichannel.com
6. ^ Des Moines Register
7. ^ Dubuque, Iowa Telegraph Herald, V. 171, #32, February 1, 2007, p. 1.
8. ^ Cable360
9. ^ PR newswire
10. ^ Multichannel.com
11. ^ "Mediacom Loses Customers During Dispute". KCCI. 2007-05-04. http://www.kcci.com/money/13260018/detail.html. 
12. ^ Mulichannel.com
13. ^ Broadcastingcable.com
14. ^ Multichannel.com

Sinclair-owned stations

Note: ** indicates a station built and signed on by Sinclair.

DMA#	City of license/Market	Station	Channel TV / DT	Owned Since	Affiliation
14.	St. Petersburg - Tampa	WTTA 3	38 / 57	1999(?)	MyNetworkTV
15.	Minneapolis - St Paul	WUCW	23 / 22	1998	CW
21.	St. Louis	KDNL-TV	30 / 31	1996	ABC
23.	Pittsburgh	WPGH-TV	53 / 43	1991	Fox
		WPMY **	22 / 42	2000 (previously owned by Sinclair from 1978-91)	MyNetworkTV
26.	Raleigh - Durham - Fayetteville	WLFL-TV	22 / 57	1994	CW
		WRDC	28 / 27	1995	MyNetworkTV
27.	Baltimore	WBFF **	45 / 46	1971	Fox
			45.2		This TV
		WNUV-TV 1	54 / 40	1994	CW
29.	Nashville	WZTV	17 / 15	1994	Fox
		WUXP	30 / 21	2000	MyNetworkTV
		WNAB 2	58 / 23	2	CW
33.	Cincinnati	WSTR-TV	64 / 33	1995	MyNetworkTV
34.	Columbus, Ohio	WSYX	6 / 13	1996	ABC
		WTTE ** 1	28 / 36	1984	Fox
35.	Milwaukee	WVTV	18 / 61	2000	CW
		WCGV	24 / 25	1995	MyNetworkTV
36.	Asheville - Greenville - Spartanburg	WLOS	13 / 56	1996	ABC
		WMYA-TV 1	40 / 14	1996	MyNetworkTV
37.	San Antonio	KABB	29 / 30	1996	Fox
		KMYS	35 / 32	2001	MyNetworkTV
40.	Birmingham - Tuscaloosa, AL	WTTO	21 / 28	1995	CW
		WABM-TV	68 / 36	2001	MyNetworkTV
		WDBB (satellite of WTTO)	17 / 18	1995	CW
42.	Las Vegas	KVMY	21 / 22	1997	MyNetworkTV
		KVCW	33 / 29	2000	CW
43.	Norfolk - Portsmouth - Newport News	WTVZ	33 / 38	1996	MyNetworkTV
45.	Oklahoma City	KOKH-TV	25 / 24	1996	Fox
		KOCB	34 / 33	2001	CW
46.	Winston-Salem - Greensboro - High Point	WXLV-TV	45 / 29	1996	ABC
		WMYV	48 / 33	2001	MyNetworkTV
52.	Buffalo, New York	WUTV	29 / 14	1996	Fox
		WNYO-TV	49 / 34	2001	MyNetworkTV
58.	Richmond, Virginia	WRLH-TV	35 / 26	1998	Fox This TV
60.	Pensacola, FL - Mobile, AL	WEAR-TV	3 / 17	1997	ABC
		WFGX 3	35 / 50	2001	MyNetworkTV This TV
62.	Danville - Lexington, KY	WDKY-TV	56 / 4	2001	Fox
63.	Charleston - Huntington, WV	WCHS-TV	8 / 41	1997	ABC
		WVAH-TV 1	11 / 19	1994	Fox
65.	Dayton, Ohio	WKEF	22 / 51	1998	ABC
		WRGT-TV 1	45 / 30	2001	Fox
68.	Flint - Saginaw - Bay City, MI	WSMH-TV	66 / 16	1996	Fox
72.	Des Moines	KDSM-TV	17 / 16	1996	Fox
77.	Portland, Maine	WGME-TV	13 / 38	1998	CBS
78.	Paducah, KY - Cape Girardeau, MO - Harrisburg, IL	KBSI	23 / 22	1998	Fox
		WDKA-TV 3	49 / 50 (will use RF49 after digital facilities completion in Oct '09)	2006	MyNetworkTV
80.	Rochester, New York	WUHF 4	31 / 28	1995	Fox
83.	Syracuse, New York	WNYS-TV 3	43 / 44		MyNetworkTV
		WSYT	68 / 19	1998	Fox
84.	Champaign - Urbana - Decatur - Springfield, IL	WICS	20 / 42	1998	ABC
		WICD (semi-satellite of WICS)	15 / 41	1998	ABC
85.	Madison, Wisconsin	WMSN-TV	47 / 11	2002	Fox
88.	Cedar Rapids - Waterloo - Dubuque - Iowa City, IA	KGAN-TV	2 / 51	1998	CBS
		KFXA 5	28 / 27	5	Fox
97.	Charleston, South Carolina	WTAT-TV 1	24 / 40	1995	Fox
		WMMP	36 / 35	1998	MyNetworkTV
106.	Tallahassee, FL - Thomasville, GA	WTWC-TV	40 / 2	1998	NBC
116.	Bloomington - Peoria, IL	WYZZ-TV 4	43 / 28	1985	Fox

Footnotes:

• ¹ These stations are nominally owned by Cunningham Broadcasting and operated by Sinclair under local marketing agreements. However, Cunningham Broadcasting's stock is almost completely controlled by trusts in the names of members of Sinclair's founding Smith family.
• ² WNAB is owned by Tennessee Broadcasting, LP, an affiliate company of Beverly Hills-based Lambert Broadcasting, but its operations are managed by Sinclair under an outsourcing agreement. Sinclair is looking to acquire the station outright under an FCC "failing station" waiver.
• ³ Via local marketing agreements, Sinclair operates these stations, which are owned by local independent or private companies. The lone exception among this group is WTTA, in which Sinclair CEO David Smith is the station's majority owner.
• ⁴ These stations are owned by Sinclair, but operated by Nexstar Broadcasting Group under local marketing agreements.
• ⁵ KFXA is owned by Second Generation of Iowa, Ltd. and managed by Sinclair. Sinclair is expected to seek a "failing station" waiver to acquire the station's license assets.

