HUNT VALLEY, MD.—Sinclair has made a strategic investment in IRCODE, a company specializing in computer vision and AI aimed at making television interactive and shoppable.

Sinclair will also roll out IRCODE-powered interactive television through IRCODE Lens at its Salt Lake City and Austin, Texas, stations in July. Stations in other markets will follow throughout the year.

“Television has always delivered the audience. What it could not deliver was the proof of what happened next. IRCODE changes that,” said IRCODE CEO Matty Beckerman. “We give broadcasters and their advertisers the infrastructure to make every moment on screen interactive, measurable and connected to a real outcome. At Sinclair's scale, this is a new foundation for how television drives business results and how viewers connect with what they watch.”

IRCODE Lens is a 24/7 real-time interactive channel that lets viewers engage directly with what they see on screen to buy, win, connect and explore. The interactive TV solution is a white-label engagement and attribution layer that turns any piece of content or advertising into a measurable consumer touchpoint. IRCODE Lens runs entirely inside the broadcaster's existing apps, so every engagement and conversion stays first-party and owned by the station and advertiser.

The rollout will allow the stations to make interactive television a native capability inside their own platforms, giving brands and audiences a direct path to the products and experiences on screen.

IRCODE's real-time image recognition works like Shazam for images. It identifies what is on screen instantly without QR codes and connects the viewer to relevant content and commerce in the moment. The same technology is used today in 52 countries to recognize broadcast and on-screen content in real time at frame-level accuracy. The technology is format agnostic and built to create a frictionless customer journey from ads to premium content live sports and news.

To use IRCODE Lens, viewers in Salt Lake City or Austin will open their Sinclair station app, point their phone at the TV screen and move directly from what they are watching to the product or experience behind it. Because the interaction happens inside the station’s own app, the audience is identified and opted in, and every step of the journey from first scan to conversion is captured as first-party data.

For brands, interactive television closes the distance between awareness and action. An advertiser running a spot in Salt Lake City or Austin will be able to measure who engaged, what they did next and whether it led to a purchase with the same precision expected from a digital campaign. Engagement, conversion and return on investment become visible at the campaign level, and the data that proves it stays first-party to the ecosystem.

“Using their cell phone cameras and our app, viewers can participate in real time polls, comment on local news and interact with our advertisers. IRCODE is a powerful technology that provides an easy-to-use interactive experience that adds enormous value to our content. Now, we can plan on integrating user experience into our traditional over the air broadcasts,” said Del Parks, president of technology at Sinclair.

More information is available on the IRCODE and Sinclair websites.

HUNT VALLEY, Md.—Sinclair’s One Media Technologies has announced that it will host its annual ATSC 3.0 NextGen TV Interoperability Event from June 23-26, 2026, at its headquarters in Hunt Valley, Maryland.

The in-person event will bring together receiver manufacturers, technology partners, broadcasters, and industry stakeholders to test and validate interoperability across a broad range of NextGen TV services and applications.

During the event, participants will have access to live over-the-air ATSC 3.0 broadcasts in the Baltimore market, as well as a comprehensive suite of interoperability and performance testing scenarios designed to support continued advancement of the NextGen TV ecosystem.

“The continued success of NextGen TV relies on interoperability across devices, networks, and services,” said Mark Aitken, senior vice president of advanced technology at Sinclair Broadcast Group and President of One Media Technologies. “Our annual event provides an important opportunity for industry participants to collaborate, validate implementations, and accelerate innovation across the ATSC 3.0 ecosystem.”

During this year’s event areas of focus will include:

• Broadcaster Application interoperability, including Run3 TV Framework testing and Advanced Emergency Information (AEI) functionality
• Digital Rights Management (DRM) and signal signing validation across DASH and MMT environments
• Signaling enhancements, including new service categories, broadband signaling servers, dynamic service changes, and RSAT implementation
• Hybrid broadcast and broadband service delivery
• Physical layer performance, including dynamic ModCod changes, Layered Division Multiplexing (LDM), and Broadcast Positioning System (BPS) testing
• Dynamic Ad Insertion (DAI) implementation and A/344 API testing
• MIMO backward-compatible configurations
• App-based services including ROXi and GameLoop
• Testing of the Broadcast-Enabled Streaming TV (BEST) channel and live Baltimore ATSC 3.0 OTA signals

More information is available at www.onemedia.tech.

BALTIMORE and CHICAGO—Sinclair is working with Feeding America to launch “Sinclair Cares: Summer Hunger Relief,” an awareness and fundraising campaign to help provide meals to children and their families across the U.S. this summer.

The initiative aims to address the fact that while more than 21 million children eat free school meals during the year, food banks need to step in to help get nutritious food to children and families during the summer months when school is out of session and school meals are no longer available.

Through financial contributions, viewers can help provide access to meals to children and families in their local community. Campaign donations will directly support the local Feeding America food bank, based on the ZIP code on the donor’s credit card.

Through Feeding America, every $1 donated helps provide at least 10 meals secured by Feeding America on behalf of local partner food banks, Sinclair reported.

In partnership with Feeding America, Sinclair will produce content to air throughout the campaign, and Sinclair will also produce a 30-minute special which will spotlight ways to help children stay nourished and healthy throughout the summer, featuring interviews with Feeding America partner network members across the country.

The special, hosted by The National News Desk anchor Angela Brown, will air on Sinclair’s television stations June 27 & 28, and the stations will stream an extended version of the special on their respective websites on June 26.

“Sinclair Cares: Summer Hunger Relief” will also be supported through public service campaigns across the company’s owned and/or operated television stations as well as diginets Comet TV, CHARGE, The Nest and Roar.

The campaign, which began June 10, is supported by a $25,000 donation from Sinclair.

The stations will also host a planned day of giving on June 25.

“With one in five kids facing hunger in America, this initiative is crucial in addressing the food insecurity that many children face during the summer months when school is not in session,” said Rob Weisbord, chief operating officer and president of local media for Sinclair. “At Sinclair, our mission is rooted in Enriching Local Lives, and caring for people in need is one of our core principles. Through our partnership with Feeding America and the reach of our local stations, we are able to raise awareness, inspire action, and help provide meals to children and families in the communities we serve. We are proud to once again support this important effort and encourage viewers to join us in making a meaningful impact this summer.”

Said Feeding America President and Chief Operating Officer Linda Nageotte: “Together with Sinclair and its generous viewers, we can help kids get consistent access to summer meals—and summer fun. Every donation strengthens the support kids and their families can count on, keeping them fed and free during the summer.”

Click here to donate to the Sinclair Cares: Summer Hunger Relief campaign or learn how to volunteer at a local Feeding America food bank.

HUNT VALLEY, Md.—Sinclair has launched a comprehensive local marketing and consumer education campaign in Columbus, Ohio, that aims to increase awareness and adoption of NextGen TV, the next-generation broadcast standard powered by ATSC 3.0.

The campaign combines a localized microsite, consumer giveaways, on-air promotion and digital engagement to educate consumers on the benefits of NextGen TV and how to access it.

“NextGen TV is the most significant upgrade to broadcast television in decades, delivering a superior viewing experience with enhanced picture quality, immersive audio, and interactive capabilities,” said Del Parks, president of technology at Sinclair. “With this campaign, we are focused on simplifying the path to adoption, providing consumers with clear, practical information and showing them firsthand how to access and experience what’s next in television. Columbus was selected as an ideal market given its strong sports engagement, evolving viewing behaviors, and Sinclair’s local station footprint.”

At the center of the campaign is a dedicated, Columbus-specific NextGen TV microsite that serves as a consumer resource hub. The microsite is designed to remove complexity and provide a clear, accessible pathway for consumers to begin using NextGen TV and includes:

• ZIP code-based availability tools.
• Equipment compatibility guidance.
• Step-by-step setup instructions.
• Recommendations for TVs, antennas and converter devices.

The campaign will also include limited-time incentives to encourage adoption, including converter box and antenna contest giveaways via Channel Master. The campaign will run through July 3.

HUNT VALLEY, Md.—In another example of how broadcasters are embracing video podcasting, Sinclair’s AMP Sports will launch"Style of Play", a new weekly women’s soccer podcast hosted by Julie Ertz and Kealia Watt. The series will kick off on June 2, across all major podcast platforms, with full video episodes available on YouTube.

[Editor’s note: Learn more about podcasting and why many media outlets are embracing the trend towards video podcasting in our new ebook, ‘Eye-Catching Audio'.]

Ertz, a two-time Women’s World Cup champion and one of the most decorated players in U.S. soccer history, and Watt, a NCAA Division I national champion, will bring expert analysis, personal storytelling, and behind-the-scenes insight, Sinclair said. Each episode will explore the latest women’s soccer headlines, key moments shaping the sport and feature conversations with athletes, coaches and influential voices from across the global soccer landscape.

“The growth of women’s soccer is undeniable, and ‘Style of Play’ gives us an opportunity to connect fans with the voices and perspectives of athletes who have competed at the very highest level,” Rob Weisbord, Sinclair chief operating officer and president of local media, said. “We’re especially pleased to launch the show during the World Cup, at a time when global interest in the sport is growing. Fans will have the opportunity to hear unique insights and commentary from two of the top former U.S. Women’s National Team players, Julie and Kealia, whose credibility, authenticity and deep understanding of the game make this podcast a natural extension of how we’re continuing to expand our sports content and engage audiences across platforms.”

Sponsors for “Style of Play” include Coors Light, Airbnb and ZipRecruiter.

Style of Play expands AMP Sports’ growing portfolio of original programming, including “The Triple Option,” “Unfiltered Soccer,” “Post Moves,” “Throwbacks” and “Cousins.”

WASHINGTON—The American Television Alliance (ATVA) has submitted a letter to the Federal Communications Commission (arguing that broadcasters are using loopholes to evade meaningful agency review of broadcast transactions.

ATVA is backed by pay TV providers and associations.

In the filing, ATVA said that under the 1996 Telecom Act, the FCC is required to review transactions involving television stations to ensure they serve the public interest.

ATVA also noted that the commission must evaluate potential harms to consumers and local communities, including higher prices, reduced competition and diminished local news coverage when a broadcast station group owner tries to combine two or more major national broadcast network affiliations within a single market.

Increasingly, however, ATVA noted that broadcasters are exploiting loopholes to sidestep reviews.

ATVA’s filing contends, for example, that Sinclair is using “affiliation swaps” loopholes to avoid reviews.

Rather than directly acquiring a competing station with a major network affiliation, ATVA cited examples of where Sinclair first acquired that station’s network programming rights—such as ABC content—a transaction that does not trigger the review process.

It can then place that programming on a secondary digital “multicast” channel of a station it already owns, temporarily carrying, for example, both CBS and ABC programming under a single broadcast license.

Then, ATVA argued, Sinclair submitted an application to acquire the now stripped-down station itself. Because the second station no longer carries a “Big Four” network at the time of the sale, the resulting transaction appears less significant on paper and often receives only a cursory review. After the deal is approved, Sinclair can then shift the ABC programming back to the newly acquired station, the ATVA contended.

“Sinclair’s recently approved transactions demonstrate how broadcasters use affiliation swaps or changes to consolidate within local markets while avoiding Commission review or public comment,” the letter said. “The Commission should put an end to these practices. It should modify its rules in order to ensure proper oversight over such transactions, and to limit the increasingly widespread consolidation in the television marketplace.”

ATVA also stressed that Sinclair CEO Chris Ripley told Wall Street analysts during an April 30 first-quarter earnings call that duopolies, or “double-ups,” are core to Sinclair’s strategy due to their inherent operating efficiencies.

ATVA made the filing as part of the quadrennial regulatory review.

Sinclair remains bullish about the prospects for consolidation and M&A in the broadcast TV station market, CEO Chris Ripley told analysts on the station group’s first-quarter earnings call.

Ripley said the Federal Communications Commission and Justice Department’s recent approval of the $6.2 billion Nexstar Media Group-Tegna merger “will be tremendously helpful to the industry going forward and pursuing a much-needed consolidation.”

Ripley also pushed back against attempts by attorneys general in 13 states to block the Nexstar-Tegna deal on antitrust grounds, calling the lawsuit “very flimsy.”

“We have seen an approval of that transaction [Nexstar-Tegna] from both the FCC and the DOJ with no conditions and no divestitures required from the DOJ,” Ripley said. “So that is a huge change in the way the DOJ has historically looked at our market, which was defined as just competition amongst local broadcasters. And they have finally come up to date with the realities of the current marketplace, which is that we compete across many different mediums, including cable and connected TVs. So that's a huge win and it's been a long time in coming, and it will be tremendously helpful to the industry going forward and pursuing a much-needed consolidation.”

Ripley also said he expects that the FCC will also eliminate ownership caps on station groups. “I do think that will happen,” he said. “Of course, that’s up to the FCC. And certainly, as an industry, we have been lobbying for that. So it is something that I do expect will happen in the future. so that you don't have to rely on waivers.”

The rule changes, he said, mean that “we're going to head towards a marketplace where you've got two large groups that the industry consolidates up to, which still will be relatively small in the TMT [technology media and telecommunications] landscape, but will be much better competitors within that broader landscape as they improve on efficiencies and gain more access to better talent and open up business opportunities. So that's very exciting.”

He also pushed back against attempts by some AGs to block the deal. “We do think that the case brought against that deal is very flimsy in terms of the merits,” he said.

Ripley noted that seeing some of the objections raised by the AGs would help them in the future: “And we believe that now that we've seen the playbook, any future transactions, we can significantly mitigate a similar playbook in future transactions. And I think just there's a lot of unique features in the Nexstar-Tegna deal, like it was essentially a No. 1 and No. 2 coming together, which certainly wouldn't be what you would expect mathematically can happen in the next combination. And there was a bunch of optics around the deal, which didn't look great, which we're very unique to this situation.”

“We, of course…would rather Nexstar just proceed forward on a clean basis, but we have a lot of faith that they'll play through this,” he continued. “And we do think future large transactions will learn a lot from this process and be able to significantly mitigate the risk.”

In terms of Sinclair’s ongoing pursuit of a merger with Scripps, Ripley said: “As it relates to Scripps, the industrial logic is still there. Our position on the deal is still the same. As I mentioned in my remarks, we would be happy to pick up discussions again around such a transaction, but we are not standing still. We are looking at multiple other opportunities to achieve similar levels of benefits and synergies. So [we] will keep moving. And if something were to materialize with Scripps, great. But if not, we're moving forward.”

HUNT VALLEY, Md.—Sinclair has announced that Jeffrey Lewis, its chief compliance officer, will retire from the company effective May 4, 2026.

Since joining Sinclair in 2021, Lewis has overseen the Company's compliance programs and regulatory strategy, overseeing key regulatory areas including FCC, antitrust, privacy and corporate conduct.

David Gibber, executive vice president and chief legal officer of Sinclair, Inc., will assume the additional role of Chief Compliance Officer.

