Eight months after the Chief Accounting Officer at Sinclair Inc. informed an LMA partner that it has decided to execute a purchase option forged in November 2012, the FCC has given its stamp of approval to the long-anticipated deal. The Commission also said yes to the sale of stations to Sinclair from a cozy shared services partner, thwarting the efforts of DirecTV to block both transactions.
In a letter issued Tuesday (2/3) by David J. Brown, the Video Division Chief within the FCC’s Media Bureau, the FCC granted transfer of control applications that will give Sinclair ownership of KMTR-TV in Eugene-Springfield, Ore., with its sale from Roberts Media of Spokane.
The transaction pairs KMTR with KMCB-TV in Coos Bay, Ore.; and KTCW-TV in Roseburg, Ore., in addition to a trio of low-power TV translator stations. These three full-power TV stations are presently shared services agreement partners. And, KMTR joins KVAL-13 in Eugene, along with semi-satellite partners KCBY-11 in Coos Bay and KPIC-4 in Roseburg. But the bigger takeaway is that KMTR would become a sibling to KVAL-TV, the CBS affiliate in Eugene-Springfield.
The KMTR filing was made in mid-August, just five days before two concurrent transfers of control request that involve Cunningham Broadcasting — an independently owned television station company led by President/CEO Michael Anderson whose headquarters address matches that of Sinclair’s flagship property, WBFF-45 in Baltimore.
The Cunningham sales would see KCVU-TV in the Chico-Redding, Calif., DMA become a full sibling of KRCR-TV; in neighboring Eureka-Arcata, Calif., KBVU-TV would become a full-fledged sister of KAEF-TV, a semi-satellite of KRCR. At the same time, Cunningham’s WEMT-TV in Greeneville, Tenn., would become a sister of WCYB-TV in Bristol, Va. (serving the Johnson City-Kingsport DMA); as Cunningham-licensed WPFO-TV in Waterville, Me., would become a sibling of WGME-TV in Portland, Me.
Enter DirecTV, which stepped in on September 18, 2025, to put a stop to the station sales. As Sinclair sees it, the change in control of the stations complies with the FCC’s Local Television Ownership Rule. Thus, neither a “failing” station waiver nor a case-by-case market analysis remains necessary, Sinclair asserted, citing the game-changing July 2025 Eighth Circuit ruling that all-but killed the Commission’s “Top Four” rule.
That didn’t stop DirecTV from filing petitions to deny the transfer of control of the stations, “primarily on allegations of direct economic harm due to higher input prices that it will have to pay as a result of the transactions,” Brown explained.
DirecTV then continued to spread the narrative that, in its view, local television consolidation gives broadcasters more leverage to charge higher retransmission fees, which leads to higher bills for multichannel video programming distributor (MVPD) customers. And, DirecTV told the Commission that there is “little doubt” Sinclair “controls” KMTR and “influences” the Cunningham stations already.
For Brown, the transactions comply with FCC rules and DirecTV’s public interest argument falls fast. He also rejected DirecTV’s claims regarding Sinclair’s “substantial control” over KMTR, putting the wheels in motion on a forthcoming consummation date for the company led by Chris Ripley.
