225-639: The attempted acquisition of Tribune Media by Sinclair Broadcast Group was a proposed broadcast media transaction between Sinclair Broadcast Group and Tribune Media . Formally announced on May 8, 2017, the $ 3.9 billion deal would have resulted in Sinclair owning—or having operational control over—stations available in 72% of all households with a television set in the United States. The deal received criticism from multiple special interest groups and Democratic and Republican politicians who felt that
450-497: A Fortune 500 company, having reached 2020 annual revenues of US$ 5.9 billion, equivalent to $ 6.8 billion in 2023. A 2019 study in the American Political Science Review found that "stations bought by Sinclair reduce coverage of local politics, increase national coverage and move the ideological tone of coverage in a conservative direction relative to other stations operating in
675-688: A Super Bowl since Super Bowl XL in 2006. ABC currently holds the broadcast rights to the Academy Awards , Primetime Emmy Awards , and the Country Music Association Awards . ABC has also aired the Miss America competition from 1954 to 1956, 1997 to 2004, and 2011 to 2018. From February 2001 to February 14, 2020, ABC held the television rights to most of the Peanuts television specials, having acquired
900-710: A digital subchannel of WVTV through the sale of its broadcast spectrum through the 2017 spectrum incentive auction ); the Baltimore station, being Sinclair's flagship , likely would not have been sold in any event as the nearest Tribune properties to it were in Washington, D.C. (WDCW), Philadelphia (WPHL-TV) and Harrisburg (WPMT). FTS was also reported to be considering exchanging the Orlando duopoly of WOFL (channel 35) and WRBW (channel 65) as well as Ocala semi-satellite WOGX (channel 51) to Sinclair in return. After
1125-529: A "conservative voice for and of the people" over the Comcast 's acquisition of NBCUniversal in 2011. Despite facing the prospect of having to appear before an administrative law judge to defend the deal, Sinclair, on August 8, 2018, during its second-quarter earnings call, announced its intention to attempt to complete the deal, with the parties free to walk away after midnight. However, the following day (August 9), Tribune Media announced that it had terminated
1350-421: A $ 25 million settlement agreement for its shareholders related to three lawsuits. Of the $ 25 million, $ 20.5 million will be paid into a settlement fund. Sinclair Broadcast Group Sinclair, Inc. , doing business as Sinclair Broadcast Group , is a publicly traded American telecommunications conglomerate that is controlled by the descendants of company founder Julian Sinclair Smith . Headquartered in
1575-963: A $ 441.1-million group deal. In four of the affected markets, Sinclair would have formed new duopolies or virtual triopolies involving existing stations that would have been separated from their existing duopoly partners and Tribune-owned stations in those markets: On May 9, 2018, Fox Television Stations confirmed that it would acquire Fox affiliates KCPQ in Seattle, KDVR in Denver, WJW in Cleveland, KTXL in Sacramento, KSWB-TV in San Diego and KSTU in Salt Lake City, and CW affiliate WSFL-TV in Miami for $ 910 million in cash and value stock. In exchange for
1800-592: A , a design known as the ABC Circle A. In 1962, graphic designer Paul Rand redesigned the ABC logo into its current and best-known form, with the lowercase letters "abc" enclosed in a single black circle. The new logo debuted on-air on October 19 of the same year, but it was not until the following spring that it was fully adopted. The letters are strongly reminiscent of the Bauhaus typeface designed by Herbert Bayer in
2025-530: A 1985 discount quota on UHF stations repealed two years earlier by Wheeler and his Democratic-led majority, a requirement dating to the FCC's inception for broadcast outlets to maintain office operations within the community of their primary local coverage areas, and removing ownership attribution rules applying to joint sales and shared services agreements). The issues concerning Pai's legislative efforts also drew attention to efforts by Sinclair to ingratiate itself with
2250-719: A 3–2 vote led by former FCC chairman Tom Wheeler in September 2016 because of its obsolescence on technological grounds. (UHF stations transmitting over the ATSC digital format have improved signal reception compared to those which broadcast over the NTSC analog standard prior to the 2009 analog-to-digital transition for full-power television stations.) Such a deal would complement Sinclair, as it only had an 11% market overlap with Tribune and required minimum divestment of broadcasting assets; additionally, Sinclair would expand its reach within