During his tenure, Lewis led comprehensive risk assessment efforts, using modern processes to identify and manage risk, and ensuring alignment between regulatory requirements and Sinclair's broader operational and growth objectives. He also took a leading role in helping Sinclair navigate its way through various consent decrees and regulatory investigations.

“Jeff has been an invaluable leader and trusted advisor, helping guide Sinclair through an evolving regulatory landscape with integrity, clarity and professionalism,” said Chris Ripley, president and CEO. “He has brought a thoughtful, forward-looking approach to compliance, ensuring we stay ahead of an increasingly complex regulatory environment while enabling the business to operate and grow with confidence. We are grateful for his many contributions and wish him all the best in his retirement.”

“It has been my honor to have served over the past several years as Sinclair’s first-ever officer dedicated exclusively to compliance,” Lewis said. “Every day, I have seen examples of our employees operating at the highest levels of ethics and integrity. Together, we have developed a compliance program that is second to none in our industry.”

WASHINGTON—The Federal Communications Commission’s Media Bureau has sent a letter to Sinclair reporting that the regulator has granted the assignment of the license of television station WSWB (TV), in Scranton, Pa. from MPS Media of Scranton License, to WQMY Licensee,, a wholly owned indirect subsidiary of Sinclair, Inc.

In 2013, Sinclair agreed to purchase nine TV stations from New Age Media, including WSWB. To comply with ownership rules it sold some of the stations but continued to manage them. Then in February of 2026, as the FCC became more open to giving ownership waivers, Sinclair decided to purchase the station and seek an ownership waiver with the FCC.

In granting the transfer, the FCC agreed to waive ownership rules to allow Sinclair to own three television stations in the Wilkes Barre-Scranton-Hazleton, Pa. Designated Market Area (DMA).

In asking for the waiver, Sinclair contended that common ownership will preserve the “Stations’ ability to compete and provide high-quality local news” by enabling them to “leverage operational efficiencies,” which will, in turn, advance the public interest.

Sinclair also argued that given the other “higher performing stations in the market” and the fact that “at least four independent local broadcast news operations would remain” following the transaction, the proposed combination would not give Sinclair an “outsized competitive advantage (in viewership or revenues), and instead is critical to improving the Stations’ ability to compete more effectively.”

Sinclair also noted that it would be “highly unlikely to find an out-of-market buyer willing to buy WSWB and operate it as a standalone station, as the station would require significant investment that a new owner would be unlikely to reclaim.”

In its ruling, the FCC noted that the station had “diminished prospects of revenue” that “are compounded by the fact that WSWB is a CW affiliated station, ranked next to last in the Wilkes Barre-Scranton-Hazleton, PA DMA. Moreover, we cannot assume that any such buyer would be in a position to produce new local news on WSWB or otherwise expand programming options across the Stations, which Sinclair maintains it can do solely by virtue of its proposed common ownership. The public interest would not be served by further diminishing WSWB as an independently-operated station or, in the event a buyer could not be found, letting it go dark.”

The FCC also found that “common ownership of the Stations would not harm competition in the Wilkes Barre-Scranton-Hazleton, Pa. DMA, but bolster it, by strengthening WSWB’s operations and expanding its `news, sports, and other local program offerings.’ In addition, Sinclair plans to invest the combined Stations’ revenues toward `possibly acquiring more desirable syndicated programming which will lead to more viewership and higher advertising revenues.’”

“Thus, we find that strict compliance with the Local Television Ownership Rule would be inconsistent with the purpose of that rule—promoting competition among broadcast television stations—and, therefore, inconsistent with the public interest,” the FCC concluded.

The full ruling is available here.

BRIDGEVILL, Pa.—Sinclair Broadcasting station WTOV has transformed their studio into a digitally enhanced broadcast center that delivers live news programming through a variety of electronic and color-changing backgrounds.

Sinclair’s Eric Castagne, assistant director of television production at Sinclair, took the lead designing the electronic sets, with support from director of television production, Mark Nadeau.

Castagne, along with Nadeau, created three distinct sets, including a dedicated green screen area. Two studio walls with interactive LED backgrounds sit behind the news anchors, positioned at a 90-degree angle from each other. A new main anchor desk; an interview set; and a chroma key/sports broadcast area round out the improvements. The LED walls are lit for full walk-and-talk ability, enhancing their high-end, immersive look.

With the upgrade, WTOV is now lit with a combination of new Brightline LED fixtures and LED upgrades to its original SeriesONE fluorescent fixtures, complemented by highlights from Brightline Pup fresnels, mounted throughout the studio. The result creates an exciting canvas of future programming opportunities for WTOV.

WTOV serves the Wheeling, West Virginia and Steubenville, Ohio market as an affiliate of NBC and Fox.

The WTOV equipment list for the sets includes:

• LED Retrofit kit for Brightline S1.2 & S1.4 fluorescent fixtures (24x)
• Minnow 55W LED Profile Spotlight (10x)
• Lupo DayLED 650 60W Fresnel (3x)
• Lupo DayLED 1000 110W Fresnel (11x)
• Pup 55W Fresnel (10x)
• ETC ColorSource lighting control console (1x)

HUNT VALLEY, Md.—Sinclair, Inc. and its subsidiary, ONE Media Technologies have announced that their executives and engineers will be participating in demonstrations, multiple panel discussions, and technical paper presentations relating to NextGen TV/ATSC 3.0, BPS and other topics during the 2026 NAB Show between April 18-22 show in Las Vegas.

In addition, Harvey Arnold, Sinclair’s senior vice president of engineering, will be honored with the 2026 Television Engineering Achievement Award from the NAB during the We Are Broadcasters awards ceremony on April 21.

“Sinclair is focused on advancing the future of broadcast through innovation and collaboration. At this year’s NAB Show, we look forward to demonstrating the continued evolution of ATSC 3.0 and the transformative opportunities it creates for broadcasters, consumers, the broader media ecosystem, as well as the national interest with the Broadcast Positioning System,” said Chris Ripley, president and CEO, Sinclair.

Sinclair and ONE Media will participate in ATSC’s booth in the Central Hall #C1655 of the Las Vegas Convention Center, demonstrating the next evolution of broadcast delivery, “Broadcast Once. Deliver Everywhere”: a single ATSC 3.0 transmission reaching every screen, TV, tablet, and mobile device.

The Sinclair/ONE Media leadership team will also participate in the following NAB panels and presentations (all times PT):

• Saturday, April 18, 3:30-4:40pm. Broadcast Positioning System (BPS): Deployment Progress, Industry Collaboration and the Path Beyond GNSS. Harvey Arnold, Senior Vice President-Engineering. N261
• Saturday, April 18, 3:30-4:40pm. Broadcast Positioning System: Experts Gather to Discuss Current State. Harvey Arnold, Senior Vice President-Engineering. N261
• Saturday, 3:40-4:15pm. Devoncroft Executive Summit: Agentic AI in Media: Business Case and Structural Impact. Mike Kralec, Senior Vice President and Chief Technology Officer. Main Stage
• Sunday, April 19, 4:00-5:00pm. American Bar Association: Representing Your Local Broadcaster – Video Distribution in 2026 and Beyond. David Gibber, Executive Vice President and Chief Legal Officer. Wynn Lower Event Space
• Monday, April 20 2:00-2:45pm. DigiCAP Introduces AlOps for ATSC 3.0. James Willis, NextGen Deployment Manager, ONE Media Technologies. N249
• Monday, April 20, 3:20-3:40pm. Broadcast Positioning System (BPS) as a Complementary Time Source to GPS for Datacenters. Harvey Arnold, Senior Vice President-Engineering. N256
• Monday, April 20, 3:45-4:15pm. Programming Everywhere: LTN and Tennis Channel on Navigating the IP Transition and Driving Reach and Revenue. Del Parks, President of Technology and Paul Spinelli, Assistant Vice President of Corporate Engineering. W213-W214
• Monday, April 20, 4:00-5:00pm. NextGen TV Tech in Motion: Inside Two Live ATSC 3.0 Lab Prototypes. Jason Kim, Senior Systems Engineer, ONE Media Technologies and So Vang, Vice President, Emerging Technologies, ONE Media Technologies. C2450
• Tuesday, April 21, 11:15-12pm. America 250: Owning the Moment — How Radio and TV Will Drive Community, Culture and Revenue in 2026. Ryan Moore, Senior Vice President and Chief Revenue Officer. N259

As part of the Broadcast Engineering and IT (BEIT) Conference track of NAB, Sinclair/ONE Media will present several technical papers:

• ATSC3 B2X: A Way Towards O-RAN Compliance for Broadcasting. Sangsu Kim, Senior Director, ONE Media, (co-author, presentation by Radisys and Freestream). Saturday, April 18 | 11:40am – noon | N256.
• Broadcast Positioning System Deployment in a Single Frequency Network. Nick Hottinger, Senior Systems Engineer and Liam Power (Edgebeam). Sunday, April 19 | 4 – 4:20pm | N256.
• Only SFNs Deliver ATSC 3.0 Everywhere: Turning Broadcast Theory into Nationwide Reality. Louis Libin, VP, Spectrum Strategy and Engineering, ONE Media. Monday, April 20 | 9:30 – 9:50am | N256.
• ATSC 3.0 – B2X Interworking With 5G Core for End-to-End Broadcast Integration. Sangsu Kim, Senior Director, ONE Media, Mike Simon, Director Advanced Technology, ONE Media Technologies; and Rashmi Kamran, Freestream. Monday, April 20 | 10:10 – 10:30am | N256.
• Standardized but Sleeping: Awakening a Forgotten Feature – Wake Up Bits. Jason Kim, Senior Systems Engineer, ONE Media. Monday, April 20 | 11:40am – noon | N256.

WASHINGTON—In response to the Federal Communications Commission’s request for comments on how the sports rights landscape and access to free televised sports might be improved, Sinclair has filed comments highlighting the importance of free access to major sporting events as a way to keep the country unified and detailed some policies that the agency could adopt if it wants to preserve sports on broadcast TV.

“Sports programming carried on broadcast television plays a vital role in fostering civic pride, cultural cohesion, and community engagement at both the local and national levels,” Sinclair’s filing said. “In a large country, a common culture is critical for social cohesion. Sports remain one of the last remaining `monoculture' touchstones that can serve as a common reference point between strangers – the topic that the newest entry-level hire can comfortably discuss with the CEO.”

The filing argued, however, that the traditional media models that allowed broadcasters to air major sporting events are under threat by “the ongoing migration of sports content to subscription-based streaming platforms…This migration is fragmenting access, increasing consumer costs, and undermining longstanding public-interest benefits associated with broadcasting”

The breakdown of this model is also harming local journalism because “live sports programming is a critical component of the broadcast ecosystem, as major sporting events continue to drive the largest audiences and play an essential role in sustaining the economic viability of local broadcast stations. Sports programming is also critical to the financial model that supports local broadcast journalism. Without high-value live sports on broadcast television, local broadcast journalism will suffer.”

More specifically Sinclair noted that “in 2025, 96 of the 100 most-watched U.S. telecasts were sports events, and 92 of those telecasts were NFL or college football games. In an increasingly fragmented media environment, sports continue to dominate the most-watched programs of the year on television. Events such as the Super Bowl, NFL playoff games, the Olympics, the NCAA basketball tournaments, and the World Series regularly attract millions of viewers. These large audiences are in turn critical for advertising dollars for the industry. Advertisers spent approximately $17.7 billion on national linear television sports programming, and NFL games alone generate $6-7 billion in annual advertising revenue across the major broadcast networks. During the 2024-2025 season, NFL games accounted for more than 23 percent of all ad impressions across the big-four networks.”

The shift of media rights to streaming, not only threatens the financial future of broadcasting, it also is creating major problems for viewers and fans. “One survey shows that 87 percent of sports fans find it at least somewhat frustrating to figure out where to watch the games they want to see, and almost 25 percent feel very frustrated,” Sinclair said. “Nearly two-thirds of sports fans say it’s a “hassle” to use multiple services to watch games during a season, and half say that it has become harder to find the games they want to watch compared to a year ago. This fragmentation has consequences for viewers. Almost two-thirds of fans say having games on different platforms makes it more difficult to check on other games being shown at the same time.”

In addition, Sinclair stressed that “professional sports leagues operate within a longstanding public-private compact that includes both substantial taxpayer support and unique regulatory advantages.”

In addition to antitrust exemptions that allow the leagues to negotiate media rights for all the teams, Sinclair noted that “state and local governments have committed tens of billions of dollars, estimated at approximately $30–35 billion, to the construction and financing of major league sports facilities in the United States. The median public contribution to sports venue construction costs between 1970 and 2020 was 73 percent of total construction costs. Public subsidies for professional sports facilities also frequently take the form of property tax abatements and preferential tax treatment, further increasing the public cost of stadium developments. In many jurisdictions, stadiums are either fully exempt from local property taxes or subject to long-term abatements that significantly reduce teams’ tax liabilities. At the federal level, additional subsidies arise through the use of tax-exempt municipal bonds, which have cost the U.S. Treasury billions in foregone revenue. Economic research find that these public investments rarely generate meaningful economic returns in terms of job creation or local growth. Economic research is unequivocal: These subsidies are a boondoggle for taxpayers.”

To address those issues and to strengthen the ability of broadcasters to acquire high-profile sports rights, Sinclair repeated longstanding industry arguments that ending station ownership caps would create larger and more financially powerful station groups. “Modernizing the Commission’s ownership rules would enable broadcasters to achieve the scale necessary to better compete for sports rights,” Sinclair argued.

In addition, the FCC should take steps to speed the transition to NextGen TV/ATSC 3.0.

“NextGen TV will enable broadcasters to offer improved picture quality, enhanced audio, and interactive features that will make broadcast a more attractive and competitive distribution platform for major sports leagues,” Sinclair argued. “NextGen TV also, for the first time, allows broadcasters the ability to offer content protection to rights holders – something literally every other player in the video ecosystem can already do.”

The full filing is available here.

WASHINGTON—The National Association of Broadcasters (NAB) has announced that broadcast engineers and executives Bert Goldman and Harvey Arnold are the 2026 recipients of NAB’s Engineering Achievement Awards. They will be honored at the We Are Broadcasters Awards Ceremony, held on the Main Stage of the 2026 NAB Show on Tuesday, April 21 in Las Vegas. 

Each year since 1959, NAB has presented the Engineering Achievement Awards to individuals for their outstanding accomplishments in the broadcast industry, with separate honors for radio and television established in 1991.

Bert Goldman, owner and president of Goldman Engineering Management, will receive the 2026 Radio Engineering Achievement Award in recognition of more than 50 years of leadership and innovation in broadcast engineering.

A nationally respected expert in AM and FM spectrum analysis, Goldman has helped broadcasters improve performance, expand coverage and enhance asset value. His work spans station construction, technical operations and regulatory compliance, and he is widely regarded for his deep expertise in FCC rules, FM booster and translator engineering and directional AM antenna system design.

He previously served as corporate vice president of Engineering for ABC/Disney Radio Division, Nationwide Communications, Patterson Broadcasting and Shamrock Broadcasting. Over his career, he has overseen upgrades in most of the top 25 U.S. markets and managed the design and construction of more than 50 radio stations.

