Sinclair Scores Millions From Spectrum Auction

0

SBG / Sinclair Broadcast GroupOf the four broadcast television companies to have publicly revealed their take from the FCC’s Reverse Auction, Sinclair Broadcast Group expects to receive the second-highest proceeds of the quartet.


The company announced Thursday that it will pocket an estimated $313 million of gross proceeds from the National Broadband Plan Spectrum Auction.

And, as was stated by the other three companies, the results of the auction are not expected to produce any material change in operations or results for the Company.  The proceeds are expected to be received later this year.

Sinclair’s auction proceeds are second only to Fox Television Stations, which anticipates receiving approximately $350 million.

Tribune Media anticipates the receipt of approximately $190 million in pre-tax proceeds resulting from the spectrum auction.
Gray Television on Tuesday said it would pocket some $90,824,000 in proceeds from the Reverse Auction.

katu The news from Sinclair came after the company late Tuesday night announced that after a five week-long blackout on Frontier Communications’ channel lineup, ABC affiliates KATU-2 in Portland, Ore., and KOMO-4 in Seattle have returned.

It ends a bitter dispute between Sinclair and Frontier over retransmission fees that also saw the removal of Sinclair’s The Tennis Channel during the five-week stalemate.

“We want to thank our customers for their patience and support as we worked to negotiate a fair extension,” Frontier spokesman Javier Mendoza said in a written statement provided to The Oregonian. “Frontier is pleased to again deliver these important local stations for our customer’s viewing enjoyment.”

To keep subscribers and thank them for their patience, Frontier gave Portland-area subscribers three free months of HBO, Showtime and Starz.

While Frontier does not service customers in the city of Portland, it is a player in Vancouver, Wash., and in eastern Multnomah County, with roughly 20,000 subscribers on the Oregon side of the Columbia River.