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US: Sinclair-Tribune opposition piles up

By  |  July 15, 2018

Comments opposing the Sinclair-Tribune deal were piling up in the FCC’s docket last week, the deadline for replies to comments on Sinclair’s fifth version of the deal. The Federal Communications Commission (FCC) received a flood of comments on the proposed US$3.9 billion Sinclair-Tribune merger.

Many appeared to be form comments generated by a call to arms (headlined “Stop Trump TV!”) by activist group Democratic Underground. More than half of the 25 comments on the first page of the electronic docket had the same first paragraph beginning with, “I urge the FCC to deny the merger petition…”

The Communications Workers of America, National Association of Broadcast Employees and Technicians-CWA, the NewsGuild-CWA and the Parents Television Council have all filed petitions with the FCC asking it to deny the merger between Sinclair and Tribune, which would create the largest broadcast group in the country with over 200 stations.

The unions filed jointly, saying that the deal would reduce competition, harm localism, diminish viewpoint diversity and eliminate jobs.

Full Content: Law 360

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