A member of the IEEE Broadcast Technology Society, the Association of Federal Communications Consulting Engineers (AFCCE) and the Society of Broadcast Engineers (SBE), Goldman has also been active with the NAB National Radio Systems Committee and the NAB Radio Technical Committee.

Harvey Arnold, senior vice president of engineering for Sinclair Broadcast Group, will receive the 2026 Television Engineering Achievement Award for his leadership and long-standing contributions to advancing broadcast technology.

Since joining Sinclair in 1998, Arnold has led transmission engineering operations across the company’s television stations, with a strong focus in recent years on accelerating the industry’s transition to ATSC 3.0. He is also working with NAB and industry partners to develop and implement the Broadcast Positioning System (BPS), coordinating field testing at Sinclair ATSC 3.0 stations and promoting awareness of the technology’s potential.

Prior to Sinclair, Arnold spent 17 years with North Carolina Public Television, managing and expanding engineering and transmission operations for one of the nation’s largest statewide public television networks. He also participated in activities of the FCC Advisory Committee for Advanced Television Service (ACATS), helping test the ATSC DTV standard in the field and guide the rollout of digital television in the United States

Arnold is a SMPTE Fellow and member of the SMPTE Board of Editors. A former chairman of the NAB TV Technology Committee, he remains active in ATSC, SMPTE, SBE and AFCCE. He is also a recipient of the Broadcasting & Cable Technical Leadership Award.

Learn more about the 2026 NAB Show at NABShow.com.

FRESNO, Calif.—Sinclair has appointed Katherine Dougherty as vice president and general manager KMPH/FOX and KFRE/ CW in Fresno.

Dougherty returns to Sinclair from KOIN 6 and Portland CW in Portland, Oregon where she served as Integrated Sales Manager.

Previously, Dougherty was Station Manager for Sinclair’s NBC16/KMTR in Eugene, Oregon. She has also held digital sales leadership roles at KMTR and KVAL/CBS. Throughout her career, Dougherty has consistently exceeded revenue goals while building high-performing teams and long-term client partnerships.

“Kathie is a proven leader with a strong track record of driving revenue growth, operational excellence, and community engagement,” said Rob Weisbord, COO and President, Local Media. “Her strategic mindset, and collaborative leadership style make her the ideal choice to lead our Fresno operations, and we’re thrilled she is returning to Sinclair.”

“I am truly honored to return to Sinclair, a company that has always felt like home to me. I’ve long admired the strength of its leadership and the culture of innovation and local commitment it represents,” said Dougherty. “I’m inspired by the team in Fresno and excited to get started, build strong partnerships, and support continued growth across the Central Valley.”

Dougherty is a volunteer with the Make-A-Wish Foundation.

WASHINGTON—The Federal Communications Commission has approved license transfers for three stations to subsidiaries of Sinclair. The decision involved WEYI-TV, Saginaw, Michigan, WGTU(TV), Traverse City, Michigan and WHAM-TV, Rochester, New York.

DirecTV had opposed the transfers, arguing in part that the deals would give Sinclair more power to demand higher retransmission fees, which in turn would increase pay TV programming costs for consumers.

More specifically the transfers involved:

• The assignment of the license of WEYI-TV, Saginaw, Michigan, from HSH Flint (WEYI) to Sinclair subsidiary WEYI Licensee, LLC.
• The assignment of the license of WGTU(TV), Traverse City, Michigan, from Traverse City (WGTU-TV) Licensee, Inc., a subsidiary of Cunningham Broadcasting Corporation (Cunningham), to Sinclair subsidiary WGTU Licensee, LLC.
• The assignment of the license of WHAM-TV, Rochester, New York, from Deerfield Media (Rochester) Licensee, LLC (Deerfield) to Sinclair subsidiary WHAM Licensee, LLC.

When the applications were first filed, the deals would have required an exemption from FCC ownership rules. However, as previously reported, a Federal court ruling in the Zimmer Radio case overturned a longstanding prohibition on owning two of the top four stations in the market.

In its filing opposing all three transfers, DirecTV continued to oppose the deals. It argued that it had standing to file a petition in opposition because the transfers would raise retransmission fees and cause the operator direct economic harm. DirecTV contended that “[n]othing in Zimmer Radio alters the Applicants’ affirmative obligation to show that the proposed license transfers are in the public interest.”

In addition, it argued that local television consolidation gives broadcasters more leverage to charge higher retransmission fees, which leads to higher bills for multichannel video programming distributor (MVPD) customers.

DirecTV also contended that Sinclair did not meet FCC standards that the transactions provide verifiable benefits because Sinclair only provided vague and non-measurable assertions that “synergies” would enable Sinclair to invest in the acquired stations and expand programming.

In its ruling the Media Bureau found that DirecTV did meet the requirements for standing but rejected its other arguments.

"[W]e find that the proposed transactions fully comply with the Commission’s rules, including the post-Zimmer Radio Local Television Ownership Rule, and there are no issues or potential public interest harms identified in the record that would require further consideration.," the Media Bureau noted in a letter to the applicants affirming the license transfers. "Notably, while the Commission will consider transaction-specific objections to otherwise rule-compliant transactions, we find that DIRECTV has failed to advance any such objections. Accordingly, we conclude that grant of the Applications will result in public interest benefits and serve the public interest, convenience, and necessity."

More information is available here.

WASHINGTON—While broadcasters have made the elimination of ownership caps a major policy priority for decades, a new report from OpenSecrets documents how those efforts went into overdrive in 2025, as the Federal Communications Commission signaled it might be willing to change the rules and station groups announced a number of major deals that would require regulatory changes.

In 2025, Nexstar Media Group spent $3.2 million lobbying the FCC in 2025, roughly 10 times more than it did every year from 2018 to 2023, when its lobbying activity remained steady, according to OpenSecrets.

Meanwhile, Sinclair Broadcast Group, the second largest station owner, last year spent $800,000, up from $770,000 in 2024 and about four times its 2023 federal lobbying total.

As previously reported, broadcasters have long argued that the current rules that limit the reach of station groups to no more than 39% of all TV homes in the U.S., put them at a severe competitive disadvantage to big tech companies and streaming services who have captured a large share of the TV ad and subscription market in the last 15 years. Our full coverage of that issue can be found here and here along with our FCC coverage here.

The issue has become even more important as Nexstar announced in 2025 a $6.2 billion deal to acquire Tegna, Sinclair began talks about acquiring E.W. Scripps and station groups like Scripps and Gray announced deals and station swaps that would require changes to the rules.

The study also noted that “to help sway the FCC, Congress and the White House, Nexstar hired lobbyist Jeff Miller, who served as finance chair on President Donald Trump’s second inaugural committee, at the start of 2025. Miller heads Miller Strategies, one of the firms that have benefited most from their close connection with the Trump administration. Nexstar paid the firm $510,000 over the course of the year, although most of its lobbying was handled by the company’s in-house team. Tegna reported its first year of lobbying in 2025, spending $550,000 exclusively on Miller Strategies. Combined, the lobbying firm raked in over a million dollars from just the potential Nexstar-Tegna merger.”

The report also highlights the ongoing debate over whether the FCC has authority to change the rules, as the NAB and broadcasters have argued, or whether it would require Congress to pass new legislation, as opponents of changes to the ownership caps have argued.

The full report is available here.

HUNT VALLEY, Md.—In a notable example of the growing interest in video podcasts by media companies, Sinclair has announced the launch of "Criminally Obsessed".

Sinclair said that new episodes of the video podcast will drop daily Monday through Thursday on YouTube and all audio platforms including Spotify and Apple Podcasts. "Criminally Obsessed" will go deeper inside the investigations, the courtroom drama, and the human stories at the center of major true crime cases, tracking breaking developments, uncovering overlooked details, and offering compassion for victims and the people whose lives are forever changed, Sinclair said.

“True crime audiences want more than headlines, they want depth, context, and real accountability,” said Nickolas James, vice president of social media at Sinclair. “With `Criminally Obsessed', we’re delivering a daily destination rooted in original reporting by Sinclair’s national newsgathering resources and Anne’s experience and trusted voice.”

The podcast is hosted by Anne Emerson, an Edward R. Murrow and Emmy Award-winning investigative journalist with more than 30 years of experience. Anne became a leading voice in high-profile investigations through gavel-to-gavel coverage of the Alex Murdaugh double-murder trial and her hit podcast and docuseries “The Murdaughs: Murders, Money & Mystery”.

“We have the experience on our team and we know what it feels like to be out on a crime scene or in a courtroom,” said Emerson. “I can tell you what it feels like as these stories are happening and unfolding because I’ve been there and done it.”

"Criminally Obsessed" will draw on Sinclair’s network of local reporters and investigative journalists.

Subscribe to Criminally Obsessed on YouTube here.

HUNT VALLEY, Md., and ST. GEORGE, Utah—Whole fruit, vegetable and fiber supplements provider Balance of Nature has joined Sinclair as a presenting sponsor of the media organization’s Amazing America 250: From Neighborhood to Nation,” its multiplatform media initiative honoring communities in celebration of the nation’s semiquincentennial.

Amazing America 250 will be featured across Sinclair’s local broadcast stations, digital platforms, multicast networks and AMP Media properties. The effort delivers uplifting stories that reflect the strength, resilience and innovation of communities nationwide.

Amazing America 250 will run through July with original programming, local storytelling, national specials and community-driven content designed to unite viewers around the stories that define the American experience.

Balance of Nature will be integrated across Sinclair’s multi-platform ecosystem, including local and national news features, community storytelling segments and conversations with Balance of Nature CEO Lex Howard and founder Dr. Douglas Howard.

“Amazing America 250 is a powerful platform for bringing brands, communities and storytelling together around a historic milestone for our country,” said Rob Weisbord, chief operating officer and president of Local Media at Sinclair.

“Balance of Nature is a well-suited partner for this initiative with a mission that complements our commitment to enriching local lives and celebrating the people and values that unite communities across the country. Together, we’re proud to showcase stories that reflect both national pride and everyday well-being.”

Balance of Nature invests in people values and principles strengthening local communities through its Rooted in America initiative.

“America’s 250th anniversary is a moment to reflect on what makes this country strong, the people, the communities and the values that endure,” said Lex Howard, CEO of Balance of Nature. “Partnering with Sinclair on Amazing America 250 gives us a powerful way to honor those stories and reinforce what Balance of Nature stands for: healthy living, personal responsibility, and meaningful connection across America.”

More information on Amazing America 250 is available online.

More information on Sinclair and Balance of Nature is available online.

WASHINGTON—Sinclair has filed comments with the Federal Communications Commission backing the proposed acquisition of Tegna by Nexstar arguing that FCC has authority to lift ownership caps and that the combination would not harm competing local news outlets like Sinclair in markets around the country.

“We respectfully submit that many of the Petitioners are wolves in sheep’s clothing,” the filing said. “They lecture the Commission about competition and the importance of local journalism despite their complete lack of involvement in promoting, preserving, or expanding local news. For its part, Sinclair competes with both Nexstar and Tegna. Indeed, our stations would overlap with a merged Nexstar and Tegna in 15 markets. If any party would have standing to legitimately protest this transaction, it would be us.”

“Yet we are submitting comments in this proceeding because, unlike the Petitioners, we recognize that the market in which local broadcasters compete today is far larger than broadcast television,” Sinclair argued. “The issues at stake are larger than any single broadcaster or transaction. If the Commission wants to preserve local news, it must modernize its regulations and its conception of the relevant market before it is too late.”

Referring to massive changes in the media landscape with the rise of big tech dominated digital platforms and streaming services, Sinclair stressed that “in their pleadings, Petitioners dig a broad and deep hole in the sand and invite the Commission to bury its head, ignoring everything that anyone who has been paying attention understands about the radical changes in the media and video ecosystem over the past two decades. Petitioners engage in fanciful thinking regarding relevant markets and recycle hopelessly outdated arguments that are wrong on the law and wrong on policy.”

More specifically, Sinclair argued that the FCC has the authority to raise ownership caps: “Section 202(c)(1)(B) of the Telecommunications Act of 1996 did not itself establish a statutory ownership limit. Rather, Congress directed the Commission to `modify its rules’ to increase the national audience reach limitation to 35 percent.4 By instructing the Commission to revise its regulations, Congress confirmed that the power to revise the national cap resided in the FCC’s ownership rules and not in the Communications Act itself. In 2004, after the Commission had raised the national cap to 45 percent, Congress did not question the Commission’s authority to raise the cap. Rather, Congress simply instructed the Commission to once again modify its rules to increase the national cap to 39 percent.”

Sinclair also rebutted arguments that the deal would reduce competition: “As the Commission is aware, just two dominant streaming platforms, YouTube and Netflix, capture a greater share of viewing than all broadcasting combined. Yet YouTube and Netflix face no restrictions on their ability to operate at scale – in fact, they operate globally. Nor do they face any limitation or restriction on their ability to continue to grow to reach more viewers – and indeed there is every expectation that they will continue to do so.”

“The petitions to deny submitted in this proceeding fail to acknowledge the very real changes in the media marketplace over the previous decades,” Sinclair concluded in the Jan. 15 2026 filing. “They provide no basis for the Commission to deny the transaction at issue in this proceeding – rather, they rely on outdated assumptions and are in many cases flatly self-interested and anticompetitive.”

The full filing is available here.

BALTIMORE—Sinclair has announced that the company’s annual student scholarship program is now accepting applications for the 2026 academic year.

Currently, in its fourteenth year, the program has awarded over $430,000 in tuition assistance since its inception in 2013.

The Sinclair Scholarship was created to invest in the future of the broadcast industry and help students complete their education and pursue careers in journalism, digital storytelling, and marketing.

“Sinclair’s annual scholarship program reflects our commitment to investing in the next generation of media professionals and supporting students as they build the skills and experience needed for long-term success,” said Chris Ripley, president and CEO.

Applicants must be a current college sophomore or junior at an accredited four-year undergraduate college or university in the United States. Students from anywhere in the US may apply at www.sbgi.net/scholarship. The deadline for submission is April 30, 2026.

Additional details on the scholarship and the 2025 winners can be found on the Sinclair website.

CINCINNATI—The E.W. Scripps Co. has issued a statement saying that its board of directors has unanimously decided to reject an unsolicited proposal from Sinclair to acquire the company.

In November filings with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission, Sinclair reported that it had acquired a 9.9% stake in Scripps and was proposing to acquire the Cincinnati-based station group for about $7 per share in a mix of cash and stock.

On Nov. 26, Scripps responded with a limited-duration shareholder rights plan, a so-called poison pill that is often used to discourage takeovers.

On Dec. 16, the station group reported that after a “careful review and evaluation in consultation with its financial and legal advisors, that Sinclair’s offer is not in the best interests of the company and its shareholders.”

