The FCC Mysteriously Retreats From Sinclair Cronyism, Potentially Dooming Controversial Merger

from the about-face dept

If you've been paying attention, you've probably noticed that Sinclair Broadcast Group's $3.9 billion merger with Tribune Media has been widely derided as terrible. The company, already under routine fire for content that's more lobotomized pablum than news, hopes to seal a deal that would give it ownership of more than 230 local broadcast stations reaching more than 72% of the nation. Given Sinclair's inflammatory and facts-optional reporting, that's generally seen as a problem for a country where daily discourse is already a raging dumpster fire, and local reporters are already struggling to survive.

For much of the last year the FCC has been going to comical lengths to pave the way for Sinclair's deal. From attacking the law that prohibits any one broadcaster from dominating more than 39% of local broadcast audiences, to restoring obscure bits of discarded regulation (like the UHF discount) simply to let Sinclair bullshit its way under said limit, the FCC has been making it very clear it hoped to rubber stamp the deal. It was so clear, Ajit Pai found himself the subject of a nonpartisan corruption investigation by his own agency into whether he coordinated the effort with Sinclair.

But the obvious cronyism came to an abrupt and strange end Monday morning, when Pai announced that he suddenly developed some reservations about Sinclair's justifications for the deal, and stated he'd be launching an order that would put the merger under additional scrutiny by an administrative law judge:

You have to think the FCC investigation into Pai's behavior here played more than a small role in him suddenly and uncharacteristically caring about factual data. Pai, who has pretty obvious post-FCC political aspirations, must have seen some pretty damning evidence to engage in such a stark reversal from a full year's worth of merger cheer leading. The deal's allies at the agency had previously tried to claim that a long list of rule changes perfectly timed to aid Sinclair (one of which occurred three weeks before the deal was even announced) were all just entirely coincidental.

Sinclair had been pushing hard for the FCC to eliminate the ownership cap entirely (which the FCC isn't legally authorized to do, but showed interest in attempting anyway). But Sinclair had also been engaged in all kinds of gamesmanship to try and sneak in below the line if that gambit failed, including trying to offload some stations to subsidiaries, shell companies and partners to make it look like they were adhering to the law. Reuters obtained a leaked version of the draft order which indicates that even Pai was forced to admit that Sinclair engaged in rampant "deception" to try and railroad the deal through:

"Sinclair’s actions here potentially involve deception” in its application to acquire Tribune and in reference to the divestiture of WGN, a TV station in Chicago, according to Pai’s draft order, not yet public but seen by Reuters.

The draft order said “this question of misconduct does not bear” only on the WGN transaction but on the entire merger application."

In short, it looks like Sinclair was so immeasurably full of shit during their merger sales pitch and various law-dodging shell games that even Ajit Pai couldn't rubber stamp the proposal, which is saying something about the depths Sinclair was likely willing to sink to. It's likely we'll see more details in the wake of a court fight over the FCC's UHF discount move, and the inquiry into Pai's behavior.

Again, if you've watched Pai try and twist the fabric of reality itself to make AT&T and Comcast happy, this is a pretty shocking about face. For much of the last year it seemed clear Pai was blisteringly-eager to rubber stamp the deal with the usual 3-2 partisan agency vote. But an order shoveling merger review toward an administrative hearing is traditionally seen as a death knell for such deals, meaning Sinclair's multi-year bid to lie its way to market domination may have just hit a dead end -- courtesy of the most unlikely of sources.

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Filed Under: ajit pai, cronyism, fcc, local news, media ownership, merger
Companies: sinclair


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  1. icon
    Stephen T. Stone (profile), 17 Jul 2018 @ 6:35am

    It’s a Christmas in July miracle!

    link to this | view in thread ]

  2. identicon
    Anonymous Coward, 17 Jul 2018 @ 6:49am

    Perhaps the campaign contributions were a tad low at the time.

    link to this | view in thread ]

  3. identicon
    Anonymous Coward, 17 Jul 2018 @ 6:56am

    Re:

    More likely Pai just found out that he is about to be charged with some major crimes related to his actions.

    link to this | view in thread ]

  4. identicon
    Baron von Robber, 17 Jul 2018 @ 7:00am

    Check hasn't cleared yet.

    link to this | view in thread ]

  5. identicon
    I.T. Guy, 17 Jul 2018 @ 7:23am

    Re:

    "But the obvious cronyism came to an abrupt and strange end Monday morning, when Pai announced that he suddenly developed some reservations about Sinclair's justifications for the deal"

    The Check bounced.

    link to this | view in thread ]

  6. identicon
    Annonymouse, 17 Jul 2018 @ 7:30am

    He found out they were polishing up the chair and upgrading the electrical panel.

    link to this | view in thread ]

  7. icon
    Wolfie0827 (profile), 17 Jul 2018 @ 7:31am

    He found out that there was no offer on the table from Sinclair for when he steps down.

    link to this | view in thread ]

  8. icon
    That One Guy (profile), 17 Jul 2018 @ 7:44am

    Short term vs long term

    I suspect he looked at a very real pending investigation, realized that if he was outed via that he would't be able to keep cheerleading for a certain industry, and that if he was removed from office or even censured companies in said industry be much less likely to pick him up right away to avoid a PR beating, and decided that it was better to throw Sinclair under the bus to avoid that.

