The Boston Globe has joined a parade of media outlets concerned about the future of local news that could be affected if Sinclair is successful in winning approval of its acquisition of Tribune Media’s 42 television stations, calling Sinclair a “behemoth” and the deal “a matter of urgent concern.”

Sinclair is already the largest owner of local television stations in the United States, and its proposed $3.9 billion purchase of Tribune would turn it into a behemoth, with access to more than 70 percent of American households.

An expansion of that size isn’t in the public interest, and federal regulators should move to block it. If they fail to act, state attorneys general should step up and attempt to stop the merger. Sinclair, which already has stations in Rhode Island and Maine and is looking to expand into Connecticut, has a history of slashing staff and requiring its stations to share content — reducing local news coverage in the process.

The network also requires its stations to air centrally produced, conservative-leaning segments. There are daily missives, for instance, from the “Terrorism Alert Desk” — including one piece on the French controversy over “burkinis,” apparently deemed a terrorism-related story simply because it involved Muslims. One election package suggested voters shouldn’t back Hillary Clinton, in part, because of the Democratic Party’s proslavery history. And Sinclair hired former Trump surrogate Boris Epshteyn as its chief political analyst.

[…] Sinclair’s expansion also raises classic anticompetitive concerns. A larger company will be able to demand bigger fees from cable providers retransmitting their broadcasts — costs that will eventually be passed on to consumers. […] There are other ways to prevent large cable companies from throwing their weight around. Unfortunately, the Trump administration’s Federal Communications Commission doesn’t seem interested in implementing them. Indeed, Trump’s FCC and Department of Justice don’t seem interested in much regulation at all.

The FCC docket asking for public comment on the transaction has attracted plenty of opposition to the deal from industry groups, lobbyists, competitors, consumer groups, and members of the public.

Copps (Image: Peretz Partensky)

“Sinclair has failed to explain how this multi-billion dollar merger could possibly be in the public interest,” said Computer & Communications Industry Association President Ed Black. “Even more, allowing this centrally controlled broadcast behemoth that has a history of cutting local news staff and adversely affect independent, local TV stations, would be detrimental. Anyone who values decentralized government control, states’ rights and independent voices should oppose this merger that would harm citizens and weaken our democracy. It’s a concern that a merger that would be so harmful to rural areas, independent news stations and citizens could even be considered. The FCC should reject this takeover proposal outright, and Congress needs to hold hearings to more thoroughly understand the media landscape and how critical independent local broadcast stations are in a democracy.”

“We believe this merger as proposed is unlawful, not in the public interest and should be rejected,” said Matthew Polka, CEO of the American Cable Association. The ACA represents over 700 small independent telecom companies, primarily serving suburban and rural communities.

“It would turn Sinclair into the nation’s largest broadcast conglomerate and lead to higher prices, more station blackouts, less choice, and less local news for millions of consumers,” said Dish Network in its petition to deny the merger.

Even a former FCC commissioner has spoken up against the deal.

Sinclair “comes with an ideology that is far more focused on conservative points of view than any sense of balance or any deep-dive journalism,” said Michael Copps, a former FCC commissioner and special adviser to Common Cause. “No one company should have such power over the news and information that citizens must have if they are going to cast intelligent votes and practice successfully the art of self-government.”

The Federal Communications Commission on Friday quietly approved the transfer of seven high-power television station licenses owned by Bluestone Television/Bonten Media to Sinclair Broadcast Group without informing the sole Democratic commissioner Mignon Clyburn of the agency’s action.

An FCC letter informing Sinclair it approved of the transfer of licenses also included an authorization allowing KCFW (NBC) Kalispell, Mont., to continue operating as a satellite station of KECI (NBC) Missoula.

“Given that KCFW is the only full-power television station in its community of license, is located in a community of license with limited economic viability, and is costly to operate as a stand-alone station, it is unlikely that an alternative operator would be willing and able to purchase or operate the station as a stand-alone facility,” the FCC wrote. “Moreover, KCFW has operated as a satellite of KECI under Commission authority for almost 50 years, most recently reauthorized in 2007 in the Missoula DMA, and we see no evidence in the record that continuing the satellite exemption will harm competition in that market,” the FCC added.

The transfer may put Sinclair over the FCC’s station ownership cap, unless the agency changes its rules to favor Sinclair’s ongoing expansion. Sinclair is already the nation’s biggest owner of local television stations.

Commissioner Clyburn was reportedly not happy to learn about the FCC’s decision only through media reports and tweeted her displeasure this morning, calling the announcement part of a “Friday night news dump.”

#FridayNewsDump continues. Unclear from @FCC’s approval letter (https://t.co/aM0oJRtcsb), does this put Sinclair over the 39% ownership cap?