Kim Williams, the chair of Scripps’ board, said: “The board is committed to acting in the best interests of all Scripps shareholders as well as the company’s employees and the many communities and audiences it serves across the United States. After careful consideration, Scripps’ board determined that Sinclair’s unsolicited acquisition proposal is not in the best interests of Scripps and its shareholders. The board nonetheless remains open to evaluating opportunities to enhance shareholder value and will continue to consider any course of action, including any acquisition proposal, that is in the best interest of all shareholders.”

Sinclair issued a statement in response: “We are disappointed that despite Scripps encouraging Sinclair to make a proposal, Scripps’ board rejected the proposal without engaging. Our proposal was based on previous discussions and was responsive to concerns about Scripps’ communities, employees and shareholders. It delivers significant strategic and financial benefits for both companies and all shareholders, and represents a substantial premium over both Scripps’ unaffected and current share price. We call on Scripps to engage with us regarding our proposal. We believe Scripps’ shareholders deserve a full and fair evaluation of this opportunity.”

Scripps said Morgan Stanley & Co. is acting as its financial adviser and Weil, Gotshal & Manges LLP as its legal adviser.

GREEN BAY, Wis.—Sinclair said Jay Zollar, vice president and general manager of WLUK-WCWF here, will retire Dec. 31 after 26 years running the stations. Station Manager Todd Ziegler will continue in his current role, assuming responsibility for the stations’ day-to-day operations, Sinclair said, ensuring continuity across news, sales, marketing and community initiatives.

“Jay’s impact on these stations is immeasurable—his stewardship helped establish WLUK and WCWF as trusted, market-leading brands,” Sinclair Chief Operating Officer and President of Local Media Rob Weisbord said. “We are deeply grateful for his decades of service and confident that Todd, with his strong operational expertise and collaborative leadership style, will continue building on that foundation.”

Zollar, a Green Bay native, began his television career as an intern at WFRV Green Bay while earning his bachelor’s degree in speech communications at the University of Minnesota. He later worked in commercial production and sales at WFRV before moving to WISN Milwaukee. Next, he moved to WXGZ (now WACY) Green Bay as the Fox network was launching in 1987. He later served as sales manager at WLUK and station manager at WGBA-TV before returning to WLUK, Green Bay’s current Fox affiliate, and WCWF, presently an affiliate of The CW, 26 years ago to run the stations, Sinclair said.

“It has been an incredible journey for me over the past 27 years,” Zollar said. “I am so thankful for those who have gone before me and have been with me now, who have worked so hard to make WLUK the community connection that it is. Since I began here, the vision was and still is to be the overall favorite station to the people of NE Wisconsin, and I believe that we have achieved that vision. We are here to serve the public interest, and I hope that my involvement here has helped us do exactly that.”

Ziegler is a native of Hortonville, Wis., and a graduate of the University of Wisconsin–Oshkosh.

Prior to joining WLUK, he spent 10 years as production and creative services director at Sinclair-owned WUCW Minneapolis. He also had a sales leadership post at Green Bay station WIWB (now WCWF) and served as a marketing consultant to WBAY-TV, Green Bay’s ABC affiliate.

He joined WLUK as general sales manager, advanced to director of sales and then to station manager earlier this year. For the past two decades, he has also freelanced with Fox Sports and CBS Sports production crews.

“Jay’s legacy is all about service and connection, and I’m grateful for the path he’s paved,” Ziegler said. “Our goal now is to build on that foundation and continue enriching local lives right here in Northeast Wisconsin.”

HUNT VALLEY, Md.—Sinclair and its wholly-owned subsidiary One Media Technologies have released a new report focused on how ATSC 3.0, the IP-based NextGen TV standard, delivers data more efficiently and in a more sustainable manner than other wireless transmission alternatives.

The report, “ATSC 3.0: Efficient, Scalable, Sustainable Wireless Capacity,” was penned by One Media Technologies strategic marketing advisor Josh Gordon with an introduction by Sinclair senior vice president and One Media Technologies president Mark Aitken.

“ATSC 3.0’s IP streams are now opening business and efficiency opportunities at broadcast stations as well as with the IP systems used by telecoms, streamers, CDNs, and data transport companies,” the report says.

While covering a lot of familiar ground for those involved with the standard, the report brings a good deal of context to the discussion, particularly in terms of how 3.0 and 5G together address some major problems with growing video consumption over unicast wireless networks. It examines how 3.0 can reduce 5G capacity spikes and thereby reduce the need for infrastructure buildout, additional electrical power and associated carbon emissions created to power new network cells as well as create massive savings in the capital expense otherwise needed to construct new 5G cell sites.

Hybrid 5G-Broadcast Examples
The report points to two examples of the benefits of a hybrid multicast-unicast data network. In the U.K., British Telecom has spent about $1 billion to create its Multicast-Assisted Unicast Delivery System (MAUD), which leverages existing terrestrial broadcast and satellite spectrum to augment 5G service and cut capacity peaks in half.

The report quotes a CSI magazine interview with BT director of engineering Ian Parr as saying: “We can expect MAUD technology to use up to 50% less bandwidth during peak events, reducing energy usage through the use of fewer caches, and network equipment scale. What is more, next generations of equipment will use even less power and drive down carbon emissions of media distributions.”

If current media consumption trends continue, with individuals accessing content via a solely unicast wireless network, it could cost the U.K. wireless industry as much as $20.8 billion to build out capacity to handle the traffic, making MAUD’s $1 billion price tag a bargain, the report says.

Similarly, India’s 5G wireless network “sometimes gets clogged” with video, the report says, pointing out that congestion will only get worse going forward as mobile content consumption is expected to double every three to four years. That’s why Prasar Bharati, the nation’s public broadcaster, has conducted two rounds of trials of 3.0-based Direct-to-Mobile (D2M). The D2M initiative is in keeping with Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s goals of using advanced digital technologies to advance the nation’s socioeconomic growth, it says.

According to the report, D2M could “shift 25-30%” of video traffic from 5G to enable operators to moderate their 5G network expansion.

Quoting a May 2025 article from The Economic Times of India, the report says: “India appears to be moving closer to a commercial roll-out of the direct-to-mobile (D2M) technology, having completed significant preparatory work.”

ATSC 3.0 Efficiency
The report begins with a discussion of the efficiency of the ATSC 3.0 physical layer. It discusses how closely 3.0’s different operating points (capacity vs. robustness) are aligned with the Shannon Limit—the maximum number of bits that can pass through a channel, pointing out that on this basis alone 3.0 is 28% more efficient than ATSC 1.0.

It also discusses how the High-Efficiency Video Codec (HEVC) is four times more efficient than the MPEG-2 codec used for 1.0. Together, the physical layer efficiency and HEVC’s efficiency “deliver a 5x video efficiency increase over ATSC 1.0,” it says.

It then explores how even greater video efficiencies can be achieved with the standard. It points out that the Versatile Video Codec (VVC), which the Advanced Television Systems Committee standardized support for earlier in the year, is twice as efficient as HEVC. Further, efficiencies are possible through the use of Multiple Input Multiple Output technology, which is supported in ATSC 3.0 and is one of the centerpieces of Brazil’s TV 3.0 standard, which leverages many components of the ATSC 3.0 suite of standards.

The report is published as a PDF with links to multiple reference works, including guides, manuals, articles and videos, such a 30-minute video on the functionality of the 3.0 physical layer by Luke Fay of Sony Electronics, former chair of the ATSC committee that developed it.

The report concludes by reiterating how ATSC 3.0 enhances efficiency and sustainability. “Broadcasters that adopt ATSC 3.0 advance responsible stewardship of their broadcast spectrum by both raising the efficiency of TV delivery, and by adding efficiency to IP systems they integrate with. In short, ATSC 3.0 transforms the output of a terrestrial TV station into a series of multipurpose streams that can natively integrate with digital infrastructure.”

According to a One Media Technologies spokesperson, the report will be discussed during a Dec. 11 TVNewsCheck webinar.

Click here to download the report.

More information about the webinar is available online.

BALTIMORE and CHICAGO—Sinclair is partnering with Feeding America to launch “Sinclair Cares: Fill the Food Banks,” a fundraising campaign to provide meals to U.S. families during the holiday season. The initiative will run through Dec. 25.

Through financial contributions, viewers can help provide members of their local community with access to meals. All donations will directly benefit the Feeding America food bank serving the donor’s local area, as determined by the ZIP code associated with their method of payment.

The campaign will be supported by a $25,000 donation from Sinclair.

Every $1 donated helps provide at least 10 meals secured by Feeding America on behalf of local partner food banks, Sinclair said.

In addition, “Sinclair Cares: Fill the Food Banks” will be supported through news coverage and public service campaigns across the company’s owned and/or operated television stations.

“The holiday season can be especially difficult for families facing food insecurity,” Rob Weisbord, Sinclair president of local media and chief operating officer, said. “Through ‘Sinclair Cares: Fill the Food Banks,’ we’re uniting our local stations and viewers to make a real impact in their own communities, a true reflection of our company’s commitment to enriching local lives. Together, we can help ensure that every family has a meal on the table for the holidays.”

Added Lauren Bierdron, senior vice president of corporate partnerships at Feeding America: “Food brings us together, especially during the holidays. This season, we’re proud to partner with Sinclair to help ensure everyone can bring meals home and celebrate together.”

Visit SinclairCares.com to donate to the campaign or to learn how to volunteer at a local Feeding America food bank.

Following last week’s disclosure that it had acquired a 8.2% stake in E.W. Scripps, Sinclair has filed papers with the Securities and Exchange Commission proposing to buy the Cincinnati-based station group for about $7 a share.

The Sinclair filing also indicated that it has since increased its holdings in Scripps to a 9.9% stake.

Scripps confirmed that it has “received an unsolicited acquisition proposal from Sinclair” and said the company’s board will carefully review and evaluate any proposals, including the unsolicited Sinclair proposal, to determine “the course of action that it believes is in the best interests of the company and all of its shareholders as well as its employees and the many communities and audiences it serves across the United States.”

Sinclair is offering $2.72 in cash and $4.28 in combined company common stock “based on approximately $325 million in estimated synergies and on a 7.0x EV/ EBITDA multiple.” It also reported that the $7-per-share price represents a 200% premium to the Issuer's 30-day volume-weighted average price as of Nov. 6.

Sinclair also told the SEC that the transaction would be executed through a separation of Sinclair’s ventures business and certain corporate infrastructure from its broadcast business, followed by a merger of its broadcast business with Scripps.

The new company would have a market capitalization of about $2.9 billion according to some reports.

Sinclair had previously announced plans for a strategic review of its operations and said it was considering spinning off its ventures business.

If the deal goes through, Sinclair said the new publicly traded parent company would retain Sinclair’s “dual-class structure.”

"The Scripps family would retain voting control of the Issuer's existing debt and preferred stock during an integration period to avoid unnecessary refinancing expenses or covenant disruption," the filing said.

“The combined company would maintain an independent majority on its Board of Directors,“ the filing also said. “Board representation would be proportional to each company's shareholders' ownership in the combined company, ensuring fair and balanced governance, and will include representation from both the Smith and Scripps families. The Scripps family would control the Board of Directors of the issuer of existing Issuer's debt and preferred stock.”

Sinclair also said, “We are confident that under existing rules, including the national cap, the transaction can be completed in a timely manner with limited select divestitures.”

ROCHESTER, N.Y.—Sinclair said it has elevated Sean LaRose, director of sales at WUHF and partner station WHAM here, to vice president and general manager, effective Dec. 1.

LaRose succeeds Chuck Samuels, who will retire after nearly two decades at the stations.

“After eight years in sales management roles, I am excited to accept this opportunity to guide our outstanding teams into a new phase of growth and success,” LaRose said. “The local media landscape is constantly evolving, and Sinclair is leading that change by delivering exceptional local content for our viewers while offering businesses the most effective and accountable custom marketing solutions to drive growth.”

As director of sales for the Rochester stations, LaRose oversees sales strategy, leads cross-platform revenue initiatives, develops integrated marketing solutions for local and national advertising and builds high-performing sales teams, Sinclair said. Prior to joining Sinclair in Rochester, he held sales leadership roles at WIVB/WNLO-TV Buffalo, Spectrum Reach and Time Warner Cable Media Sales.

Over his nearly two decades at WUHF and WHAM, Samuels guided the stations through digital transformation, expanded news coverage and deepened community engagement, Sinclair said. Prior to becoming VP and GM in Rochester, Samuels had served as WHAM’s news director for nearly a decade, also served as news director at WKBW Buffalo, N.Y., and served in newsroom leadership roles at KDKA-TV Pittsburgh; WTSP Tampa, Fla.; and WLTV Jacksonville, Fla.

“Chuck has been a steady and trusted leader who helped strengthen our Rochester operations and deepen our connection to the community,” Sinclair Chief Operating Officer and President of Local Media Rob Weisbord said. “We are grateful for his commitment, professionalism and years of service. Sean is a highly respected leader with a strong track record in sales strategy, client partnerships, and team development. We’re confident he will continue to elevate our efforts in Rochester and advance our mission of Enriching Local Lives.”

Added Samuels: “It has truly been a pleasure to live and work in the Rochester community for nearly 30 years. I have been incredibly fortunate to collaborate with so many talented people throughout that time. As I conclude my career, I feel confident knowing that the next generation of talent is here and off and running.”

CINCINNATI—E.W. Scripps has issued a statement responding to news that Sinclair has acquired about 8.2% of the outstanding class A (nonvoting) shares in the company.

Sinclair has also disclosed that it has been talking to Scripps about a possible deal for several months.

Scripps’ shares spiked more than 40% on Nov. 17 after Sinclair disclosed the stake in a filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. They were trading at $4.34 on Tuesday at 11:15 a.m. ET, up from $3.06 on Friday, Nov. 14, at 4 p.m. ET.

In a statement, Scripps stressed that its “board of directors and management are focused on driving value for all of the company’s shareholders through the continued execution of its strategic plan. The board and management are aligned on doing only what is in the best interest of all of the company’s shareholders as well as its employees and the many communities and audiences it serves across the United States. The company’s board has and will continue to evaluate any transactions and other alternatives that would enhance the value of the company and would be in the best interest of all company shareholders.”

However, the company’s response also said “the board will take all steps appropriate to protect the company and the company’s shareholders from the opportunistic actions of Sinclair or anyone else.”

Scripps operates a portfolio of more than 60 stations in 40-plus markets. It also owns Scripps News, Court TV, Ion, Bounce, Grit, Ion Mystery, Ion Plus and Laff.

Sinclair acquired its 8.2% stake for about $15.6 million. Those shares are however non-voting shares. The Scripps family controls about 93% of the voting shares, according to Seeking Alpha.

Dealmaking for broadcast stations continues to heat up, with Sinclair reporting it has built up a 8.2% stake in E.W. Scripps and has been talking with Scripps for several months about a possible deal.

In a filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission, Sinclair indicated that it has acquired 6,275,204 shares of Scripps Class-A Common Stock, about 8.2% of all outstanding shares, and that it had “acquired the Class A Common Stock in contemplation of a possible combination with the issuer.”