2475-610: A Canadian charity which builds schools in Africa. On October 17, 2021, Sinclair was struck by a ransomware attack affecting the internal servers and workstations of its television stations, after the alleged hackers breached the stations' internal broadcasting systems via an Active Directory domain that interconnected the company's corporate and local IT networks. The incident had disrupted some of its office and operational networks (including internal servers, email servers, corporate phone lines, and workstations and news graphics systems at
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#17327944774352700-565: A Good Skate, Charlie Brown , Happy New Year, Charlie Brown! , The Mayflower Voyagers , A Charlie Brown Valentine , Charlie Brown's Christmas Tales and I Want a Dog for Christmas, Charlie Brown ). ABC also broadcasts the annual Disney Parks Christmas Day Parade special on Christmas morning. Since 1974, ABC has generally aired Dick Clark's New Year's Rockin' Eve – a New Year's Eve special featuring music performances and coverage of festivities in New York's Times Square . ABC
2925-480: A Q&A session on his official Periscope account on March 14, 2018, that the Sinclair-Tribune deal would allow the former to utilize WGN America to expand the reach of Ring of Honor – which has produced a weekly program, Ring of Honor Wrestling , that has been syndicated to the group's television stations since shortly after Sinclair bought the wrestling promotion in 2011 – in a manner similar to how
3150-432: A Top 10 market, WJLA-TV ( Washington, D.C. / Hagerstown ), which would have been supplanted as the largest market in which Sinclair owned a station (Sinclair would also have gained a duopoly in D.C. with the acquisition of CW affiliate WDCW ). The two websites that were to have been acquired by Sinclair were entertainment news and television listings service Screener (also known as Zap2It) and its subsidiary website TV by
3375-752: A buyer, Sinclair proposed in May 2014, to return to the FCC the licenses for WCFT-TV in Tuscaloosa, Alabama , WJSU-TV in Anniston, Alabama , and WCIV in Charleston, South Carolina , transferring the intellectual properties of those three stations to existing Sinclair-owned stations. One other Allbritton station, WHTM-TV in Harrisburg, Pennsylvania , was sold to Media General for $ 83.4 million (equivalent to $ 107 million in 2023). After nearly
3600-761: A combined $ 63.8 million; while Howard Stirk Holdings was to have acquired Sinclair stations in Seattle (KUNS-TV) and Salt Lake City (KMYU) and a Tribune station in Oklahoma City (KAUT-TV) for a combined $ 4.95 million; and Standard Media – a broadcast holding company formed by private equity firm Standard General – would have bought seven stations from Sinclair in Oklahoma City (KOKH-TV), Greensboro (WXLV-TV), Richmond (WRLH-TV), Scranton-Wilkes-Barre (WQMY and master services agreements involving sister stations WSWB and WOLF-TV) and Des Moines (KDSM-TV), and two from Tribune in Grand Rapids (WXMI) and Harrisburg (WPMT) in
3825-500: A combined 105,000 square feet (9,800 m ) across two blocks with a total area of 159,000 square feet (14,800 m ). This main set of buildings includes: ABC also owns 7, 17 and 47 West 66th Street, three buildings on a 375-by-100-foot (114 m × 30 m) plot. The block of West 66th Street between Central Park West and Columbus Avenue, which houses the ABC News building, was renamed Peter Jennings Way in 2006 in honor of
4050-423: A compulsory widescreen format, either in high definition or standard definition. With this change, some programs also began positioning their main on-screen credits outside the 4:3 aspect ratio. The ABC logo has evolved many times since the network's creation in 1943. The network's first logo, introduced in 1946, consisted of a television screen containing the letters "T" and "V", with a vertical ABC microphone in
4275-787: A condition of the approval for its $ 3.9 billion acquisition of Tribune Media. Nexstar Media Group, Tegna Inc. and the Meredith Corporation were among the groups that reportedly made offers to acquire the divested outlets. Fox Television Stations (FTS) also was reported to have entered into negotiations to acquire between six and ten stations, among those involved in the DOJ consent agreement and/or those already owned by Sinclair or Tribune that are located in markets where neither groups' stations conflict with FCC rules (among them, KCPQ and its MyNetworkTV-affiliated sister KZJO in Seattle ,
