Sinclair Broadcast Group

"SBG" redirects here. For other uses, see SBG (disambiguation).

Sinclair Broadcast Group, Inc.

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

The Sinclair Broadcast Group (SBG) is an American telecommunications company that operates the largest number of local television stations in the United States. Headquartered in Hunt Valley, Maryland, it owns a total of 57 stations across the country in 35 primarily small and medium markets, many of which are located in the South and Midwest. Broadcasts by SBG stations can be received by 24 percent of American households. SBG is also the owner of the Ring of Honor (ROH) professional wrestling promotion, which is considered to be the third most prominent national wrestling company behind World Wrestling Entertainment (WWE) and Total Nonstop Action Wrestling (TNA).

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.

On May 21, 2011 it was announced that Sinclair Broadcasting Group had purchased the Ring of Honor professional wrestling company (ROH). It was announced that as part of the purchace, Sinclair would produce a weekly, hour-long program for ROH to air on SBG stations, with the intent to eventually syndicate the show to non-SBG stations across the country.^[1]

Four months later on September 8, 2011, Sinclair announced that it will purchase the seven stations owned by Four Points Media Group from Cerberus Capital Management for $200 million. Prior to the FCC's approval of the purchase which is expected in early 2012, Sinclair will manage the stations under local marketing agreements (replacing Nexstar Broadcasting Group as Four Points' LMA partner) following antitrust approval of the sale by the Federal Trade Commission, Sinclair will also supply working capital to the stations in consideration of service fees and performance incentives through the LMAs.^[2] Sinclair then announced on November 2, 2011 that it would acquire the entire television division of Freedom Communications.^[3] It also announced that it was in talks to purchase Columbus, Ohio CW affiliate WWHO from LIN TV (Sinclair already owns ABC affiliate WSYX and manages Fox affiliate WTTE, a possible sale of WWHO to Sinclair could result in the company controlling three stations in the Columbus market, similar to the arrangement it has with WZTV, WNAB and WUXP in Nashville).^[4]

Background

Network	# Stations
Fox	19
MyNetworkTV (MNTV)	16 (plus 2 subchannels)
ABC	9
CW	9
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.^[5]

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.^[6] Several stations, like WMSN in Madison, Wisconsin and WSMH in Flint, Michigan ended analog transmission on June 12 instead 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.

As of November 5, 2010, all Sinclair owned and/or operated stations (except for WLOS) are broadcasting on the UHF band, as many of them found their post-transition VHF assignments unacceptable to cover their full markets.

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 Federal Communications Commission (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 FCC 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.^[7]

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.^[8]

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.^{[citation needed]}

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. The non-Sinclair stations in those two markets that were affiliated with ABC at the time, WDTN and WAND, aired the Nightline episode in question.

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.^[9] 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.^[10]

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.^[11]

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^[12] 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.

Obama infomercial controversy

In November 2010, it was reported that five Fox affiliates and one ABC affiliate owned by Sinclair broadcast an infomercial critical of President Barack Obama, Breaking Point: 25 Minutes that will Change America, which was sponsored by the National Republican Trust Political Action Group.^[13] The infomercial painted Obama as an extremist, in which, during the 2008 presidential campaign, claimed he received some campaign money from the Hamas terrorist group, and claimed to have said in a speech, "You want freedom? You’re gonna have to kill some crackers! You gonna have to kill some of those babies." The special also discusses Obama advisers Van Jones and John Holdren, as well as Obama staff Anita Dunn, Kevin Jennings, Carol Browner, and Cass Sunstein -- all in an unflattering light; in one case, the special claimed that Holdren said that trees should be permitted to sue humans in court.