Sinclair also noted that its directors, top executives and financial and legal advisers “have engaged in constructive discussions” with Scripps “for several months regarding a potential combination of the two companies.”

Scripps operates a portfolio of more than 60 stations in 40-plus markets. It also owns Scripps News, Court TV, Ion, Bounce, Grit, Ion Mystery, Ion Plus and Laff.

In the filing, Sinclair said “a combination offers both near- and long-term value creation for shareholders of each company. Based on prevailing trading multiples and more than $300 million in expected annual synergies estimated by the Reporting Person [Sinclair] based on public financial information, holders of the Issuer's common stock would receive an ownership stake in the combined company that the Reporting Person estimates would be worth approximately three times the average trading price of the Issuer's common stock over recent periods.”

Sinclair added, “the proposed combination would be structured to require no external financing as the combined company would maintain each company's respective debt and preferred capital structures. As a result, the transaction would avoid significant refinancing costs while meaningfully reducing the Issuer's leverage through the realization of synergies and lowering future refinancing risk.”

Sinclair and other broadcasters have been lobbying the Federal Communications Commission to relax ownership caps for broadcasters. In August, Sinclair signaled its willingness to acquire stations with the announcement that it was embarking on a strategic review of its business.

“Scale wins in today’s broadcast industry, and we intend to lead that consolidation,” Sinclair President and CEO Chris Ripley said in an August statement. “Our Broadcast business’ industry-leading performance positions us as the partner of choice for value creation. Simultaneously, we expect separating Ventures will crystallize significant value that the market has overlooked within our current structure, giving us even more flexibility to drive our broadcast strategy forward.”

During the Q3 earnings call, Sinclair also laid out a number of financial benefits that might accrue from industrywide consolidation.

“Recent industry consolidation and intensifying competition reinforce the Reporting Person's view that further scale in the broadcast television industry is essential to address secular headwinds and compete effectively with larger-scale big-tech and big-media players, as well as major broadcast groups,” Sinclair said in the Nov. 17 filing with the SEC. “Greater scale will also strengthen broadcasters' ability to sustain their vital public service role in producing local news. The Reporting Person believes combining with the Issuer provides the ability to compete successfully for advertising share, critical programming, and distribution economics through enhanced local and national scale, coupled with disciplined execution of synergies.”

The SEC filing is available here.

While most station groups reported major declines in ad revenue in the third quarter, thanks to a steep decline in political advertising compared to a year ago, this week’s earnings calls with analysts were generally bullish. Most station groups beat expectations, reporting better-than-expected year-over-year results for core advertising sales that exclude political and the Olympics.

A close review of those earnings calls also provides a snapshot of the state of the industry in the latter half of 2025 and its prospects for 2026.

Station executives offered bullish comments about next year, thanks to the prospects of heavy political advertising and the likelihood regulators will relax ownership rules and allow a wave of dealmaking.

For the moment, though, all the station results were heavily impacted by the absence of political revenue in Q3 2025 compared to the record spending during the 2024 presidential campaign.

“Advertising revenue of $476 million decreased $146 million or 23.5% over the comparable prior year quarter, primarily reflecting a $145 million year-over-year decrease in political advertising,” Nexstar Media Group President and Chief Operating Officer Michael Biard noted. “However, nonpolitical advertising was essentially flat and better than our expectation of a low single-digit decline.”

Sinclair also reported year-over-year declines in total revenue, thanks to the absence of significant ad income in Q3, but reported revenue that was generally better than expected. “We delivered strong performance and met or exceeded guidance across all key metrics,” Sinclair President and CEO Chris Ripley said on the company’s Q3 earnings call. “Total revenue of $773 million came in higher than the high end of our guidance range. Core revenues were up 7% year-over-year on an as-reported basis.”

Likewise, Gray Media generally beat analysts’ expectations and while overall revenue was down 21% YoY, Q3 2025 revenue was above analyst expectations.

Hilton Howell Jr., Gray Media’s chairman and CEO, said: “Our results for the third quarter of 2025 compared favorably to our Q3 guidance for both revenues and expenses. Total revenue in the third quarter of 2025 was $749 million, at the high end of our guidance for the quarter.”

Pat LaPlatney, president and co-CEO at Gray Media added: “Q3 continued the theme we’ve been describing throughout 2025, with advertisers remaining somewhat cautious due to the macro environment. Through the quarter, though, we saw core activity strengthen more than we had projected back in August, and we ultimately finished on the high side of guidance. Remember that the Olympics on NBC provided about a $20 million uplift in July and August of 2024, of which about $16 million was core ad revenue and $4 million was political. Factoring that in, our third quarter was up about 1% over 2024.”

E.W. Scripps reported that third-quarter company revenue was $526 million, down 19% or $120 million from the prior-year quarter, mainly due to political advertising. But its Local Media division reported that core advertising (excluding political) was up, due to the services category and ”overall growth in national advertising due to strong sales efforts and Scripps’ sports strategy.”

“During the quarter, our Local Media division revenue was down 27% due to the absence of political advertising revenue compared to the prior year,” Chief Financial Officer Jason Combs said. “Core advertising revenue was up nearly 2%. We grew national advertising revenue, driven by an increase in our largest category, services. Our sports strategy helped drive that Q3 performance as well. Local Media distribution revenue was flat."

‘We’re Very, Very Optimistic About 2026’
While broadcasters haven’t released detailed guidance for their 2026 revenue expectations, executives offered generally bullish comments for the year ahead in terms of the impact of political advertising and the prospects for deregulation.

“I would say that we’re really optimistic about 2026,” said Gray Media’s LaPlatney. “We have some early Q1 numbers that are encouraging, in fact, very encouraging…As we sit here today, we’re very, very optimistic about 2026.

“We think broadcast is going from strength to strength at this moment,” explained Perry Sook, founder, chairman and CEO of Nexstar. “In the near term, we see a decreasing interest rate environment, the reset of the majority of our distribution contracts at the end of this year, the acquisition of TEGNA and an election year in 2026, all of which we expect to drive shareholder value. Longer term, we expect to accelerate our CW and NewsNation network growth strategies, our deployment of applications for ATSC 3.0 and innovation around how we go to market and the products and services we bring to benefit our viewers and our advertisers.”

As expected, M&A activity was a major topic of discussion.

‘We're Operating in the Wild Wild West’
Sinclair’s Ripley noted that “the broadcast sector is facing secular challenges within linear TV while having a unique opportunity for significant consolidation. We believe the industry is at an inflection point where scale and operational efficiency will increasingly separate high-performing companies from the rest. … Against this backdrop, in mid-August, we launched a strategic review of our broadcast business and an evaluation of a potential separation of ventures to optimize value creation across our portfolio,” that has already led to “several transactions, including partner station acquisitions and select acquisitions and divestitures.”

“One potential path for industry evolution could involve consolidating into two similarly sized scale broadcast groups," Ripley continued. "[C]reating another group comparable in size to the large broadcast combination announced in August [i.e., the proposed Nexstar-Tegna combination], could unlock an estimated $600 million to $900 million in annual synergies through mergers and subsequent portfolio optimizations. This level of consolidation would strengthen the industry's financial footing and position broadcasters as more capable competitors to big media and big tech.

“While we present this as one potential industry scenario rather than a prediction, the fundamental point is clear,” Ripley added. “The regulatory environment now enables transformational consolidation that can benefit Broadcast Group shareholders, creditors, employees and the communities we serve. Sinclair is well-positioned in this environment, and we're actively evaluating how best to participate to maximize value for our stakeholders.”

Scripps’ discussion of M&A opportunities was more modest. “As I've said from the start, we are totally focused on optimizing our portfolio of stations to structurally enhance performance and economic durability in service to our vision to create connection,” Scripps President and CEO Adam Symson sais. “We've already announced a station-swap deal with Gray where we are exchanging two Scripps stations for five Gray stations, a transaction that improves our market positioning and creates immediate efficiency opportunities. We also announced station sales in Fort Myers, Fla., and Indianapolis for cash. The sale prices represent premium multiples for the industry. These are quality stations we agreed to sell only at strong valuations, and the cash we receive will go directly to delevering.”

Deregulation Continues
In the Q3 earnings call, Nexstar’s Sook reiterated his previously expressed belief that the industry should see significant deregulation of broadcast ownership rules.

“The 8th Circuit mandate was issued on Oct. 21,” he said, refrencing the 8th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals’ decision to vacate the Federal Communications Commission’s rule barring a station group from owning more than one of the top-four stations in audience share in a given market. “That eliminates the top-four ownership rule, that will go into effect as soon as that order is published in the Federal Register and it's effective 30 days later. … And we, again, continue to believe that this administration, the Trump administration and Brendan Carr at the FCC are focused on deregulating business, allowing businesses to breathe, allowing businesses to compete and that we’ve been spending a lot of time in Washington to reinforce at the regulatory agencies and on the hill that we are indeed here to help meet the regulatory moment."

While Gray Media has already announced a number of potential acquisitions and station swaps, including an agreement to acquire stations from Allen Media Group, Howell also expressed a note of caution during the analyst call. Reacting to a report of a possible merger or deal with Sinclair, he said, “there is nothing that we are in deep negotiation with at the moment.”

“We are in a period of time in our industry where things change faster than I have ever, ever seen it,” Howell added. “For the first time in the history of our business, we are really operating in the Wild, Wild West. No one knows what the rules actually are. Anybody that tells you that…they just do not. They cannot.

“I don’t want to…do any deal that would put the basic company in any kind of risk,“ he continued. “Now, there’s a lot of big opportunities to grow. Unlike perhaps some of our competitors, I don’t believe, and my management team unanimously does not believe, that Gray actually has to do anything. I mean, we’re just fine where we are, and we can carry on our previously announced efforts to just reduce our debt and pay it down and then return more to our shareholders.”

OKLAHOMA CITY and TULSA, Okla.—Sinclair has named Mark Martin as vice president and general manager of KOKH-KOCB Oklahoma City and KTUL Tulsa.

The move marks a return to Sinclair for Martin, who most recently was director of sales at Nexstar Media Group-owned KFOR-KAUT Oklahoma City.

“I'm honored to join Sinclair’s talented team in Oklahoma,” Martin said. “With the stations well-positioned for audience and revenue growth, I look forward to bringing innovative leadership and collaboration to help the team achieve new levels of success.”

Previously, Martin had been a general manager or sales manager with Sinclair stations in Kansas City, Oklahoma City and Milwaukee, where he was known for his strategic thinking, team-building and ability to lead through change, the station group said.

“We are thrilled Mark is returning to Sinclair; his leadership experience, combined with operational insight, will be invaluable as we continue to strengthen our statewide presence,” said Rob Weisbord, Sinclair chief operating officer and president, local media.

Martin earned bachelor’s degrees in marketing and management from Emporia State University. Active in the community, he is a contributor to such organizations as the United Way, Salvation Army and American Heart Association and serves on the board of the Friends of Jimmy Everest Center, Sinclair said.

BALTIMORE—Sinclair on Dec. 13 will launch a multiplatform celebration of U.S. history, culture, innovation and community spirit that will include special programming around the 2025 Army-Navy football game here and continue beyond July 2026 to mark the nation’s 250th anniversary.

The initiative, “Amazing America 250: From Neighborhood to Nation” will bring together Sinclair’s portfolio of local broadcast stations and content centers around the U.S., multicast networks, including Comet, Charge, Roar and The Nest, as well as AMP Media’s lineup of podcasts, the company said.

“Amazing America 250 is a reflection of Sinclair’s mission to enrich local lives in every community we serve,” Sinclair President and CEO Chris Ripley said. “From national specials to local stories, from everyday heroes in our neighborhoods to defining moments in our shared history, this campaign honors and celebrates America’s journey.” 

The initiative will feature a national special produced by “The National News Desk…America’s News Now,” spotlighting stories that capture the essence of America. Beginning in early 2026, Sinclair stations will air weekly segments celebrating uplifting stories that highlight what makes the nation unique.

Each week will focus on a different theme, including innovation, freedom and democracy, heroes among us and everyday Americans making a difference in their communities, natural wonders, including parks and landmarks, as well as cultural expression through arts, film, music, literature and sports, Sinclair said.

Sinclair stations will also highlight a local “American Pride” story each week, shining a spotlight on the individuals and communities that define the American spirit. Stories will include veterans whose service left a lasting legacy, families pursuing the American dream, a community coming together for a cause and teachers shaping the next generation of leaders. Local stations will host community townhalls focused on “The Future of America,” exploring civic engagement, innovation and technology and youth voices.

The initiative’s digital content will live on all of Sinclair stations’ sites and will include an interactive map of stories from across the U.S., a timeline of key moments in American history and user-submitted content, it said.

Viewers will be invited to participate and share their own stories. From family barbecues and local traditions to acts of service and innovation, these submissions will be featured on air and in promotional spots.

“Amazing America 250” next year will align with national holidays and commemorations, including Independence Day, Memorial Day, Veterans Day and Martin Luther King Jr. Day, as well as the official 250th celebrations in Philadelphia and Washington, D.C., in 2026.

Brands and companies interested in advertising should email corporate senior vice president of national sales and client partnerships Gregg Siegel.

More information is available on the company’s website.

IRVING, Texas—Sinclair and Nexstar Media Group, Inc. have announced that they will no longer preempt “Jimmy Kimmel Live!” and that the late night talk show will air on the ABC affiliates owned by the two station groups on Friday, Sept. 26.

Sinclair first announced that it was ending its preemption of the show and Nexstar followed about three hours later.

The program returned to ABC on Sept. 23 after a controversy over Kimmel’s remarks about the assassination Charlie Kirk but Nexstar and Sinclair continued to preempt the show. The show’s return produced ratings not seen since 2015 even thought it was blackout in markets covering 23% of the country. As of 6 p.m. ET on Sept. 26, the monologue was also viewed by more than 21 million people on YouTube.

“We have had discussions with executives at The Walt Disney Company and appreciate their constructive approach to addressing our concerns,” Nexstar said in a statement. “As a local broadcaster, Nexstar remains committed to protecting the First Amendment while producing and airing local and national news that is fact-based and unbiased and, above all, broadcasting content that is in the best interest of the communities we serve. We stand apart from cable television, monolithic streaming services, and national networks in our commitment – and obligation – to be stewards of the public airwaves and to protect and reflect the specific sensibilities of our communities. To be clear, our commitment to those principles has guided our decisions throughout this process, independent of any external influence from government agencies or individuals.”

In a statement, Sinclair said: "Our objective throughout this process has been to ensure that programming remains accurate and engaging for the widest possible audience. We take seriously our responsibility as local broadcasters to provide programming that serves the interests of our communities, while also honoring our obligations to air national network programming. Over the last week, we have received thoughtful feedback from viewers, advertisers, and community leaders representing a wide range of perspectives. We have also witnessed troubling acts of violence, including the despicable incident of a shooting at an ABC affiliate station in Sacramento. These events underscore why responsible broadcasting matters and why respectful dialogue between differing voices remains so important."