4500-670: A consortium – as well as leading Tribune shareholder Starboard Value to approach 21st Century Fox about taking options to thwart the deal as a defensive measure; the major impetus was that a combination of Sinclair (which is already the largest Fox affiliate operator by station count, with 54 primary and subchannel-only affiliates) and Tribune (the network's largest affiliate operator by total market reach, as its 14 Fox stations are concentrated in top-50 markets) would potentially result in Sinclair obtaining leverage over 21st Century Fox in reverse compensation negotiations for its Fox- and MyNetworkTV -affiliated stations (the 68 Fox affiliates that
4725-779: A deal with Paramount and its UPN network, bringing five affiliates WPTT-TV in Pittsburgh, WNUV-TV in Baltimore, WCGV-TV in Milwaukee, WSTR-TV in Cincinnati and KSMO-TV in Kansas City to the network. In 1996, Sinclair bought out Superior Communications for $ 63 million. In 1997, Sinclair reached a deal with The WB to convert many of the UPN affiliates to The WB. Following the disputes, in August 1998, Sinclair and UPN signed
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#17327944774354950-556: A digital subchannel or because a primary feed ABC affiliate has not yet upgraded their transmission equipment to allow content to be presented in HD. Although ABC has not fully transitioned to 1080p or ultra HD , some stations such as ABC affiliate station KNXV-TV in Phoenix, Arizona, transmit the network's programming at 1080p via an ATSC 3.0 multiplex stations, such as KASW with KNXV-TV. ABC began its conversion to high definition with
5175-480: A duopoly). Presumptive of the cap not being raised any further, Sinclair would also have to divest certain stations in non-conflict markets that would put its total reach over the current 39% coverage limit on national station ownership. (The enlarged group would effectively cover nearly 72% of the U.S., but would still reach over 45% coverage even with the UHF discount factored in.) Sinclair CEO Christopher Ripley stated that
5400-654: A facility on Empire Avenue near the Hollywood Burbank Airport . In nearby Glendale , Disney/ABC also maintains the Grand Central Creative Campus , which houses other company subsidiaries, including the studios of KABC-TV and the Los Angeles bureau of ABC News. ABC owns several facilities in New York, grouped mainly on West 66th Street, with the main set of facilities on the corner of Columbus Avenue. These facilities occupy
5625-460: A factual and objective manner and, in turn, have accused mainstream outlets of being cowed into journalistic neutrality to avoid being perceived as having bias against conservatives.) These issues – along with the company's past history of producing specials critical of Democratic presidential candidates John Kerry (in 2004) and Barack Obama (planned for 2008, only to be scuttled amid pressure from interest groups that included those who opposed
5850-461: A feed of its syndicated newscast The National Desk ). Ransomware experts later indicated that the attack was likely linked to Evil Corp., a Russia-based cybergang that was sanctioned by the U.S. Treasury Department in 2019 and had been accused prior to the attack of attempting to rebrand itself to evade the sanctions; the hackers are believed to have disseminated the Macaw ransomware strain (which
6075-510: A few days afterward. Many scheduled NFL game telecasts on the 17th were disrupted on its NBC, CBS and Fox affiliates (replaced by a different game feed or by alternative programming). Sinclair also supplied alternative programming feeds to fill airtime on some of the affected stations due to varying difficulties in transmitting and receiving certain syndicated program feeds or to occupy timeslots normally filled by newscasts (mainly from company-owned multicast networks like Stadium and TBD , or via
6300-399: A few markets, such as Birmingham, Alabama ( WBMA-LD ), Lima, Ohio ( WPNM-LD ) and South Bend, Indiana ( WBND-LD ). In some markets, including the former two mentioned, these stations also maintain digital simulcasts on a subchannel of a co-owned/co-managed full-power television station. The network has the unusual distinction of having separately owned-and-operated affiliates which serve
