The FCC, as promised, released its Hearing Designation Order (HDO) regarding the transfer of control of Tribune Media to Sinclair Broadcast Group via a $3.9 billion merger that involves several reworkings, divestitures, and spins to entities that have been called into question for their relationship to Sinclair’s key shareholders.
The 22-page order details how, among the applications filed with the Commission, three stick out like sore thumbs. These deals raise “significant questions as to whether those proposed divestitures were in fact ‘sham’ transactions,” the FCC writes.