"In our ongoing and constructive discussions with ABC, Sinclair proposed measures to strengthen accountability, viewer feedback, and community dialogue, including a network-wide independent ombudsman," Sinclair added. "These proposals were suggested as collaborative efforts between the ABC affiliates and the ABC network. While ABC and Disney have not yet adopted these measures, and Sinclair respects their right to make those decisions under our network affiliate agreements, we believe such measures could strengthen trust and accountability."

Sinclair also stressed that "Our decision to preempt this program was independent of any government interaction or influence. Free speech provides broadcasters with the right to exercise judgment as to the content on their local stations. While we understand that not everyone will agree with our decisions about programming, it is simply inconsistent to champion free speech while demanding that broadcasters air specific content."

Both Sinclair and Nexstar have been criticized for preempting the program after FCC Chair Brendan Carr threatened to yank broadcast licenses from affiliates airing the program. Critics pointed out that both station groups have been pushing the FCC to eliminate ownership caps that limit the size of station groups.

The return of “Jimmy Kimmel Live!” to ABC not only produced some of the best ratings for the show in a decade, it also highlighted growing audiences on social media that could play an important role in the business decisions ABC parent The Walt Disney Co., Nexstar Media Group and Sinclair will make during their discussions over its future.

After suspending the late-night talk show following Kimmel’s controversial about murdered conservative activist Charlie Kirk on Sept. 17, ABC resumed airing the show on Sept. 23. However, two of the nation's largest station groups, Nexstar and Sinclair, continue to preempt the program.

The show returned to air with a preliminary 0.87 rating among adults aged 18 to 49. That was the best rating for a regularly scheduled episode in a decade since March 12, 2015, ABC reported.

It also had more than 6.26 million total viewers, despite significant preemptions across 23% of U.S. TV households in markets where Nexstar and Sinclair stations did not air the show.

Perhaps even more notable in terms of its future were stats from social media. ABC reported on Sept. 24 that Kimmel’s monologue garnered more than 26 million views across YouTube and social media.

By 11:30 a.m. ET on Sept. 25, the monologue had more than 19 million views on YouTube alone, indicating that a lot of the audience was now bypassing regular broadcast to watch.

These large audiences could play an important role in the ongoing discussions between Nexstar and Sinclair in restoring the show to broadcast in their markets.

The show's YouTube channel currently has more than 21.4 million subscribers, up significantly from the 20 million sub mark passed on Feb. 3 by the program.

If Nexstar and Sinclair decide to continue preempting the show that could prompt even more viewers in their markets, particularly younger audiences, to move their viewing from broadcast TV, where the stations control ad sales, to social media, where YouTube has a very profitable ad business.

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The Walt Disney Company has issued a short statement saying that “Jimmy Kimmel Live!” will return to its standard late night time slot on ABC on Tuesday Sept. 23 after being “indefinitely” suspended last week by the network.

Last week Kimmel’s comments on the assassination of Charlie Kirk prompted severe criticism from FCC Chair Brendan Carr, who called Kimmel’s comments “sick” and threatened to remove broadcast licenses of affiliates who carried the show. Following Carr's comments, Nexstar and Sinclair ABC affiliates announced they would preempt it. ABC suspended the show soon thereafter.

Like last week’s statement, the Disney statement on resuming production was relatively brief. It did not address specifics about the incident and made no mention of whether all the ABC affiliates will resume airing the show.

“Last Wednesday, we made the decision to suspend production on the show to avoid further inflaming a tense situation at an emotional moment for our country,” the statement said. “It is a decision we made because we felt some of the comments were ill-timed and thus insensitive. We have spent the last days having thoughtful conversations with Jimmy, and after those conversations, we reached the decision to return the show on Tuesday.”

Nexstar declined to comment on whether it will air the show when it returns or continue to preempt it.

In response to an inquiry from TV Tech, Sinclair said "beginning Tuesday night, Sinclair will be preempting `Jimmy Kimmel Live!' across our ABC affiliate stations and replacing it with news programming. Discussions with ABC are ongoing as we evaluate the show’s potential return."

When the show was first suspended, Sinclair issued a statement that the FCC and ABC needed to take further action against Kimmel beyond simply suspending the program.

FCC Commissioner Anna M. Gomez, who had called ABC's decision to suspend the show a “cowardly corporate capitulation” to threats from the FCC, applauded the decision to bring the show back.

“I am glad to see Disney find its courage in the face of clear government intimidation," Gomez said in a statement. "More importantly, I want to thank those Americans from across the ideological spectrum who spoke loudly and courageously against this blatant attempt to silence free speech. It will continue to be up to us as citizens to push back against this Administration’s growing campaign of censorship and control. As this FCC considers steps that would let the same billion-dollar media conglomerates that caved in to government pressure grow even bigger, we must combat these efforts to stifle free expression."

In a move that highlights a growing rift between broadcast networks and station groups, Sinclair, the nation’s largest ABC affiliate group, has issued statements saying that both ABC and the Federal Communications Commission need to take further action on the recent comments made by Mr. Kimmel about the assassination of Charlie Kirk.

ABC has already moved to suspend Kimmel’s show indefinitely.

In a press release, Sinclair said that it had told ABC on Sept. 17 that it plans to indefinitely preempt “Jimmy Kimmel Live!” and that ABC suspended production of “Jimmy Kimmel Live!” following those discussions.

“Mr. Kimmel’s remarks were inappropriate and deeply insensitive at a critical moment for our country,” said vice chairman Jason Smith. “We believe broadcasters have a responsibility to educate and elevate respectful, constructive dialogue in our communities. We appreciate FCC Chairman Carr’s remarks today [Sept. 17] and this incident highlights the critical need for the FCC to take immediate regulatory action to address control held over local broadcasters by the big national networks.”

Sinclair also noted that it “will not lift the suspension of `Jimmy Kimmel Live!’ on our stations until formal discussions are held with ABC regarding the network’s commitment to professionalism and accountability.”

Sinclair also demanded that Kimmel “issue a direct apology to the Kirk family. Furthermore, we ask Mr. Kimmel to make a meaningful personal donation to the Kirk Family and Turning Point USA.”

Sinclair said its ABC stations will air a special in remembrance of Charlie Kirk this Friday, during Jimmy Kimmel Live’s timeslot and that all of its stations will air the special over the weekend.

Sinclair is also offering the special to all ABC affiliates across the country.

“Regardless of ABC’s plans for the future of the program, Sinclair intends not to return “Jimmy Kimmel Live!” to our air until we are confident that appropriate steps have been taken to uphold the standards expected of a national broadcast platform,” the company said.

While most of the rhetoric around the Kimmel controversy has been political, the issue has exposed deeper, more fundamental financial imperatives that are being played out in the regulatory arena.

Sinclair’s push for the FCC to take “immediate regulatory action to address control held over local broadcasters by the big national networks” puts the financial interests of local station groups in direct alignment with the political and policy viewers of FCC Chair Brendan Carr.

FCC Chair Brendan Carr has repeatedly argued the agency has the power to remove broadcast station licenses if they fail to provide “balanced coverage.”

Carr has also repeatedly signaled that the agency would like to weaken the power of broadcast networks, which he has accused of biased news coverage and strengthen local broadcasters who wanted ownership caps lifted.

Nexstar, which has a major merger pending before the FCC that would require regulatory changes, and Sinclair, which wants the FCC to eliminate ownership caps so it could expand its station group, were the first two groups to announce they would drop Kimmel’s show.

A football season unlike any other is taking shape in a conflicted broadcast environment where big-game producers are delivering unprecedented viewing experiences digitally as TV station owners count on the sport’s popularity to help them weather a weakened ad market.

The challenges were highlighted by The Walt Disney Co. CEO Bob Iger during an early August earnings call, when he discussed the now-launched ESPN direct-to-consumer streaming service, which encompasses all content delivered over the seven ESPN cable channels and online assets, including ESPN+.

While stressing that Disney views what it’s doing with ESPN as part of its TV business, Iger acknowledged, “the features and functionality of the ESPN app will have more on them or in the app than obviously any linear channel can provide. It will really be a sports fan’s dream in terms of everything they’ll be able to do and watch on that channel.”

ESPN-NFL Deal
Adding to the drama, the NFL and Disney also announced a landmark deal that, if approved, would give the league an unprecedented 10% stake in a media partner in exchange for ESPN’s takeover of NFL Network, with the addition of more games and other benefits. A taste of what’s in the offing on the ESPN service, which launched Aug. 21, can be found on the NFL+ streaming service, which remains under the NFL’s control, delivering all its games, but is available in the deal with ESPN for bundling with the latter’s streaming service.

It happens that the advanced in-game betting, personalized fantasy team features and other data-rich enhancements available on NFL+ are supported by technology from Genius Sports, which has also been supporting features on ESPN+. While declining to go into details of what his company is bringing to the new streaming service, Matt Fleckenstein, chief product officer at Genius Sports, says the arc of development on ESPN and NFL+ is parallel.

Specifics are “just a question of whether we’re working directly with NFL+ or ESPN,” he says.

The Genius BetVision app—a single-screen display of betting options supported by all the major sports-betting books, with video lagging just two to three seconds behind real time—is an especially noteworthy example of game-changing aspects to what ESPN might be offering.

With nearly all major pro and college football games now available on streaming services, the stakes couldn’t be higher for the broadcasters whose distribution via cable, satellite and OTA accounts for the lion’s share of the football audience. As they’ve done before, station group owners in their latest earnings reports cited football as a significant counterforce to economic headwinds impacting ad revenues.

During Sinclair’s Q2 earnings call in early August, Chief Operating Officer Rob Weisbord, acknowledging the overall advertising environment “remains rough,” said that with “larger buys coming down the pipeline … we’re cautiously optimistic as we move through the summer months into September with the return of college football and NFL.”

Building on the popularity of football, Sinclair has launched four podcasts devoted to college football programs at Ohio State, Alabama, Texas and Notre Dame, and “will shortly be announcing a landmark events and media partnership” devoted to “producing original content and brand activations,” says Chris King, Sinclair’s vice president of investor relations. This will include a “nationwide tailgate tour during the upcoming college football season” and an exclusive event at February’s Super Bowl in Santa Clara, Calif., he said.

Scripps’ Sports Strategy
E.W. Scripps also touted the importance of football to its second-half expectations following first-half revenue performance that was down just 2% from levels reached in a national election year, marking a “best-of-class” performance that tied “directly back to our sports strategy,” according to Chief Financial Officer Jason Combs. While “there’s a lot of hesitancy out there” in the overall second-half advertising picture, Combs voices “optimism around our ability to monetize football as it starts to kind of roll back in here.”

One aspect to that optimism relates to Scripps Sports’ longstanding relationship with the NCAA Division I Big Sky Conference, which consists of 10 full and two affiliate member universities in eight Western states. The contract with the Big Sky, renewed for another five years in March, makes Scripps responsible for producing and broadcasting at least 12 conference games a year over its seven Montana stations involving either or both of the state’s conference members, Montana State and Montana University, James Raffety, Scripps Sports senior director of sports production, says.

Scripps is generating coverage that “brings big market, big production to FCS [Football Championship Subdivision] football,” Rafferty says. And Scripps also benefits from the fact that the Big Sky relationship runs deeper than basic game production, he says, with the broadcaster acting as league supporter in event productions like the annual Big Sky Hall of Fame banquet and the Media Day season kickoff. It’s a relationship that goes to the heart of Montana culture with the broadcast of the annual “Brawl of the Wild” showdown between MU and MSU, which Rafferty says draws the biggest statewide audience for any TV program other than the Super Bowl.

Local Ties
Many other station owners benefit from relationships they’ve built with colleges at regional and local levels, in some cases enabling game coverage not supplied by the national networks and, in others, resulting in ancillary programming with games broadcast nationally. Gray Media, for example, is leveraging multiple university partnerships with its launch of regional sports networks, says Robert Folliard, the station group’s senior vice president of government relations and distribution.

“This is a strategic initiative for the company to get into local sports where there’s a ton of advertising and sponsorship opportunities,” Folliard says. “We provide the only platform that can get them into every home.”

On another front, Gray with six other partners in the NextGen TV Pearl TV alliance will be broadcasting college and NFL games in HDR-enhanced 4K, marking a major advance in viewing experience over what consumers typically get through cable and online services. With FCC Chair Brendan Carr voicing enthusiasm for NextGen TV, it looks like “all signals are a go” for expeditious transition to ATSC 3.0, Folliard says, which means TV stations will be in a much stronger position to hold football fans with the combination of superior signal quality and OTA access to interactive game playing and real-time betting.

Nobody is doing more than Fox Sports to keep all its boats afloat, including the new Fox One DTC streaming service, by delivering superior viewing experiences across all affiliated TV and digital outlets. On the big home screen, whether NFL games are delivered via pay TV, OTA or online, Fox is tapping things it introduced at this year’s Super Bowl to enhance the lean-back experience, says Michael Davies, executive vice president of field operations at Fox Sports.

“We’re looking at picking up where we left off,” Davies says. He cites wider use of things like dual SkyCams, Lidar technology for nonobstructive on-screen placements of AR-embellished graphics displays and officials’ Hawk-Eye play-review systems to help commentators with real-time analysis. At some point, Fox Sports anticipates embellishing some NFL broadcasts with output from field-based 180-degree cameras that Fox partner Cosm has deployed to support immersive off-site theatrical viewing of game action.

WASHINGTON—As part of an ongoing push to get the Federal Communications Commission to adopt rules that would strengthen local broadcasters and speed the transition to ATSC 3.0, Sinclair CEO Chris Ripley met this week with the agency’s Chair Brandan Carr, his chief of staff Greg Watson, and his senior counsel, Erin Boone, to discuss “the national television multiple ownership rule, as well as the National Association of Broadcasters’ petition for rulemaking asking the Commission to set a sunset date for ATSC 1.0 transmissions,” according to letter sent by Sinclair to the FCC.

In August 20 letter describing the August 19 meeting, Patrick McFadden, senior vice president, global public policy and communications at Sinclair, who also attended the meeting, noted they had reiterated their arguments for eliminating ownership caps in ways that “was consistent with our comments submitted in that proceeding.”

“With respect to the sunset of ATSC 1.0 transmissions, we discussed the emerging device market for ATSC 3.0 compatible receivers and consumers’ ability to purchase devices that allow them to continue to receive over-the-air signals after an ATSC 1.0 sunset,” McFadden wrote. “We emphasized the importance of the Commission continuing to move expeditiously in consideration of NAB’s petition for the benefit of consumers as well as broadcasters themselves.”

During the meeting, Sinclair executives also stressed that “the best way to spur the availability of more consumer devices is to provide certainty regarding a sunset. Further, as Sinclair noted in its comments in this proceeding, broadcasters are facing rapidly increasing competition from new platforms. ATSC 3.0 is a game-changing opportunity for broadcasters to diversify their revenue streams and ensure that they can continue to serve their viewers – but time is of the essence. We urge the Commission to issue a Notice of Proposed Rulemaking in this proceeding promptly, which will then allow the Commission to develop a fulsome record that will support the sunset of ATSC 1.0 signals in the top 55 markets in February 2028, and the remaining markets in February 2030.”