6525-430: A filing in the same chancery court. With the deal terminated, the sale of stations to Cunningham, Fox, Meredith and Standard Media, which was to have been a sale from Sinclair to those entities (as those all involved Tribune stations) as well as the sales of its stations (and LMAs) to Howard Stirk were also terminated. Fox, however, would eventually trade its Charlotte stations ( WJZY and WMYT ) to Nexstar Media Group for
6750-428: A hearing before an administrative law judge . On August 9, 2018, Tribune Media announced that it had terminated the sale agreement with Sinclair, and that it had filed a $ 1 billion lawsuit against the company for breach of contract. Tribune Media CEO Peter Kern stated that the sale "cannot be completed in an acceptable timeframe, if ever"; the suit cited Sinclair's "belligerent and unnecessarily protracted negations" with
6975-454: A high-ranking executive at Sinclair, also created "The Point", a series of conservative editorial segments that were broadcast on stations operated by the group that maintain news departments. In October 2015, Sinclair premiered Full Measure , a syndicated public affairs program hosted by Sharyl Attkisson . On July 1, 2017, Sinclair launched a new daily morning kids' TV block called KidsClick , partnering with This TV . The block
Attempted acquisition of Tribune Media by Sinclair Broadcast Group - Misplaced Pages Continue
7200-714: A larger dispersal of Newport's 22-station portfolio. That same day, Sinclair purchased Tampa station WTTA for $ 40 million, equivalent to $ 53.1 million in 2023. Two of Sinclair's existing stations in markets affected by the Newport deal, WSTR-TV and KMYS , were sold to Deerfield Media. Deerfield also acquired KBTV-TV , Beaumont, Texas 's Fox affiliate, from Nexstar, with Sinclair assuming operations and merging it into CBS affiliate KFDM . The non-license assets of ABC affiliate WHAM-TV in Rochester, New York , were sold by Newport to Sinclair, with Deerfield purchasing
7425-445: A list of deregulatory actions that they wanted Pai and his soon-to-be conservative FCC majority to enact (including many of the regulations, such as the UHF discount reinstatement and ownership relaxations, that the FCC approved under his leadership). A spokeswoman for Pai said "the request appears to be part of many Democrats' attempt to target one particular company because of its perceived political views... . Any claim that Chairman Pai
7650-451: A major string of acquisitions involving television stations and other properties two years later. The beginning of the 2010s saw Sinclair's acquisition strategy intensify. In May 2011, Ring of Honor (ROH), a professional wrestling promotion , was purchased for an undisclosed amount. ROH's flagship program Ring of Honor Wrestling was added onto the schedules of many Sinclair-operated stations. In September 2011, Four Points Media Group
7875-841: A mere 55-mile (89 km) distance between the two cities and the Kansas City-based stations (including KMBC) providing better city-grade to Grade B coverage to the area compared to the signals of the primary ABC affiliates in the other aforementioned dual-affiliate markets. (KQTV was St. Joseph's lone major network affiliate until 2011, when locally based News-Press & Gazette Company began establishing low-power affiliates of ABC's four English-language competitors and Telemundo on three low-power stations to end St. Joseph's dependence on Kansas City.) WWSB, KHGI and WOTV, meanwhile, serve areas that do not receive an adequate signal from their market's primary ABC affiliate. (Of note, ABC initially affiliated with WWSB to cover southern portions of
8100-607: A minority stake in YES Network . While Sinclair did not bid on the Cox stations, on April 26, 2019, it was reported that Sinclair was the successful bidder for Fox Sports Networks at $ 10 billion. On August 22, 2019, Sinclair completed the acquisition of FSN and thus FSN is now a wholly owned subsidiary and becoming sisters to Marquee. On January 27, 2020, Sinclair announced that it would sell WDKY-TV in Lexington, Kentucky , and
8325-462: A national news venture would create undue financial risk by adding further debt to that Sinclair had accrued since it began its spate of station purchases with the 2011 acquisition of Four Points Media Group (estimated at $ 3.268 billion as of March 31, 2017) as well as the debt it would have assumed through the Tribune deal. Former professional wrestling executive Eric Bischoff also posited during
