The Howard Stirk Holdings-owned NBC affiliate serving Flint, Mich., that enjoys a shared services agreement with Sinclair Inc. can be transferred to the company led by President/CEO Chris Ripley.
At the same time, Sinclair has been given the OK by the Commission to acquire a shared services agreement partner in Traverse City, Mich., owned by Cunningham Broadcasting, and the Deerfield Media-owned ABC affiliate serving Rochester, N.Y.
It’s a defeat for DirecTV.
Video Bureau Chief David J. Brown told Sinclair that the Commission has granted its transfer of control requests, as the Media Bureau division “has not identified any issues or potential public interest harms that would require further consideration.”
In making his decision, Brown found that DirecTV “failed to provide any transaction-specific arguments that raise a substantial and material question of fact sufficient to show that grant of the applications would be prima facie inconsistent with the public interest.”
DirecTV’s fight focused primarily on the retransmission consent harms raised by the proposed combinations. Again, it fell on deaf ears, at Brown noted that the argument had already been established as “speculative” by the Commission.
Importantly, Brown determined that the applications “fully comply with the two-station limit” presently being enforced by the Commission. Thank you, Eighth Circuit, which invalidated the FCC’s “Top-Four Prohibition” policy.
With the Video Bureau’s decision, Sinclair is now on track to close on its $6 million purchase of ABC affiliate WHAM-13 in Rochester, N.Y. A joint sales agreement has been in place since December 2012, allowing Sinclair to handle advertising operational needs for WHAM, through its WUHF-TV in the market. At present, WHAM-13.2 is the home for The CW Network in Rochester. WHAM-TV’s past owners include iHeartMedia predecessor Clear Channel Media + Entertainment. Before that, WHAM-TV was owned by Ackerley, and prior to that Guy Gannett Communications (from 1995-1997).
At the same time, Sinclair can proceed with its purchase of simulcast partners WGTU-29 in Traverse City, Mich., and full-power satellite station WGTQ-8 in Sault Ste. Marie, Mich., from Cunningham; and WEYI-25 from HSH.
WGTU would join Sinclair’s WPBN-TV in Traverse City, and satellite station WTOM-TV in Cheboygan, Mich.; WEYI would be paired with Sinclair-owned WSMH-TV.
