How Trump's FCC aided Sinclair's expansion
http://www.politico.com/story/2017/08/06/trump-fcc-sinclair-broadcast-expansion-241337
Sinclair Broadcast Group is expanding its conservative-leaning television empire into nearly three-quarters of American households but its aggressive takeover of the airwaves wouldnt have been possible without help from President Donald Trump's chief at the Federal Communications Commission.
Sinclair, already the nations largest TV broadcaster, plans to buy 42 stations from Tribune Media in cities such as New York, Chicago and Los Angeles, on top of the more than 170 stations it already owns. It got a critical assist this spring from Republican FCC Chairman Ajit Pai, who revived a decades-old regulatory loophole that will keep Sinclair from vastly exceeding federal limits on media ownership.
The change will allow Sinclair a company known for injecting "must run" conservative segments into its local programming to reach 72 percent of U.S. households after buying Tribunes stations. Thats nearly double the congressionally imposed nationwide audience cap of 39 percent.
The FCC and the company both say the agency wasnt giving Sinclair any special favors by reviving the loophole, known as the UHF discount, which has long been considered technologically obsolete. But the Tribune deal would not have been viable if not for Pais intervention: Sinclair already reaches an estimated 38 percent of U.S. households without the discount, leaving it almost no room for growth.
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