8550-492: A network that will feature reruns of home improvement, true crime, reality and celebrity-driven shows. In May 2024, Sinclair was reportedly considering selling more than 30% of its 185 broadcasting stations. Sinclair had experimented with using a centralized news organization called News Central that provided prepackaged news segments for distribution to several of the group's stations. These segments were integrated into programming during local news broadcasts. Mark Hyman ,
8775-711: A new UHF television station in Baltimore, expected to be operating by September 1968 on channel 45, no call sign yet assigned. Channel 45, with the call sign WBFF , joined on April 11, 1971. By that time, Chesapeake Engineering Placement Service had changed its name to Chesapeake Television Corporation . The Commercial Radio Institute, by then a division of Chesapeake Television Corporation, founded WPTT (now WPNT ) in Pittsburgh , in 1978, and WTTE in Columbus, Ohio , in 1984. All three stations originally were independents . In 1986, WBFF and WTTE became charter affiliates of
9000-402: A new agreement. In February 1998, Sinclair bought out Sullivan Broadcasting for $ 1 billion. In 1998, Sinclair bought out Max Media Properties, for $ 252 million. In November 2004, Sinclair sold off KSMO-TV in Kansas City to Meredith Corporation for $ 26.8 million. In December 2004, Sinclair divested KOVR-TV in Sacramento to Viacom , now Paramount Global , for $ 285 million. In 2004, as
9225-579: A number of game shows, including The Dating Game , The Newlywed Game , Let's Make a Deal , Password , Split Second , The $ 10,000/$ 20,000 Pyramid , Family Feud , The Better Sex , Trivia Trap , All-Star Blitz and Hot Streak . Sports programming is provided on occasion, primarily on weekend afternoons and Saturday evenings. In 2006, the ABC Sports division was shut down, with all sports telecasts on ABC since then being produced in association with sister cable network ESPN under
Attempted acquisition of Tribune Media by Sinclair Broadcast Group - Misplaced Pages Continue
9450-1095: A partner company to Sinclair and is owned and controlled by Armstrong Williams , an African-American conservative political commentator who hosts The Right Side with Armstrong Williams , a political discussion program syndicated to Sinclair-operated and Stirk-owned stations. The company was originally formed in April 2013 to acquire NBC affiliate WEYI-TV (channel 25) in Flint, Michigan and CW affiliate WWMB (channel 21) in Myrtle Beach, South Carolina as part of its purchase of Barrington Broadcasting , and, in December 2014, began operating stations independently of Sinclair – located in Tuscaloosa and Anniston, Alabama (WCFT [now WSES ] and WJSU-TV [now WGWW ]) and Charleston, South Carolina (WCIV [now WGWG ]), all three of which were formerly ABC affiliates and became affiliated with digital multicast-originated networks upon coming under
9675-718: A planned hearing by an administrative law judge was cancelled in February 2019 per the grant of a request by Sinclair and the FCC. On August 1, 2019, the Nexstar acquisition of Tribune Media was approved by the United States Department of Justice . The deal was approved by the FCC on September 16, 2019, and was completed on September 19. Nine months after the unsuccessful bid to buy Tribune, Sinclair announced its intention instead to buy Fox Sports Networks and Fox College Sports from The Walt Disney Company , which
9900-466: A production company. However, between the publication and implementation of these regulations, the separation of the network's catalog was made in 1973. The broadcast rights to pre-1973 productions were transferred to Worldvision, which became independent in the same year. The company has been sold several times since Paramount Television acquired it in 1999, and has most recently been absorbed into CBS Media Ventures (formerly CBS Television Distribution),
10125-575: A radio network called the NBC Blue Network . It became an independent radio (and eventually television) network known as the American Broadcasting Company (ABC) in 1943. ABC later joined United Paramount Theatres forming American Broadcasting-Paramount Theatres (later American Broadcasting Companies, Inc.). After its venture into radio and television throughout the 1960s and 1970s and the purchase of ESPN in 1982,
10350-776: A refocus on the Politico website and newspaper, Allbritton Communications sold their seven station portfolio—including Washington, D.C. 's WJLA-TV —to Sinclair, for $ 985 million, equivalent to $ 1.29 billion in 2023. This deal was complicated by multiple regulatory hurdles and a proposed barring of future joint sales agreements (JSA) by the FCC. Originally planning to divest four Sinclair-owned stations in three markets with Allbritton stations to Deerfield and Armstrong Williams -controlled Howard Stirk Holdings, and continuing to operate them under JSAs, In March 2014, Sinclair announced intentions to divest three stations and one existing LMA to independent third parties. Unable to find