— Mignon Clyburn (@MClyburnFCC) July 3, 2017

The stations involved:

• WCYB (NBC) Tri-Cities, Tenn./Vir.
• KRCR (ABC) Chico-Redding, Calif.
• KECI (NBC) Missoula, Mont.
• KCFW (NBC) Kalispell, Mont. (satellite station simulcasts KECI)
• KTXS (ABC) Abilene-Sweetwater, Tex.
• KTVM (NBC) Butte-Bozeman, Mont.
• KAEF (ABC) Eureka, Calif.

Most of the television stations are in smaller television markets but will still profit Sinclair because most operate profitable local news operations.

Sinclair’s growing domination of local television station ownership concerned HBO’s John Oliver enough that he spent almost 20 minutes of his Last Week Tonight with John Oliver show discussing how Sinclair’s owners have a history of skewing local newscasts to cater to its own political agenda. (Strong Language) (19 minutes)

Ajit Pai, Chairman of U.S Federal Communications Commission, delivers his keynote speech at Mobile World Congress in Barcelona, Spain, February 28, 2017. REUTERS/Eric Gaillard

WASHINGTON (Reuters) – The U.S. Federal Communications Commission voted 2-1 on Thursday to reverse a 2016 decision that limits the number of television stations some broadcasters can buy.

The decision could lead to a possible acquisition by Sinclair Broadcast Group Inc of Tribune Media Co, some Democrats in Congress said.

Tribune did not discuss any tie up, but said in a statement the FCC decision “will serve the important interest of localism by enabling broadcasters to better serve their communities.”

FCC Chairman Ajit Pai said he plans to take a new look at the current overall limit on companies owning stations serving no more than 39 percent of U.S. television households.

Democratic FCC Commissioner Mignon Clyburn called the vote a “huge gift for large broadcasters with ambitious dreams of more consolidation.” She said it “will have an immediate impact on the purchase and sale of television stations.”

Her concern was echoed by the top Democrat in the U.S. House of Representatives, who a day earlier urged the Federal Communications Commission to cancel the vote.

House Democratic Leader Nancy Pelosi warned that the changes could be harmful to consumers, hitting their wallets and their access to an independent media voice, as she cited press reports of a possible acquisition by Sinclair Broadcast Group Inc of Tribune Media Co stations.

Clyburn

In a letter, Pelosi and Representative Frank Pallone, who is the ranking Democrat on the House Energy and Commerce Committee, urged Pai to drop the plan, which could allow the Sinclair-Tribune tie-up.

“That would be bad news for consumers in Tribune’s markets in two ways: First, consumers would lose an independent voice in their media market; and second, consumers could see their cable bills go up because Sinclair charges cable operators more than Tribune for retransmission consent,” they wrote.

Another Democrat, Representative Anna Eshoo, wrote Pai asking him to drop the plan, saying that further consolidation “will ensure there are fewer independent news outlets serving as a counter-balance to misleading or inaccurate information.”

Meredith Corp spokesman Art Slusark said on Thursday the vote “may open up the opportunity for more acquisition opportunities … We are always interested in adding quality properties to our broadcast portfolio.”

Under rules adopted in 1985, stations with weaker over-the-air signals could be partially counted against a broadcaster’s ownership cap. But last year, the FCC under Democratic President Barack Obama said those rules were outdated after the 2009 conversion to digital broadcasting, which eliminated the differences in station signal strength. It revoked the rule in September.

There is a dispute over whether the FCC has the authority to amend the 39 percent ownership limit.

The 2016 decision did not require any company to sell existing stations, but could bar acquisitions. Twenty-First Century Fox Inc in September challenged the FCC rule in court.

Reuters reported in March that Sinclair had approached Tribune to discuss a potential combination, which would hinge on regulations being relaxed.

Pai said the FCC previously effectively tightened ownership rules and then companies previously below the national cap suddenly exceeded it. He said the FCC “did not examine whether the facts justified a more stringent cap.”

Pai, who was named by U.S. President Donald Trump to head the FCC in January, said it will begin a comprehensive review of the national cap this year. That could launch a new wave of consolidation in the broadcast television industry.

Clyburn cited comments from CBS Corp Chairman and Chief Executive Leslie Moonves in February that Pai would be “very beneficial to our business.” Moonves said the company would like to acquire more stations if the cap is lifted.

(Reporting by David Shepardson; Editing by Jonathan Oatis and Dan Grebler)

Two N.J. public-television stations will collect more than $330 million to turn off their transmitters.

At a time when the Trump Administration is signaling its interest in eliminating the small amount of funding still available to public broadcasting in the United States, the recent FCC Spectrum Auction brought some public stations much-needed revenue to complete station or facility upgrades and help underwrite the cost of locally produced programming. But some TV station owners will pocket tens of millions of dollars from auction proceeds earned from a license that was supposed to include a commitment to serve in the public interest.