    Possibly scrap one potential merger in exchange for being able to greenlight for a good while to come any and all actions by the companies he's all but officially working for already? Not a hard trade at all.

    link to this | view in thread ]

  9. identicon
    Anonymous Coward, 17 Jul 2018 @ 7:51am

    How many signs of the apocalypse are we up to now? We've got to be getting close to seven.

    link to this | view in thread ]

  10. identicon
    Pixelation, 17 Jul 2018 @ 8:28am

    His next employer

    Perhaps Verizon told him to kill the deal...

    link to this | view in thread ]

  11. identicon
    Anonymous Coward, 17 Jul 2018 @ 8:42am

    Re: Re:

    Either that or negotiations with Sinclair for higher commissions collapsed.

    link to this | view in thread ]

  12. identicon
    Glenn, 17 Jul 2018 @ 8:58am

    RICO

    So, why does everything I see about Sinclair look more like organized crime than media broadcasting?

    link to this | view in thread ]

  13. identicon
    Iggy, 17 Jul 2018 @ 9:08am

    Re: Re:

    With Prenda Law, there came a point where the profits slowed down and the court fines and sanctions started coming in. When they lost the appearance of a respectable firm and began to be treated like the criminals they were.

    Ajit Pai is smarter than Prenda Law and probably knows when to quit but I do hope this is a turning point and there will come a day when we can look back on this as the point where things started going south for the corrupt official.

    link to this | view in thread ]

  14. identicon
    Anonymous Coward, 17 Jul 2018 @ 9:15am

    Any risk in ALJ referral?

    Given Trump's recent executive order allowing agency heads to pick their own?

    Maybe Pai's not trying to slow it down or stop it, but just wants to cover from an allegedly impartial (but in reality handpicked) administrative law judge?

    https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/powerpost/wp/2018/07/13/trump-order-risks-politicization-o f-administrative-judiciary/?utm_term=.79d54ec2c687

    link to this | view in thread ]

  15. icon
    NaBUru38 (profile), 17 Jul 2018 @ 9:37am

    If Sinclair can buy hundreds of stations, then CBS, NBC and ABC also can. And Trump won't allow that.

    link to this | view in thread ]

  16. icon
    ShadowNinja (profile), 17 Jul 2018 @ 10:04am

    Re: Re:

    Or more like Pai is lying his ass off to take off the heat, but he'll still let it go through anyway.

    Just like he did for the change to submit comments to the FCC, which now requires over $200, even as he claimed just the day before it was voted on that he wouldn't do it.

    link to this | view in thread ]

  17. identicon
    Anonymous Coward, 17 Jul 2018 @ 10:10am

    Re: Re:

    There is apparently enough room in the inevitable cases against him that he decided to budge. It means Pai believes he has a chance of reducing the blowback.

    It is indeed strange that a man willing to subject his family to the fall-out of removing net neutrality is backing down here. Apparently the callusness is self-serving.

    link to this | view in thread ]

  18. identicon
    Anonymous Coward, 17 Jul 2018 @ 10:29am

    Re: Re:

    I'd say more likely someone who opposes the deal offered a bigger cheque.

    link to this | view in thread ]

  19. identicon
    Crowbar Six, 17 Jul 2018 @ 11:13am

    Kiting?

    Maybe the cheque bounced.

    link to this | view in thread ]

  20. identicon
    InThePocket, 17 Jul 2018 @ 11:20am

    Pai's Check Didn't Clear?

    My guess, Pai's check from Sinclair didn't go through.

    link to this | view in thread ]

  21. identicon
    Anonymous Coward, 17 Jul 2018 @ 12:12pm

    Given how blatantly he lies and how brazenly he has attempted to whitewash any illegal or improper behavior from the Telecom sector, I doubt it was either fear of investigation or the sheer bs of Sinclair's cliams that has altered his behavior. People as ethically corrupt as him are almost always swayed either by a better offer, or threats of being thrown under the bus by someone with more power.

    link to this | view in thread ]

  22. identicon
    Anonymous Coward, 17 Jul 2018 @ 2:22pm

    Re: Re:

    More likely he's extorting Sinclair for more money.

    link to this | view in thread ]

  23. identicon
    Thad, 19 Jul 2018 @ 11:30am

    Re: Re: Re:

    Not a bad theory, but nope; the FCC has unanimously voted to refer the merger to an administrative law judge, which will almost certainly prevent it from happening.

    A stuck clock is right twice a day. Pai did the right thing on this one, and so did the other four commissioners.

    link to this | view in thread ]


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