10575-617: A response when LIN Media signed ABC affiliates WDTN and WAND to NBC, Sinclair Broadcast Group converted two of its NBC affiliates WICS / WICD and WKEF to ABC . In July 2009, in a filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission , Sinclair stated that if the company could not refinance its $ 1.33 billion debt, or if Cunningham Broadcasting became insolvent due to nonpayment on a loan worth $ 33.5 million, Sinclair may be forced to file for Chapter 11 bankruptcy . The company seemingly recovered its financial fortunes enough, and began
10800-422: A script font. Ten years later, in 1993, the "ABC Circle" logo reverted to its classic white-on-black color scheme, but with gloss effects on both the circle and the letters, and a bronze border surrounding the circle. The ABC logo first appeared as an on-screen bug in the 1993–94 season , appearing initially only for 60 seconds at the beginning of an act or segment, then appearing throughout programs beginning in
11025-577: A seasonal channel dedicated to Freeform's 25 Days of Christmas original content. On August 23, 2024, it was announced on the network's website that the ABC app would be shut down a month later, on September 23. It was later reported that it would be shut down along with all of Disney's other TV Everywhere apps, including those of ABC's sister networks, except for ESPN's. However, the websites belonging to said networks will still operate after September 23, and users will still be able to log in with their TV providers to watch full episodes. ABC's master feed
11250-475: A second TV network, Charge! , a new digital subchannel network focusing on action-adventure based programming. It begin broadcasting on February 28, 2017. Sinclair had two rounds of executive promotions announced in November 2016 and effective January 1, 2017, with chair and CEO David D. Smith moving up to executive chairman while CFO Christopher Ripley becoming president and CEO. In the second round, David Amy
11475-500: A sequence of still photos of the stars of its programs during the timeslot card as well as the schedule sequence that began each night's prime time lineup). A new four-note theme tune (composed by Mad Bus Music) was introduced alongside the package, based around the network's then-new "We Love TV" image campaign from the 1998–99 season, creating an audio signature in comparative parlance to the NBC chimes , CBS's various sound marks (including
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#173279447743511700-641: A seven-day administrative stay to the UHF discount rulemaking, in order to allow review of an emergency stay motion filed by The Institute for Public Representation (a coalition of public interest groups comprising Free Press , the United Church of Christ , Media Mobilizing Project, the Prometheus Radio Project , the National Hispanic Media Coalition and Common Cause ) on May 15. The coalition argued that
11925-680: A six-story building occupying a 196-by-379-foot (60 m × 116 m) plot at 121–135 West End Avenue . On July 9, 2018, the Walt Disney Company announced that it was selling its two West 66th Street campuses (except for the National Guard Amory) to Silverstein Properties and purchasing one square block of property in lower Manhattan to build a new New York-based broadcast center. ABC maintains several video-on-demand (VOD) services for delayed viewing of
12150-476: A slate of original digital series for the WatchABC service, internally codenamed ABC3. In July 2016, ABC re-launched its streaming platforms, dropping the WatchABC brand, adding a streaming library of 38 classic ABC series, and introducing 7 original short-form series under the blanket branding ABCd. The most recent episodes of the network's shows are usually made available on the ABC app, Hulu and ABC on Demand
12375-549: A two-hour evening newscast, airing 10 pm to midnight Eastern Time. Defunct American Broadcasting Company The American Broadcasting Company ( ABC ) is an American commercial broadcast television and radio network that serves as the flagship property of the Disney Entertainment division of the Walt Disney Company . ABC is headquartered on Riverside Drive in Burbank, California , directly across