The infomercial aired at various times during the weekend of October 30 on WMSN-TV Madison, Wisconsin; KBSI Cape Girardeau, Missouri; WDKY-TV Lexington, Kentucky; WPGH-TV Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania; KDSM-TV Des Moines, Iowa and WXLV-TV Winston-Salem, North Carolina -- all in swing states vital to the 2010 elections.^[14][15]

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.^[16] 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.^[17]

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.^[18]

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 Federal Communications Commission'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.^[19] Despite a plea from Iowa's Congressional delegation urging the two sides to submit to binding arbitration, Sinclair rejected the plea on January 11.^[20] The two sides discussed the dispute in front of Iowa lawmakers on January 23.^[21] 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.^[22] 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.^[23] Mediacom lost 14,000 subscribers during the last quarter of 2006 and an additional 18,000 subscribers during the first quarter of 2007.^[24]

In December 2009, Sinclair announced that it would pull all of its stations from Mediacom systems for the second time in three years if a deal was not reached by midnight on December 31. The impasse had threatened coverage of the January 5 Orange Bowl in Iowa, where the Hawkeyes played, and the January 7 2010 BCS National Championship Game in Alabama, where the Crimson Tide won the national championship. Mediacom and lawmakers from Iowa and Alabama asked the FCC to intervene in this dispute.^[25] On December 31, Mediacom and Sinclair agreed to an eight-day extension of the retransmission agreement that permitted Sinclair's stations to remain on Mediacom until January 8.^[26] Both sides reached a one-year retransmission agreement on January 7, one day before the interim agreement was set to expire.^[27]

Time Warner Cable

Sinclair was also involved with retransmission negotiations with Time Warner Cable at the same time as the Mediacom dispute in 2006 and 2007, but the two sides reached an agreement on January 19, 2007.^[28]

In November 2010, Sinclair announced that it would pull 33 of its stations in 21 cities on January 1, 2011, if the two parties don't come to an agreement.^[29] The deadline for these discussions has been since extended to January 14, 2011.^[30] Regardless of the outcome, Time Warner Cable would continue to carry Fox Network programming on its systems, due to a deal reached with Fox earlier in 2010; however, syndicated and local programs on Sinclair's Fox affiliates would still not be seen.^[31]

On January 15, 2011, Time Warner Cable and Sinclair reached a settlement, shortly after the deadline was extended again 24 hours.^[32]

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.^[33] Comcast was granted an extension so the retransmission rights were extended to March 1,^[34][35] and again to March 10.^[36] 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.^[37]

On March 9, Comcast and Sinclair jointly announced a four-year deal for retransmission rights which expire on March 1, 2011.^[38] The two came to a new agreement for continued carriage on March 3, 2011; this agreement was negotiated without any public statements or announcements.^[39][40]

Sinclair-owned stations

Stations are arranged alphabetically by state and by city of license.

Note: Two boldface asterisks appearing following a station's call letters (**) indicate a station built and signed on by Sinclair.