Current – News for People in Public Media has tracked the station changes that will come to public-television stations as a result of the spectrum auction. In most cases, the public-TV stations that sold their channel position will not disappear entirely. Many will “merge into other station’s spectrum” — which means in plain English they will share space with another local station.

It won’t be a total loss for public-television in most of these cities. Many are served by “repeater” stations that essentially rebroadcast programming from another nearby station. In larger cities, multiple public-TV stations are not uncommon and losing one might not have a big impact, especially if remaining stations pick up some of the programming that will go missing when the affected station signs off. But in some states, the loss of free over the air TV stations could exacerbate the growing problem of maintaining quality coverage of local news and events.

For cord-cutters, local free television remains an essential part of the kind of TV package consumers used to pay the cable or satellite company to receive. Local stations still deliver an important public service to the community through news and public affairs programming, but that responsibility is increasingly taking a back seat to profits.

The state of New Jersey is served by two media markets – one in New York City, the other Philadelphia, neither in New Jersey.

For some states, the challenge to deliver locally focused programming in areas dominated by media markets in adjacent states has been a problem for decades. No state has faced this challenge more than New Jersey, divided in half and served by two out-of-state media Designated Market Areas (DMAs). The northern half of New Jersey is part of the New York City TV market and the southern half is part of the Philadelphia DMA. As a result, local stories about events inside New Jersey can get lost in favor of stories centered on New York or Philadelphia, even more so during today’s era of media consolidation and cutbacks in newsroom budgets.

A Free Press project is trying to address that problem by encouraging New Jersey state officials to create a public trust fund from part of the hundreds of millions earned by the state’s stations from the spectrum auction to support community-driven projects, responsive local journalism, serious investigative reporting, civic technology and essential public media outlets. The campaign seeks to remind state and local officials that the airwaves still belong to the public, and the stations collecting large sums from the auction agreed to serve their communities in return for obtaining that license to broadcast. Simply putting auction proceeds into their pockets isn’t serving the public interest.

“It’s only right that money from the sale of the state’s 20th-century media outlets be used to create a new, forward-thinking media landscape for this century that focuses on local communities and is attuned to residents’ needs,” said Mike Rispoli, Free Press Action Fund journalism campaign director and director of the News Voices: New Jersey project. “When local stations go off the air, news coverage disappears. That means people are less informed, civic participation drops and political corruption increases. Spectrum revenues must be used to support those who rely on locally produced news and information to engage with their neighbors, learn about volunteer opportunities, make decisions about voting, run for public office, get information about small businesses and support their children in local schools.”

Just two New Jersey public-television stations WNJN and WNJT together collected more than $330 million in auction revenues — two of the largest individual payouts of any noncommercial stations. Now both stations plan to go off the air. Where exactly will that money be going?

The News Voices: New Jersey project wants some of it spent on making sure New Jersey residents have a New Jersey-focused news media, particularly in a state where political scandals have not been uncommon.

“Some ideas we’ve heard from journalists and community members on how to use these public proceeds include support for locally focused digital news startups; apps and tools to help people sift through public data and expedite Freedom of Information Act requests; robust community-engagement projects designed to lift up voices long ignored by newsrooms, in communities of color, immigrant communities, and other underserved areas; and media-literacy programs to identify and combat the spread of fake news and disinformation,” Rispoli said.

The group is asking interested members of the public to sign up for the project and help advocate for stronger newsrooms and communities. A similar effort is also getting underway in North Carolina.

As of today, here is an update on what is happening with the public-TV stations affected by the FCC Spectrum Auction.

As the wireless industry grabs a bigger chunk of the television dial, the remaining free over-the-air stations are going to be on the move starting next year. More than 900 American television stations will get new channel numbers after the move is complete, all to squeeze signals into the unchanged VHF and diminished UHF dial.

The folks at Rabbit Ears have a handy tool that will guide you through the changes, and they are enormous. Just use the drop-down box next to “Market” and find your city. Here at Stop the Cap! HQ, all but two stations in Rochester, N.Y., are getting new channel positions:

TV station reassignments as a result of the channel repack for Rochester, NY. The first two columns show the new vs. current actual channel number.

Most viewers won’t notice a big difference because the FCC is allowing stations to continue to market themselves with a virtual channel number than usually dates back to before the migration to digital TV broadcasting. But the channel changes can still be important for viewers using an antenna, especially if your local station(s) migrate into the VHF or UHF bands where they might not have been before. Two different antennas are sometimes required to get good reception from both bands. The traditional “rabbit ears” indoor telescoping antenna is usually designed for VHF reception, while small loop antennas work better for UHF. Various other antenna configurations can work for both bands, some better than others. Outdoor aerials can be designed to receive VHF, UHF or both. You may need an antenna upgrade if your antenna isn’t designed to receive the station(s) you want to see after they move.