12600-473: A unit of Paramount Global , which owns the competitor CBS . Nonetheless, Worldvision sold portions of its catalog, including the Ruby-Spears and Hanna-Barbera libraries, to Turner Broadcasting System (now a part of Warner Bros. parent company Warner Bros. Discovery ) in 1991. With Disney's 1996 purchase of ABC, ABC Circle Films was absorbed into Touchstone Television, a Disney subsidiary which in turn
12825-527: A wave of mergers and acquisitions in the broadcast television industry that would further reduce diversity in station ownership, with particular disadvantages to the abilities of females and ethnic minorities to acquire local broadcast media. The D.C. Court of Appeals denied the emergency stay motion on June 15, 2017, though it is still subject to a pending court proceeding to appeal the UHF discount implementation. FCC chairman Ajit Pai 's relaxed scrutiny on outsourcing agreements raised concerns by opponents of
13050-841: A year of delays, the deal was approved by the FCC in July 2014, and completed on August 1. WCIV, WCFT-TV and WJSU-TV were ultimately sold to Howard Stirk Holdings. In September 2013, Sinclair purchased eight stations owned or operated by New Age Media. As part of the deal, three stations— WSWB in Scranton / Wilkes-Barre, Pennsylvania , WTLH in Tallahassee, Florida , and WNBW-DT in Gainesville, Florida —would be sold by owner MPS Media to Cunningham, with Deerfield purchasing WTLF in Tallahassee. New Age Media and MPS Media terminated
13275-651: Is also among the broadcasters of the Tournament of Roses Parade (although as mentioned, the Rose Bowl Game now airs exclusively on ESPN as a College Football Playoff " New Year's Six " bowl). ABC owns nearly all of its in-house television and theatrical productions made since the 1970s, with the exception of certain co-productions (for example, The Commish is now owned by the estate of its producer, Stephen Cannell ). Worldwide video rights are currently owned by various companies, for example, Kino Lorber owns
13500-730: Is also provided from 11:00 a.m. to 3:00 p.m. Eastern and Pacific weekdays (subtract 1 hour for all other time zones) (with a one-hour break at 12:00 p.m. Eastern/Pacific for stations to air newscasts, locally produced programming or syndicated programs) featuring the talk-lifestyle shows The View and GMA3: What You Need to Know , and the soap opera General Hospital . In addition, ABC News programming includes Good Morning America from 7:00 a.m. to 9:00 a.m. weekdays and Saturdays (along with one-hour Sunday editions), nightly editions of ABC World News Tonight (whose weekend editions are occasionally subject to abbreviation or preemption due to sports telecasts overrunning into
13725-666: Is also the broadcast television rightsholder of the National Hockey League (NHL), with its package (under the NHL on ESPN branding). In this deal, ABC broadcasts at least 10 regular season games (mostly afternoon), the NHL All-Star Game , the NHL Stadium Series , and four Stanley Cup Finals . During college football season, ABC typically carries an afternoon doubleheader on Saturdays, along with
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#173279447743513950-465: Is broadcast in 5.1 surround sound . On September 1, 2016, ABC began to use 16:9 framing for its most graphical imaging (primarily the network's bug , in-program promotions and generic closing credit sequences as well as sports telecasts, where the BottomLine and scoreboard elements now extend outside the 4:3 frame), requiring its stations and pay television providers to display its programming in
14175-411: Is expected to enter into LMA's to operate WPIX and WGN-TV, while selling off KSWB outright. Overlapping stations in Seattle , St. Louis , Salt Lake City , Oklahoma City , Grand Rapids, Michigan , Norfolk, Virginia , and Des Moines, Iowa will be sold off to unaffiliated third parties. On July 16, 2018, FCC chairman Ajit Pai was reported to have "serious concerns" about the transaction and proposed
14400-516: Is licensed to Boston while WMUR-TV is licensed to Manchester, New Hampshire (which is officially part of the Boston market). WCVB is easily receivable in Manchester with a good antenna as well as having its own news department that covers New Hampshire ; it is the only station licensed to the state that does such. Both WCVB and WMUR are owned by Hearst Television . The Sinclair Broadcast Group
14625-509: Is modifying the rules now to benefit one particular company is completely baseless." On July 16, 2018, Pai was reported to have "serious concerns" about the merger – particularly regarding whether Sinclair was upfront about its intentions to sell certain conflict properties in its sale applications – and proposed to have the deal be given a hearing before an administrative law judge , which the FCC Commissioner's Board voted to remand