Former Sinclair-owned stations

DMA#	City of license/Market	Station	Channel TV / DT	Years Owned	Current affiliation/owner
20.	Stockton - Sacramento, CA	KOVR	13 / 25	1996-2005	CBS owned-and-operated (O&O)
25.	Bloomington - Indianapolis, IN	WTTV	4 / 48	1996-2002	CW affiliate owned by Tribune Company
	Kokomo, Indiana	WTTK (satellite of WTTV)	29 / 54	1996-2002	CW affiliate owned by Tribune Company
	Bloomington, Indiana	WIIB (Home Shopping Network Affiliate)	63 / 27	1988-1997	WIPX, an ION Television affiliate owned by ION Media Networks
32.	Kansas City, Missouri	KSMO-TV	62 / 47	1994-2005	MyNetworkTV affiliate owned by Meredith Corporation
93.	Greenville - Kingsport - Johnson City - Bristol, TN	WEMT	39 / 38	2000-2006	Fox affiliate owned by Esteem Broadcasting, LLC (operated via LMA by BlueStone Television)
94.	North Pole - Plattsburgh, N.Y. - Burlington, VT	WPTZ	5 / 14	1997-1998	NBC affiliate owned by Hearst Television
	Hartford, VT - Hanover, N.H.	WNNE (semi-satellite of WPTZ)	31 / 25	1997-1998	NBC affiliate owned by Hearst Television
106.	Tallahassee, FL - Thomasville, GA	WTXL-TV	27 / 21	2001-20061	ABC affiliate owned by Calkins Media
109.	Jacksonville - Tyler - Longview, TX	KETK-TV	56 / 22	1998-1999	NBC affiliate owned by ComCorp
111.	Springfield - Holyoke, MA	WGGB-TV	40 / 55	1998-2007	ABC affiliate owned by Gormally Broadcasting LLC

• ¹Operated by WTWC-TV under a shared services agreement (license was held by a third party)

See also

• Lists of corporate assets

References

• Paul Schmelzer (October 20, 2004). The Eternal Twilight of the Sinclair Mind. AlterNet.
• Lisa de Moraes (April 30, 2004). Stations to Boycott Nightline's List of the Fallen. Page C07, Washington Post.
• Al Tompkins (April 30, 2004). ABC Breaks Through Nightline Blackout (Poynter Online)
• Paul Schmelzer (April 23, 2003). The Death of Local News. AlterNet.
• Katie Benner (October 11, 2004). Anti-Kerry film sparks DNC response. CNN
• Wil S. Hylton (December 2005). Not Necessarily the News. GQ.

External links

Sinclair

• Sinclair Broadcast Group, Inc. official site
• SBG - station list
• CJR Who Owns What: Sinclair Broadcast Group
• Baltimore This TV affiliate

Anti-Sinclair activism

• The "Counter"Point Blog
• Iowans for Better Local Television

News/comment

• "Not Necessarily the News" By Wil S. Hyton GQ December 2005.
• David Smith denies political agenda, Oct 2004
• Sinclair Broadcast: The Puppetmasters, AlterNet, February 17, 2005.
• "Sinclair's Disgrace" by Eric Boehlert, Salon, Oct. 14, 2004
• Business Week article on the controversies of David Smith and the Sinclair Broadcast Group

v • d • e Sinclair Broadcast Group ABC Network Affiliates KDNL · WCHS · WEAR · WICD · WICS · WKEF · WLOS · WSYX · WXLV CBS Network Affiliates KGAN · WGME The CW Network Affiliates KOCB · KVCW · WLFL · WNAB1 · WNUV2 · WTTO / WDBB · WUCW · WVTV Fox Network Affiliates KABB · KBSI · KDSM · KOKH · KFXA4 · WBFF · WDKY · WMSN · WPGH · WRGT2 · WRLH · WSMH · WSYT · WTAT2 · WTTE2 · WUHF3 · WUTV · WVAH2 · WYZZ3 · WZTV MyNetworkTV Affiliates KMYS · KVMY · WABM · WCGV · WDKA · WFGX · WMMP · WMYA2 · WMYV · WNYO · WNYS · WPMY · WRDC · WRLH · WSTR · WSYX · WTTA · WTVZ · WUXP NBC Network Affiliate WTWC 1Owned by Tennessee Broadcasting. Sinclair (SBGI) is seeking an FCC "failing station" waiver to purchase this station. 2Nominally owned by Cunningham Broadcasting and operated by SBGI under an LMA. However, trusts belonging to members of SBGI's founding Smith family control almost all of Cunningham's stock. 3Operated by Nexstar under an LMA. 4Owned by Second Generation Ltd. and managed by SBGI. SBGI is seeking an FCC "failing station" waiver to purchase the station's license. Annual Revenue: $1.24 billion USD (2004) · Employees: Unknown at this time. · Stock Symbol: NASDAQ: SBGI · Website: www.sbgi.net

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