TV Station Owners Rush to Seize on Relaxed F.C.C. Rules (original) (raw)
DealBook|TV Station Owners Rush to Seize on Relaxed F.C.C. Rules
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Ajit Pai, the F.C.C. chairman, in Barcelona in February. Broadcasters hope that he will let through the kinds of deals that were held up during the Obama administration.Credit...Lluis Gene/Agence France-Presse — Getty Images
- May 1, 2017
The media industry has been rife with consolidation in recent years: Cable companies, film studios and telecommunications firms have all been bought and sold at a rapid clip.
Now, local television stations are at the center of the deal-making frenzy.
Last week, a day after the Federal Communications Commission eased regulations over how many stations an owner may have, Sinclair Broadcasting, the largest local broadcast group in the country, said it would buy 14 New York-based stations for $240 million.
The timing of Sinclair’s deal may not have hinged directly on the change, but it demonstrated a demand for broadcast station mergers. Sinclair did not reply to requests for comment.
And now, a bidding war has begun over Tribune Media, the owner of WGN America and, in New York, PIX 11.
The Blackstone Group appears to be working with 21st Century Fox on a bid for Tribune. And Sinclair is also circling that company.
“The F.C.C. has basically said: ‘Game on. We’re going to let you consolidate further than anyone had imagined,’” said Richard Greenfield, a media analyst at BTIG.
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