City of license / Market	Station	Channel TV (RF)	Owned since	Affiliation
Birmingham - Tuscaloosa, AL	WTTO	21 (28)	1995	The CW
	WABM	68 (36)	2001	MyNetworkTV
	WDBB (satellite of WTTO)	17 (18)	1995	The CW
Pensacola, FL - Mobile, AL	WEAR-TV	3 (17)	1997	ABC
	WFGX 1	35 (50)	2001	MyNetworkTV
St. Petersburg - Tampa	WTTA 1	38 (38)	1999(?)	MyNetworkTV
Tallahassee, FL - Thomasville, GA	WTWC-TV	40 (40)	1998	NBC
Bloomington - Peoria, IL	WYZZ-TV 2	43 (28)	1985	Fox
Champaign - Urbana - Decatur - Springfield, IL	WICS	20 (42)	1998	ABC
	WICD (semi-satellite of WICS)	15 (41)	1998	ABC
Cedar Rapids - Waterloo - Dubuque - Iowa City, IA	KGAN-TV	2 (51)	1998	CBS
	KFXA 3	28 (27)		Fox
Des Moines	KDSM-TV	17 (16)	1996	Fox
Danville - Lexington, KY	WDKY-TV	56 (31)	2001	Fox
Paducah, KY - Cape Girardeau, MO - Harrisburg, IL	KBSI	23 (22)	1998	Fox
	WDKA 1	49 (49)	2006	MyNetworkTV
Portland, Maine	WGME-TV	13 (38)	1998	CBS
Baltimore	WBFF **	45 (46)	1971	Fox
	WNUV 4	54 (40)	1994	The CW
Flint - Saginaw - Bay City, MI	WSMH	66 (16)	1996	Fox
Minneapolis - St Paul	WUCW	23 (22)	1998	The CW
St. Louis	KDNL-TV	30 (31)	1996	ABC
Las Vegas	KVMY	21 (22)	1997	MyNetworkTV
	KVCW	33 (29)	2000	The CW
Buffalo, New York	WUTV	29 (14)	1996	Fox
	WNYO-TV	49 (49)	2001	MyNetworkTV
Rochester, New York	WUHF 2	31 (28)	1995	Fox
Syracuse, New York	WNYS-TV 1	43 (44)		MyNetworkTV
	WSYT	68 (19)	1998	Fox
Asheville - Greenville - Spartanburg	WLOS	13 (13)	1996	ABC
	WMYA-TV 4	40 (14)	1996	MyNetworkTV
Raleigh - Durham - Fayetteville	WLFL	22 (27)	1994	The CW
	WRDC	28 (28)	1995	MyNetworkTV
Winston-Salem - Greensboro - High Point	WXLV-TV	45 (29)	1996	ABC
	WMYV	48 (33)	2001	MyNetworkTV
Cincinnati	WSTR-TV	64 (33)	1995	MyNetworkTV
Columbus, Ohio	WSYX	6 (48)	1996	ABC
	WTTE ** 4	28 (36)	1984	Fox
Dayton, Ohio	WKEF	22 (51)	1998	ABC
	WRGT-TV 4	45 (30)	2001	Fox
Oklahoma City	KOKH-TV	25 (24)	2003	Fox
	KOCB	34 (33)	1996	The CW
Pittsburgh	WPGH-TV	53 (43)	1991	Fox
	WPMY **	22 (42)	2000 (previously owned from 1978-1991)	MyNetworkTV
Charleston, South Carolina	WTAT-TV 4	24 (24)	1995	Fox
	WMMP	36 (36)	1998	MyNetworkTV
Nashville	WZTV	17 (15)	1994	Fox
	WUXP	30 (21)	2000	MyNetworkTV
	WNAB	58 (23)	5	The CW
San Antonio	KABB	29 (30)	1996	Fox
	KMYS	35 (32)	2001	The CW
Norfolk - Portsmouth - Newport News	WTVZ	33 (33)	1996	MyNetworkTV
Richmond, Virginia	WRLH-TV	35 (26)	1998	Fox
Charleston - Huntington, WV	WCHS-TV	8 (41)	1997	ABC
	WVAH-TV 4	11 (19)	1994	Fox
Madison, Wisconsin	WMSN-TV	47 (49)	2002	Fox
Milwaukee	WVTV	18 (18)	2000	The CW
	WCGV-TV	24 (25)	1995	MyNetworkTV

Notes:

• ¹ 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.
• ² These stations are owned by Sinclair, but operated by Nexstar Broadcasting Group under local marketing agreements.
• ³ 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.
• ⁴ 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.
• ⁵ 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.

Planned purchase of Four Points Media Group

On September 8, 2011, Sinclair entered into an agreement to purchase all of the assets of Four Points Media Group from Cerberus Capital Management for $200 million.^[41] The Federal Trade Commission (FTC) gave its antitrust approval of the deal in late September; as a result, at some point that October, Sinclair took over the management of the stations from the Nexstar Broadcasting Group through time brokerage agreements (Cerberus would then pay Nexstar a portion of Sinclair's purchase price to terminate the outsourcing agreement, which is set to expire in March 2012, five months early). The group deal is expected to close during the first quarter of 2012 after final approval from the Federal Communications Commission (FCC).