The full letter is available here.

BALTIMORE—Sinclair has announced that its free, over-the-air multicast networks Charge, Comet, Roar, and The Nest have concluded a series of national distribution agreements, channel upgrades, and new multicast affiliate launches that expand and strengthen their national reach.

“Our multicast networks continue to build momentum through a strategic combination of affiliate expansion, upgraded channel placements, and national distribution on platforms like YouTube TV and Mediacom,” said Lee Schlazer, senior vice president of distribution. “By deepening our presence in key DMAs and bringing these networks to even more linear and digital audiences, we’re delivering on our mission to expand our free, high-quality television footprint nationwide.”

More specifically, Sinclair reported the following updates for each network:

• Charge: Beginning August 1, and continuing through October 1, Charge will add affiliates on the .2 or .3 channel position, with full DMA cable carriage, in the Boston-Manchester (WFXT-2), Austin (KEYE-3), Cincinnati (WSTR-3), Greenville -Spartanburg (WMYA-2), Dayton (WRGT-2), Myrtle Beach (WWMB-2), and Beaumont (KBTV-2) DMAs. Charge! also adds distribution in Lincoln & Hastings-Kearney (KHGI-4), Macon, Ga. (WGXA-4), and Wheeling-Steubenville (WTOV-4).
• Roar: Beginning August 1, Roar launches on new affiliates on the .1 channel positions, with full DMA cable coverage, in Nashville (WNAB-1), San Antonio (KMYS-1), Greenville-Spartanburg (WMYA-1), Dayton (WRGT-1), Wichita-Hutchinson (KMTW-1), Cedar Rapids (KFXA-1), Myrtle Beach (WWMB-1), Beaumont (KBTV-1), and Sioux City (KMEG-1). The network also moves to .2 or .3 channel positions with full cable coverage in Fresno (KMPH-2) and Tri-Cities, Tenn. (WEMT-2).
• Comet: Beginning August 1, Comet moves to the .2 or .3 channel position with full cable coverage in Reno (KRNV-2) and Cedar Rapids (KFXA-3). Comet also launches on Full Power stations in St. Louis (KDNL-5), Austin (KEYE-4).
• The Nest: In Q4, The Nest will launch on YouTube TV, the largest vMVPD in the U.S., expanding its reach to digital-first audiences. On August 1, the network will also launch on new affiliates in San Antonio (KMYS-2), Tulsa (KTUL-6), Columbia, SC (WACH-5), Madison (WMSN-5), Rochester (WHAM-4), Savannah (WTGS-6), Tri-Cities, Tenn. (WEMT-4), Richmond (WRLH-5), Johnstown-Altoona-State College, Pa. (WJAC-5), Traverse City (WPBN-4), Eugene (KVAL-4), Columbia-Jefferson City, Mo. (KRCG-5), and Missoula, Mont. (KECI-5).
• Mediacom National Launch: All four networks are now available nationally on Mediacom, expanding reach across key regions in the Midwest and Southeast.

BALTIMORE—Sinclair has named Billy Robbins vice president of station sales operations, a newly created role for the broadcast group.

Robbins will help lead the day-to-day sales efforts of AMP Sales and Marketing Solutions, the company’s ad-sales unit, across Sinclair’s broadcast stations to drive growth, improve efficiency and streamline operations. He will report to Sinclair senior vice president and chief revenue officer Ryan Moore.

“Billy is a proven leader with a deep understanding of our station operations and a clear track record of delivering results,” Moore said. “His ability to align teams, streamline processes and drive performance will be instrumental as we continue evolving AMP Sales and Marketing Solutions to meet our clients’ needs. I’m confident Billy will help take our sales operations to the next level.”

Robbins most recently served as vice president and general manager of Sinclair’s Baltimore stations, WBFF/WNUV/EBFF. He joined Sinclair in 2003 as general sales manager in Baltimore, before being elevated to station manager and then vice president and general manager in 2021.

“I’m honored to step into this new role and support the incredible work happening across our station sales teams,” Robbins said. “Having spent much of my career at Sinclair, I’m excited to help shape the next phase of growth, collaboration and innovation across our markets.”

Robbins earned a bachelor’s degree in marketing management from Baruch College in New York City.

More information is available on the broadcaster’s website.

Zeam has announced that it has acquired the local streaming news service NewsOn from Sinclair, in a move that will strengthen Zeam’s local and hyperlocal news offerings.

Financial terms of the deal weren’t announced. The deal was announced on the same week that Sinclair announced it was embarking on a comprehensive review of its assets and broadcasting business.

NewsON provides a nationwide selection of local news from 285+ TV stations, giving viewers access to live and on-demand local news.

In addition to providing streaming technologies and services to a large number of clients, including live local broadcasts on Paramount+, the NFL, Amazon, Apple TV, Roku, Hulu, fuboTV and hundreds of other apps and websites, Zeam CEO Jack Perry and his team also launched hyperlocal streaming service, Zeam, in 2024.

Zeam currently features streams from hundreds of local stations and has partnerships with such top local broadcast groups as CBS, Gray Media, News Press & Gazette, Morgan Murphy, Tegna and others.

The NewsON stations will be integrated into Zeam’s core streaming service while NewsOn will continue as a standalone service called “NewsON. Powered by Zeam.”

As a result of the acquisition, Zeam will now feature local streams covering every U.S. measured market.

“With NewsON coming under the Zeam umbrella, we are not only shaping the future of local broadcast journalism, but also reinforcing its essential role in American communities,” Jack Perry, CEO of Zeam, said, “Through our joint resources we are setting local broadcasters up for a future beyond linear.”

Zeam also reported that NewsON be backed by Zeam’s streaming technology and its monetization expertise. Broadcasters will gain from the combined strength of Zeam and NewsON, in terms of further monetization opportunities, deeper engagement, and the innovative tools Zeam provides to local broadcast partners, Zeam reported.

“NewsON has been an important resource for connecting viewers with trusted local news from across the country. We’re confident that under Zeam’s leadership, the platform will continue to support stations and strengthen the value of local journalism,” said Kevin Cotlove, executive vice president and chief digital officer, Sinclair.

LONDON and BALTIMORE—Interactive TV music channel ROXi and Sinclair have formed a strategic partnership to bring ROXi to 31 television markets via ATSC 3.0.

“ROXi is expanding what’s possible on broadcast television, and this partnership brings an interactive music experience to viewers in a simple, accessible way—no apps, logins or subscriptions required,” Skip Flenniken, Sinclair vice president and general manager of technology business development, said. “It’s a clear example of how NextGen TV enhances the broadcast experience.”

ROXi’s interactive channel, powered by FastStream Interactive’s TV platform, will roll out the service in other U.S. TV markets later in the year. Other Pearl TV members are also supporting the rollout.

Viewers watching the ROXi TV channel will find interactive features previously unavailable on broadcast television. They can skip through music videos TikTok style, or search for any artist song, mood or genre with their TV remote. ROXi, which has partnerships with Universal Music Group, Sony Music Entertainment, Warner Music Group and MERLIN, has a catalog of 100 million licensed songs, including both original and virtual music videos.

“More than 40 years after MTV first hit American TV screens, ROXi is revolutionizing the way we experience music on TV in the U.S., turning the TV into a musical hub for the American family again,” Rob Lewis, CEO of FastStream Interactive, said. “This isn’t just a music channel, it’s a game-changer for television. ROXi is just the beginning, we’ll be launching multiple non-music TV channels, ushering in a new era of interactive TV across America.” 

Anne Schelle, managing director of Pearl TV, said viewers should be delighted with ROXi because it is seamless, interactive and free.

“Today’s TV audiences expect control, personalization, and instant access, and ROXi delivers this in spades,” she said. “We’re thrilled to support ROXi’s launch as a new NextGen TV benefit for our viewers and can’t wait to see it expand across the rest of the country, in partnership with multiple broadcasters.” 

BALTIMORE—In another sign that dealmaking for U.S. TV stations may be heating up amid hopes that regulators will eliminate or loosen broadcast ownership caps, Sinclair has announced that it has acquired the non-licensed assets of WDKA-TV (Paducah, Ky.) and KBSI-TV (Cape Girardeau, Mo.), with an option to acquire all the licensed assets of the stations.

Under the terms of the agreement, Sinclair will provide WDKA and KBSI with services including programming, technical, and management.

The FCC has issued a public notice asking for comments on the current ownership rules, with comments and replies to comments due in August. FCC Chair Chair has also called the existing rules outdate and indicated his willingness to change them.

During the July Open Meeting on July 24, Carr says that the agency's 2022 Quadrennial Review of broadcast ownership regulation “will be inspired” by a recent 8th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals ruling on the 2018 Quadrennial Review that vacated the agency's rules against a station group owning more than one of the top-four TV stations in audience share in a given market.

Sinclair previously owned WDKA and KBSI and sold them to Community News Media in a deal the FCC approved in 2021.

BALTIMORE—Sinclair will make the first public showing of a NextGen TV-enabled Android media tablet with integrated ATSC 3.0 receiver and antenna during the public-safety convention APCO 2025, to be held July 27-30 at the Baltimore Convention Center.

The broadcaster, exhibiting with the AWARN Alliance and Digital Alert Systems in booth 3065, is debuting the media tablet during the annual gathering of the Association of Public-Safety Communications Officials to underscore the important role ATSC 3.0 can play in keeping the public informed during emergencies—whether at home watching TV or on the move.=

“We’ve had our eye on APCO for this demonstration because we want to show public safety officials—particularly public-safety communications officials—what 3.0 can do in the home and on the go in a public safety context,” Patrick McFadden, senior vice president for global public policy and communications at Sinclair, said.

But why should a tablet that can already connect to a cell tower or Wi-Fi network need ATSC 3.0 to receive emergency messaging? It boils down to resiliency, McFadden said.

“I’m not taking a shot at the wireless carriers, but their networks are just designed differently than ours,” he said. “If you look at some of those counties in Western North Carolina in the aftermath of Hurricane Helene, 60 to 70% of the cell sites went out of service. Our station in Asheville never went off the air.

“That resilience and reliability is tremendous for the TV viewer, but what about someone who’s out of their home when the emergency happens or someone who’s been evacuated?” he asked, rhetorically. “If we can combine our resilience with the ubiquity of mobile devices, that’s a pretty huge public-safety benefit.”

McFadden declined to identify the company responsible for making the NextGen TV-enabled tablet but said Sinclair has been “working with a number of manufacturers” to develop 3.0 mobile devices, including tablets and phones.

In October 2020, Sinclair subsidiary ONE Media Technologies surprised the industry when it unveiled production samples of the Mark One NextGen TV-enabled smartphone. Since then, it has rolled out the next-generation Mark Two smartphone.

Like the Mark One, the tablet shown next week at the gathering is not available for purchase, he said, adding, “I would characterize it as a precommercial trial.” However, the broadcaster has ordered “a large number of these devices,” a sign that the tablet is beyond the proof-of-concept stage. “We’re confident that the market will advance as 3.0 moves forward,” McFadden said.

Besides the NextGen TV-enabled tablet, Sinclair will show the Mark Two 3.0-enabled smartphone as well as NextGen TV dongles that work with mini devices. All of these devices will be used to demonstrate to the more than 5,000 show attendees what emergency alert messages and advanced emergency information could look like on these devices, he said.

Broadcasters in North Carolina, including PBS North Carolina and Capitol Broadcasting’s WNGT, along with several technology developers and vendors demonstrated a few years ago the ability of ATSC 3.0 digital broadcast paging to transmit emergency call data to first responders in the field.

Sinclair’s APCO 2025 demonstration of the version 3.0 tablet and phone, however, will focus on the consumer-facing side of emergency communications, not first responders. “One of the great things about 3.0 is it can do both [communicate to first responders and the public],” he said. “Broadcasters’ use of 3.0 to communicate emergency alerts and information to the public is a valuable service we can provide to the communities we serve, and we want to make that clear to those attending APCO.”

Of course, having the ability to receive an over-the-air TV signal on a tablet beyond emergency alerting and information is important to both the public and broadcasters. “Obviously, the way people consume video has evolved and will continue to evolve, and the opportunities for us to reach viewers wherever they are is hugely significant for the industry,” he said.

WASHINGTON—The Federal Communications Commission has entered into consent decrees with several broadcasters that resolve a 2018 case relating to violations of rules governing children’s programming.

As part of recent orders and consent degrees issued between July 17 and 22, the FCC also agreed to renew the broadcast TV licenses for stations owned by MPS Media, Mercury Broadcasting, Second Generation of Iowa, Deerfield and Manhan Media, Waitt Broadcasting, New Age Media and GoCom Media.

The investigations stem from violations occurring between Nov. 10 and Dec, 16, 2018, when a commercial for “Hot Wheels Super Garage” was inadvertently aired 11 times during eight 30-minute-long episodes of “Team Hot Wheels.” The FCC found that this violated the Children’s Television Act of 1990 which, among other things, states that a program associated with a product, in which commercials for that product are aired, would be treated as a program-length commercial.

In 2022, the FCC levied $3.3 million in fines and September of 2024 the FCC has released a forfeiture order against 19 station groups covering 113 TV stations for a total $3,334,000 in fines for violations in the case.

The newest consent degrees follow a major settlement in late June of 2024 with Sinclair of various investigations, including violations of children's programming rules in the “Hot Wheels” case. In that settlement, Sinclair did not admit to wrongdoing but agreed to make a voluntary payment of $500,000 and to put systems in place to avoid future violations.

The FCC had initially levied a $2.652 million fine on Sinclair, which was opposed by then-commissioner Brendan Carr, a Republican appointee who is now FCC chair.

As part of the newest consent degrees issued between July 17 and 22, the FCC also agreed to renew the following broadcast licenses:

• Mercury Broadcasting Company, Inc., licensee of full-power television station KMTW, Hutchinson, Kan.
• MPS Media of Tennessee License, LLC, licensee of full-power television station WFLI-TV, Cleveland, Tenn.
• Second Generation of Iowa, LTD, licensee of full-power television station KFXA, Cedar Rapids, Iowa.
• Waitt Broadcasting, Inc., licensee of full-power television station KMEG, Sioux City, Iowa.
• GoCom Media of Illinois, LLC, licensee of full-power television stationn WBUI, Decatur, Ill.
• Deerfield Media’s KBTV-TV in Port Arthur, Texas; KMYS in Kerrville, Texas; WHAM-TV in Rochester, N.Y.; WSTR-TV in Cincinnati; and Manhan Media’s WWHO, Chillicothe, Ohio.
• New Age Media’s WGFL in High Springs, Fla.; WOLF-TV in Hazleton, Pa.,;WQMY in Williamsport, Pa.; and W24DB-D, a Class A station operating as a translator of WOLF-TV.

