Nearly one year ago, a plan to create a duopoly in Southern New England by acquiring the non-licensed assets of the station formerly branded as “ABC6,” in Providence, R.I., was put into motion by Sinclair Inc.
Now, with regulatory relief in place at the FCC, the company is moving ahead with converting shared services and joint sales agreements with the station’s licensee to outright ownership.
An option agreement forged between Sinclair Inc. and Todd Parkin‘s Rincon Broadcasting Group in September 2025 has been formally executed, and with the FCC’s OK would give the company led by Chris Ripley ownership of WLNE-6 in New Bedford, Mass.
WLNE is a Providence DMA station that was the market’s ABC home until December 1, 2025, when the intellectual property of the station — inclusive of ABC network programming and locally produced newscasts — moved to Sinclair-owned WJAR-10.2 in Providence.
This avoided Sinclair from having to deal with local ownership concerns that at the time remained on the books. Not today, as WJAR and WLNE are now poised to become full siblings.
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WLNE today is home to the Roar digital multicast network. Could “ABC6” return? While that is possible, Sinclair also owns WYCN-LD and WRIW-CD, low-power stations that serve as simulcast partners for “Telemundo Nueva Inglaterra” in the Providence market. As such WLNE could become a full-power home for the service.
WLNE has had a complex ownership history over the last 20 years. From 1983 until 2007, it was owned by Freedom Communications, the Irvine, Calif.-based operation known in that era as the owner of The Orange County Register. In March 2007, in a deal brokered by Kalil & Co., Freedom sold WLNE to Global Broadcasting LLC — a locally based operation headed by Kevin O’Brien and Robinson Ewert. Under Global, WLNE would endure the “Great Recession” and a severe downturn in the American economy due to a home mortgage crisis. By July 2010, the $14 million acquisition of WLNE became untenable, with declining ratings and revenue leading Global to turn the station over to a receiver — local attorney Matthew McGowan. This act was equivalent to a bankruptcy.
By February 2011, Citadel Communications — the licensee linked to iconic media industry figure and Broadcasting Foundation of America Chairman Emeritus Phil Lombardo — emerged as a “stalking horse” bidder for WLNE. Citadel snagged the station for a mere $4 million. Under Lombardo, WLNE would grow. And, when it came time to sell it in May 2019, Citadel cashed out with a big payout as Standard Media would agree to purchase WLNE and KLKN-8 in Lincoln, Neb., for $83 million.
By November 2025, with Standard Media’s planned merger with TEGNA aborted due to FCC regulatory concerns, Soo Kim-controlled and Deb McDermott-led Standard Media sold WLNE, KLKN and two stations in the Paducah, Ky.-Cape Girardeau, Mo., DMA to Rincon.