Prior to 2008, these stations were owned by CBS Television Stations.

The following is a list of stations that are currently owned by Cerberus/Four Points:

City of license/Market	Station	Channel TV (DT)	Affiliation
Fort Pierce - West Palm Beach, FL	WTVX	34 (34)	The CW MyNetworkTV
	WTCN-CA	50 (34.3)	MyNetworkTV
	WWHB-CA 48	48 (34.2)	Azteca América
New Bedford, MA - Providence, R.I.	WLWC	28 (22)	The CW
Salt Lake City	KUTV	2 (34)	CBS
St. George, Utah	KMYU	12 (9)	MyNetworkTV
Austin, Texas	KEYE-TV	42 (43)	CBS Telemundo (on DT2)

Planned purchase of Freedom Communications station group

On November 2, 2011, it was announced that Sinclair would purchase all eight television stations owned by Freedom Communications in a move for Freedom to eliminate its debt; the sale is pending Federal Communications Commission (FCC) and United States Department of Justice (DOJ) approval.^[42]

City of License/Market	Station	Channel TV (RF)	Affiliation
West Palm Beach	WPEC	12 (13)	CBS
Kalamazoo, Michigan	WWMT	3 (8)	CBS The CW (on DT2)
Lansing, Michigan	WLAJ	53 (51)	ABC The CW (on DT2)
Schenectady - Albany - Troy, N.Y.	WRGB	6 (6)	CBS
	WCWN	45 (43)	The CW
Medford, Oregon	KTVL	10 (10)	CBS The CW (on DT2)
Chattanooga, Tennessee	WTVC	9 (9)	ABC
Beaumont, Texas	KFDM	6 (21)	CBS The CW (on DT2)

Former Sinclair-owned stations

City of license/Market	Station	Channel TV (DT)	Years owned	Current affiliation
Stockton - Sacramento, CA	KOVR	13 (25)	1996–2005	CBS owned-and-operated (O&O)
Bloomington - Indianapolis, IN	WTTV	4 (48)	1996–2002	The CW affiliate owned by Tribune Company
Kokomo, Indiana	WTTK (satellite of WTTV)	29 (29)	1996–2002	The CW affiliate owned by Tribune Company
Bloomington, Indiana	WIIB (now WIPX-TV)	36 (27)	1988–1997	ION Television owned-and-operated (O&O)
Kansas City, Missouri	KSMO-TV	62 (47)	1994–2005	MyNetworkTV affiliate owned by Meredith Corporation
Greenville, Tennessee (Tri-Cities, TN-VA)	WEMT	39 (38)	2000–2006	Fox affiliate owned by Esteem Broadcasting, LLC (operated via LMA by BlueStone Television)
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
Tallahassee, FL - Thomasville, GA	WTXL-TV	27 (27)	2001–20061	ABC affiliate owned by Calkins Media
Jacksonville - Tyler - Longview, TX	KETK-TV	56 (22)	1998–2004	NBC affiliate owned by Communications Corporation of America
Springfield - Holyoke, MA	WGGB-TV	40 (40)	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