As the death toll continues to mount, with at least 120 killed and more than 170 people still missing on July 10 from devastating Texas floods, a number of broadcast station groups have announced efforts to raise money for those impacted by the disaster.

Gray Media, Graham Media Group, E.W. Scripps and Sinclar are among the broadcast station group owners who have announced efforts to raise and donate money as their stations and other broadcasters continue to provide critical information about the disaster.

A few highlights of those efforts include:

• Sinclair has launched Sinclair Cares: Texas Tragedy Relief, a national fundraising campaign in partnership with the Salvation Army, to support those affected by the devastating flooding across Texas. It said 100% of funds raised will provide critical emergency assistance including mobile feeding units, meals, hydration, shelter, clean up kits, hygiene kits and emotional care to survivors and first responders. Sinclair noted that its stations in San Antonio (KABB and WOAI) and Austin (KEYE) have been reporting on the story since the flooding began on July 4, delivering continuous coverage on Friday and Saturday, expanding newscasts into Sunday, with KABB and WOAI airing 52 hours of live coverage and KEYE also adding extended live coverage. To further support the ongoing effort, Sinclair has deployed 10 journalists and additional resources from other markets to assist with comprehensive coverage across all platforms. More information is available at SinclairCares.com.
• In response to the devastating floods that swept through Central Texas and the Hill Country, Graham Media Group and Gray Media have joined forces to launch an urgent donation drive supporting local relief and recovery efforts. The campaign raised more than $120,000 in donations in its first 24 hours, including a $25,000 donation from Gray. Graham is making an additional $15,000 donation to the campaign. Through this collaborative campaign, Graham ’s KSAT in San Antonio and KPRC in Houston and Gray stations across 113 U.S. markets aim to generate donations that deliver vital resources—including food, housing and financial aid—to impacted communities. The station groups said 100% of funds raised will support on-the-ground efforts in flood-affected regions Donate at www.togetherfortx.com
• The Scripps News Group and the Scripps Howard Fund have raised more than $75,000 to provide relief for those impacted by the devastating floods in Central Texas. Scripps reported that since its campaign launched on July 7, support has poured in from across the nation, with more than $50,000 donated by hundreds of people from more than 25 states. E.W. Scripps has also contributed $25,000 to bolster the relief efforts. Scripps reported that the floods are now the deadliest instance of inland flooding in the U.S. since 1976, when Colorado’s Big Thompson Canyon flooded, killing 144 people, according to a new report. To give: Text FLOODING to 50155 or visit scrippsnews.com/relief.
• The Broadcasters Foundation of America is also making one-time, emergency grants to broadcasters who need financial help recovering from a natural disaster or acute emergency is extending that help to broadcasters impacted by the Texas flood. It said there are two ways to apply for an emergency grant: Personal Application - Broadcaster applying for themselves following an emergency or an Employer Application - General Manager, Market Manager, or HR representative applying on behalf of your employees following an emergency. Applications can be submitted here.

TV Tech will add more examples as we collect them.

BALTIMORE—Sinclair has named Narinder Sahai its executive vice president and chief financial officer, effective immediately.

Sahai brings more than 20 years of experience in strategic financial leadership at publicly traded and private-equity-backed companies, Sinclair said, most recently as CFO of Arcis Golf, a leisure and hospitality company, where he led financial planning, accounting, tax, treasury and investor relations.

Sahai has a deep level of expertise across the full breadth of finance functions, including capital markets, treasury, controllership, investor relations, mergers and acquisitions and planning and analysis, Sinclair said. He also brings strong technology expertise, including in artificial intelligence and machine learning, from his tenure at Amazon Web Services (AWS) and his undergraduate degree in electronics and electrical communication engineering, the company said.

Prior to Arcis, Sahai was CFO of RumbleOn, a publicly traded technology-driven omnichannel powersports platform, where he built the financial planning and analysis function, launched the internal audit and Sarbanes-Oxley Act compliance programs and successfully integrated several acquisitions, Sinclair said.

At Amazon’s AWS, Sahai served as head of worldwide go-to-market finance for compute and AI/machine learning services, providing financial leadership for specialist sales teams across global markets. Before AWS, Sahai was senior vice president, treasurer and investor relations head at Target Hospitality, where he managed all investor relations and capital markets activities for the company’s equity public-market debut and executed comprehensive debt financing transactions, Sinclair said.

“Narinder’s proven track record as CFO of both publicly traded and private-equity-backed companies, combined with his operational discipline and strategic financial leadership, makes him exceptionally well-suited to guide Sinclair through its next phase of growth,” Sinclair President and CEO Chris Ripley said. “He brings a unique perspective having worked in multiple industries, including cloud and AI-focused companies.

“Narinder is a proven C-suite leader with a strong history of executing value-creating strategies, optimizing capital structures and driving margin improvement,” Ripley added. “We’re looking forward to him building on our culture of success, industry leadership, and best-in-class finance team, especially as we advance commercialization strategies around ATSC 3.0 and continue to deliver long-term value for our stakeholders.”

Sahai has a Bachelor of Engineering in electronics and electrical communication engineering from Thapar University in India, where he was valedictorian, and a Master of Business Administration with high distinction from the Ross School of Business at the University of Michigan. Sahai is also a CFA Charterholder.

“I am honored to join Sinclair during such an exciting period of transformation and growth,” Sahai said. “Having worked across diverse industries—from automotive and energy to consumer and technology—I have a deep appreciation for companies that are successfully transforming themselves while maintaining strong operational discipline. Sinclair’s unique position at the intersection of local media, sports, and emerging technology creates tremendous opportunities.

“From the company’s leadership position in local broadcasting, combined with its pioneering work in ATSC 3.0 technology, the strength of Tennis Channel and innovative ventures portfolio, I see significant potential to drive value creation for all stakeholders,” he added. “I look forward to working with Chris, the board and the entire team to execute on Sinclair’s strategic vision while maintaining the strong financial discipline that has positioned the company for success.”

With the appointment, Lucy Rutishauser will step down as CFO, continuing as executive vice president to support the transition. She will remain in that capacity until her planned retirement later this year, at which time she will become senior adviser.

WASHINGTON—The Federal Communications Commission has approved the transfer of licenses for five TV stations from Sinclair to Rincon Broadcasting, which announced a $29.4 million deal to acquire the stations in March.

In doing so, the FCC also provided a rare exemption from its ownership rules prohibiting station groups from owning more than one top-four station in a market. That decision could be interpreted as another example of the FCC’s willingness to relax TV-station ownership rules. The agency has cleared two other waivers of the rule so far this year.

The five stations are WVTV-TV in Milwaukee, KTVO-TV in Kirksville, Mo.,; WICD-TV in Champaign, Ill., KHQA-TV in Hannibal, Mo., and WICS-TV in Springfield, Ill.

Rincon had been seeking to acquire from Sinclair the licenses of full-power television stations KHQA-TV, Hannibal, Mo., which carries both ABC and CBS affiliations in the Quincy-Hannibal-Keokuk DMA; and KTVO, Kirksville, Mo., which carries both ABC and CBS affiliations in the Ottumwa-Kirksville DMA. Granting the proposed assignments allow Rincon to own multiple top-four rated programming streams in these DMAs.

In its memorandum opinion and order, the FCC concluded that “any potential public interest harms of Rincon’s proposed ownership of KHQA-TV and KTVO with their top-four affiliations intact are outweighed by the unrebutted record evidence of the public interest benefits of this transaction, which would ensure the preservation of local news service in the local markets. Accordingly, application of the Top-Four Prohibition would not be in the public interest in this case. We also find that grant of the applications will pose no competitive harm and would otherwise serve the public interest, convenience and necessity.”

In addition, the FCC granted Rincon “continued authority to operate WICD as a satellite of WICS in the Champaign-Urbana & Springfield-Decatur market.”

In approving the license transfers the FCC rejected a petition by public interest group Frequency Forward opposing the deal. Frequency Forward had argued that Sinclair has a history of skirting ownership caps by having closely affiliated companies own the licenses of stations that then establish operational ties with Sinclair. Rincon is owned by Todd Parkin, a former Sinclair executive.

The full Memorandum and Order is available here.

WASHINGTON—The Federal Communications Commission has rejected license challenges to three full-power Baltimore TV stations, renewing the licenses for Chesapeake Television Licensee LLC’s WBFF and WNUV and Deerfield Media's WUTB.

Chesapeake Television Licensee is a subsidiary of Sinclair. WNUV-TV is a subsidiary of Cunningham Broadcasting Corp., operated by Sinclair under a local marketing agreement. Sinclair has a joint services agreement with WUTB.

On September 1, 2020, Ihor Gawdiak filed a petition to deny the licenses. Gawdiak claimed that Sinclair has de facto control of Cunningham, Deerfield, and other entities, which would violate station ownership caps. Gawdiak also claimed that Sinclair has repeatedly violated the FCC’s sponsorship identification rules, has repeatedly failed to negotiate with multichannel video programming distributors in good faith and has repeatedly failed to properly maintain its public inspection files.

After Gawdiak died, his lawyer filed a petition to substitute Eleanor Goldfield as the petitioner.

The FCC said it denied the pension based on the fact that Goldfield lacked legal standing and on its investigation of the issues.

The FCC’s decision to renew the licenses came on the same day, June 27th, that Sinclair separately signed a consent decree in which it agreed to pay $500,000 to settle various FCC investigations. Under the decree, Sinclair also agreed to take steps to avoid future rule violations but did not admit to any wrongdoing.

The decision to renew the licenses and reject arguments that Sinclair was violating ownership caps also comes at a time when the agency has been moving aggressively to potentially modify or eliminate some or all of its ownership caps.

WASHINGTON—The Federal Communications Commission’s Enforcement and Media Bureaus have entered into a consent decree with Sinclair to resolve a variety of investigations related to station license renewal applications, closed captioning rules and violations of regulations governing kids' programming.

As part of the decree, Sinclair will pay a $500,000 civil penalty and has agreed to a two-year compliance plan to ensure violations don’t occur in the future. As part of the settlement, Sinclair did not have to admit it had violated FCC regulations.

More specifically, the Consent Decree resolves a Notice of Apparent Liability and Forfeiture Order involving compliance with rules that limit the amount of commercial matter that commercial television stations may air during children’s programming.

In September, the FCC released a forfeiture order against 19 station groups covering 113 TV stations for a total $3,334,000 in fines for violations of rules regarding children’s programming. As previously reported, the order, which rejected broadcasters’ arguments seeking to reduce penalties originally proposed in 2022, ordered fines against the station groups that included a $2.652 million fine on Sinclair. The newest consent decree resolves Sinclair’s violations.

The settlement also resolves violations of rules requiring stations to timely upload copies of issues/programs lists and commercial limits certifications to the online public inspection file; an investigation into failing to file a license renewal application no later than the first day of the fourth full calendar month prior to the license expiration date of TV translator station K33MJ-D, Pahrump, Nevada; and by failing to pass through closed captioning and monitoring equipment and the signal transmission involved in the transmission of closed captioning on video programming received and aired by WUHF, Rochester, New York, the FCC said.

“We greatly appreciate the constructive and diligent work of the Commission’s staff, and we are pleased that we were able to reach a mutually acceptable resolution of these issues," Sinclair said in a statement. "With these matters resolved, we look forward to continuing to serve our viewers with our award-winning local journalism and our commitment to our communities.”

ABILENE, Texas—Following a severe June 8 storm that knocked down a tower onto the Sinclair-owned KTXS building, the initial scene at the site was devastating. The collapsed roof had destroyed the ABC affiliate's studio, wrecking a lot of equipment and making it impossible to produce newscasts.

Luckily, no one was injured in the disaster, and the station’s news operation was able to quickly recover thanks to a recently deployed cloud-based master control system that allowed Sinclair’s corporate, regional and local engineers to rapidly restore programming.

David Ostmo, a San Antonio-based senior regional engineering director at Sinclair, said he arrived in Abilene midday on Monday (June 9) with two engineers from the company’s San Antonio stations to help two engineers at KTXS survey and restore the damage.

By Monday evening Sinclair’s local, regional and corporate engineers had restored the station’s feed to cable; by Wednesday evening, less than three days after the wind storm knocked down the tower and ripped the roof off the KTXS building as its meteorologists watched in horror, the ABC affiliate was once again offering over-the-air broadcasts.

“Despite all the devastation, we were able to recover quickly, because we are a cloud based master control that is hubbed out of market,” Ostmo said. “We just made that transition about two months ago. If this had occurred earlier this year, we would have been off the air for a very long period of time because we would have had to spin up another master control from scratch.”

Sinclair has set up regional hubs for different network affiliates and is currently hubbing all of its ABC affiliates like KTXS out of Chattanooga, Tennessee. It is using Amazon Web Services for a cloud-based master control system.

“Our station [KTXS] is hubbed up from Chattanooga,” Ostmo said. “The Chattanooga hub was able to fiber over [a feed] to our station in Amarillo, and our Amarillo station then handed the signal off to the local cable provider, which returned our signal back to the air on Monday evening.”

This operational structure also helped quickly restore the over-the-air broadcasts.

The KTXS transmitter, which is about 25 miles from the station’s studio and building, was not damaged in the storm.

“We brought in a satellite truck from San Antonio and parked it at the transmitter site, which was a whole challenge in and of itself, because it's up on top of a fairly tall mesa. It’s a very rough road to get to the transmitter site,“ Ostmo said. “Fortunately, our truck was able to navigate the twists and turns and hairpin curves and make its way up to the top so that we could get it set up.”

Engineers they used the “satellite truck parked at our transmitter site to downlink the signal,” he continued. “Our hubbed signal is being uplinked at our corporate headquarters and then downlinked at the transmitter site [by the satellite truck]...where we are handing it off to the transmitter. Fortunately, the ATSC encoders at the station were not wet, and we were able to move them out to the transmitter side to encode the signal coming from the satellite and feed it to the transmitter.”

Newer workflows and some local help have also helped restore the station’s news coverage and operations.

Following the storm damage, nearby Abilene Christian University kindly let the station set up its news operations temporarily at its facilities.

KTXS also uses an anchorless news format, which makes it easier for reporters to put together stories and package them into a newscast.

"The newscast is done through Amagi automation,” he said. “So the reporters create their packages and essentially insert them into an Amagi playlist. [Initially] San Antonio was just feeding a newscast to the Chattanooga hub, and the Chattanooga hub inserted it into the program stream. After we reestablished our newsroom there [at Abilene Christian University], they continued using the Amagi workflow to put packages together.”

The station can continue to operate out of the university until early August, when students return. Sinclair is currently analyzing the pros and cons of rebuilding at the same site or moving to a new location.

Newer cloud-based workflows will also play an important role in that decision. “As long as we can access the cloud, we're golden,” Ostmo said. “We can set that up in any number of places. All we needed was some tables and internet access and we can get to work.

“It's kind of mind-boggling to think that we don't have to build out a great, big, huge studio to get up and running again,” he added. “We will have a studio at our new facility, but it's not going to have the same intensive requirements we once might have needed.”