In early March, a former Bally Sports sales executive who between 2009 and 2013 served as CEO of television broadcast station owner PBC Broadcasting, agreed to a deal returning him to the ownership ranks. However, that transaction was challenged — not because of him, but because of the company that agreed to sell a group of properties to his Rincon Broadcasting.
Now, Todd Parkin has been given the FCC’s OK to complete the deal, after it rejected assertions lobbed against seller Sinclair Inc.
The $29.4 million transaction sees Parkin-led Rincon become the licensee of the following properties:
- WVTV-TV “CW18” in Milwaukee
- WICS-TV “ABC 20” in Springfield, Ill., and semi-satellite WICD-TV in Champaign-Urbana, Ill.
- KHQA-TV in Hannibal, Mo., which broadcasts on Channel 7 as a dual ABC and CBS affiliate serving Quincy, Ill.
- KTVO-TV in Ottumwa, Iowa, which also serves Kirksville, Mo., on Channel 3 as a dual ABC and CBS affiliate
On April 14, a Petition to Deny the transfer of control of the stations to Rincon was filed by Frequency Forward, a recently formed organization which describes itself as a “public interest watchdog and advocacy group.” In the petition, FF asserts that the Commission should deny the transfer of control because Sinclair lacks the requisite character to hold Commission licenses. How so? FF took aim at “sidecar” Sinclair has set up to evade the Commission’s ownership limitations in certain markets.
Sinclair responded, noting that FF’s petition is “devoid of any facts or allegations relating to the transaction at issue or the stations being assigned.” Furthermore, the broadcast media company that owns Dielectric and is championing the transition to ATSC 3.0 digital broadcast technology in the U.S. says FF’s petition is simply the latest in a series of “repetitive and baseless” pleadings filed by its counsel on behalf of various “pretextual” clients for the “apparent purpose of harassing Sinclair and imposing delay.”
In reaching its ultimate decision, the FCC found that Frequency Forward has standing in one market: Milwaukee. That is based on a single declaration from FF member Randall Bruce, a regular WVTV viewer. In all of the other markets, the petition was considered as an informal objection.
The FCC then determined that the majority of the arguments presented by FF were reiterations of previous assertions that the Commission addressed, and dismissed.
With the ultimate decision to allow Rincon to proceed with the deal, another “Top Four” rule prohibition waiver was granted by the FCC — a clear sign that the Carr Commission is ready to “delete, delete, delete” the regulation soon. “The record demonstrates that permitting Rincon to acquire KHQA-TV with its existing top-four ranked network affiliations intact makes it more likely that Rincon would continue the service that Sinclair currently provides in the Quincy-Hannibal-Keokuk DMA, which would serve the public interest,” FCC Acting Media Bureau Chief Erin Boone concluded.
Additionally, the FCC granted a waiver to permit WICD-TV in Champaign, Ill., to continue operating as a satellite of WICS-TV in Springfield, Ill.