1. ^ http://www.rohwrestling.com/news/ring-of-honor-announces-sale-to-sinclair-broadcast-group/
2. ^ Sinclair Buys Four Points Media For $200M, TVNewsCheck, September 8, 2011.
3. ^ Milbourn, Mary Ann (November 2, 2011). "O.C. Register owner sells TV stations". Orange County Register. http://www.ocregister.com/articles/sinclair-324997-stations-company.html. Retrieved November 2, 2011. 
4. ^ Sinclair Buying Freedom For $385 Million, TVNewsCheck, November 2, 2011.
5. ^ http://www.prnewswire.com/cgi-bin/stories.pl?ACCT=109&STORY=/www/story/12-22-2006/0004496058&EDATE=
6. ^ http://www.sbgi.net/digital_tv/about.shtml
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8. ^ http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/4864247/
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10. ^ http://www.washingtondispatch.com/culture/archives/000649.html
11. ^ http://www.democrats.org/news/200410110001.html
12. ^ Yahoo Finance
13. ^ National Republican Trust: "Breaking Point: 25 Milutes that will Change America"
14. ^ The Raw Story: "Fox affiliates run infomercial in swing states suggesting Obama funded by Hamas, wants to ‘kill some crackers’", November 1, 2010.
15. ^ ThinkProgress: "‘Kill Some Crackers’: GOP Group Pays Fox Affiliates To Influence Election With Anti-Obama Propaganda", November 1, 2010.
16. ^ http://multichannel.com/article/CA6349903.html
17. ^ http://www.multichannel.com/article/CA6361496.html
18. ^ Yahoo story
19. ^ Des Moines Register
20. ^ Multichannel.com
21. ^ Des Moines Register
22. ^ Dubuque, Iowa Telegraph Herald, V. 171, #32, February 1, 2007, p. 1.
23. ^ Cable360
24. ^ "Mediacom Loses Customers During Dispute". KCCI. 2007-05-04. http://www.kcci.com/money/13260018/detail.html. 
25. ^ Eggerton, John (2009-12-22). "Legislators Ask FCC To Intervene In Sinclair-Mediacom Dispute". Multichannel News. http://www.multichannel.com/article/441581-Legislators_Ask_FCC_To_Intervene_In_Sinclair_Mediacom_Dispute.php?rssid=20527&q=mediacom. 
26. ^ Bachman, Katy. "Sinclair, Mediacom Extend Retrans Talks". Mediaweek. http://www.mediaweek.com/mw/content_display/news/local-broadcast/e3i6ad645d17ccf55b7b432711bfd0eddb6. 
27. ^ Farrell, Mike (2010-01-07). "Mediacom Reaches Retrans Agreement With Sinclair". Multichannel News. http://www.multichannel.com/article/442963-Updated_Mediacom_Reaches_Retrans_Agreement_With_Sinclair.php. 
28. ^ Mulichannel.com
29. ^ http://stopthecap.com/2010/11/11/here-we-go-again-sinclair-threatens-time-warner-cable-subs-with-loss-of-33-stations-in-21-cities/
30. ^ Portland Press Herald: "Sinclair, cable talks extended to Jan. 14", January 1, 2011.
31. ^ Radio and Television Business Report: "Time Warner Cable may be able to outFox Sinclair", December 7, 2010.
32. ^ Broadcasting & Cable: "Time Warner Cable, Sinclair Ink Retrans Pact", January 15, 2011.
33. ^ Broadcastingcable.com
34. ^ Multichannel.com
35. ^ http://www.phillyburbs.com/pb-dyn/news/103-02282007-1306304.html
36. ^ http://biz.yahoo.com/prnews/070301/clth099.html?.v=24
37. ^ http://www.marketwatch.com/news/story/comcast-nixes-cash-only-compensation-tv/story.aspx?guid=%7B597A10C2%2D6886%2D4639%2DB7B7%2D546E75AE5EA3%7D&siteid=yhoo&dist=yho
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39. ^ http://articles.baltimoresun.com/2011-03-03/business/bs-bz-sinclair-comcast-retrans-20110303_1_signals-in-channel-lineups-tentative-agreement-retransmission-agreement
40. ^ http://www.fiercecable.com/story/sinclair-comcast-beat-fcc-clock-quietly-sign-retrans-deal/2011-03-04
41. ^ "Sinclair Grabs Four Points Stations for $200 Mil," from Broadcasting & Cable, 9/8/2011
42. ^ Sinclair Buying Freedom For $385 Million, TVNewsCheck, November 2, 2011.

• 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). [1]. 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