Clyburn Says Her Office Not Informed of Sinclair-Bonten Approval
Commissioner Mignon Clyburn called the FCC’s approval of Sinclair’s $240 million purchase of TV stations from Bonten Media a “FridayNewsDump,” and in a series of tweets Monday said it was approved without any communication with her office. “Where’s the #transparency?”…
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Clyburn asked. “The FCC followed its standard procedures for approving unopposed broadcast station transfers," an FCC spokesman said in an email. "When Commissioner Clyburn was Chairwoman, she did not inform then-Commissioner [Ajit] Pai when unopposed station transfer requests were approved so her complaint rings quite hollow.” Friday’s FCC approval covered eight full-power TV stations, and the transfer of six low-power TV stations that were also part of the deal was approved Wednesday, a person with knowledge of the deal told us. Clyburn also tweeted that Friday’s order didn’t make clear how the acquisition would affect Sinclair’s ownership reach for purposes of calculating how close it is to the national ownership cap. When Sinclair announced the deal, attorneys said the purchase would increase Sinclair’s ownership reach by 1 percent, and with the UHF discount Sinclair would remain well under the cap. Last week, Sinclair formally asked for FCC approval of its proposed $6 billion buy of Tribune (see 1706300056).