14850-479: Is primarily carried on Sinclair stations. ASN was created as part of the company's foray into original, non-news content creation beyond Ring of Honor Wrestling and school sports. Subsequently, on August 21, 2014, the company announced the formation of Sinclair Original Programming, a new division concentrating on entertainment and commercial content. The company also announced plans for a future cable news network. The Original Programming division chief operating officer
15075-478: Is the largest operator of ABC stations by numerical total, owning or providing services to 28 full, primary ABC affiliates and two subchannel-only affiliates. Sinclair owns the largest ABC subchannel affiliate by market size, WABM-DT2 / WDBB-DT2 in the Birmingham market, which serve as repeaters of WBMA-LD (which itself is also simulcast on a subchannel of former WBMA satellite WGWW , owned by Sinclair partner company Howard Stirk Holdings ). The E. W. Scripps Company
15300-407: Is the largest operator of ABC stations in terms of overall market reach, owning 15 ABC-affiliated stations (including affiliates in larger markets such as Cleveland , Phoenix , Detroit and Denver ), and through its ownership of Phoenix affiliate KNXV, Las Vegas affiliate KTNV-TV and Tucson affiliate KGUN-TV , it is the only provider of ABC programming for the majority of Arizona (outside
15525-407: Is the only major broadcast network that carries games from all of the traditional "big four" sports leagues (MLB, NFL, NBA, NHL). During the late winter months, ABC airs both men's and women's college basketball games on weekend afternoons. In the spring and summer months, ABC also airs games (usually on weekends) from the Women's National Basketball Association (WNBA), and is the broadcast home of
15750-498: Is transmitted in 720p high-definition , the native resolution format for the Walt Disney Company's American television properties. However, most of Hearst Television 's ABC-affiliated stations and some of Tegna 's ABC affiliates transmit the network's programming in 1080i , while 11 other affiliates owned by various companies carry the network feed in 480i standard definition either due to technical considerations for affiliates of other major networks that carry ABC programming on
15975-414: The 1995–96 season , the respective iterations of the translucent logo bug were also incorporated within program promotions until the 2011–12 season. During the 1997–98 season, the network began using a minimalist graphical identity with a yellow and black motif, designed by Pittard Sullivan, featuring a small black-and-white "ABC Circle" logo on a yellow background (promotions during this time also featured
16200-753: The Baltimore suburb of Cockeysville, Maryland , the company is the second-largest television station operator in the United States by number of stations, after Nexstar Media Group , owning or operating 193 stations across the country in over 100 markets, covering 40% of American households. It is the largest owner of stations affiliated with Fox , NBC , CBS , ABC , MyNetworkTV , and The CW . Sinclair owns four digital multicast networks, Comet , Charge! , The Nest , and TBD , and sports-oriented cable networks, Stadium , Tennis Channel , and Bally Sports Regional Networks . In June 2021, Sinclair became
16425-465: The Belo Corporation and transfer its operations to Gannett under an LMA with NBC affiliate KSDK [channel 5].) Sinclair disclosed it would instead put KPLR into a divestiture trust administered by Rafamedia LLC (managed by media broker Richard A. Foreman) for sale to an independent third party that would handle operational responsibilities. However, such a sale was ultimately hampered because
16650-615: The Canada–United States border , although most of its prime time programming is subject to simultaneous substitution regulations for pay television providers imposed by the Canadian Radio-television and Telecommunications Commission (CRTC) to protect rights held by domestically based networks. ABC News provides news and features content for select radio stations owned by Cumulus Media , as these stations are former ABC Radio properties. In 1927, NBC operated
16875-480: The Fox Broadcasting Company at its launch. The Fox affiliation in Pittsburgh went to higher-rated WPGH-TV , which was purchased by Sinclair in 1990. Chesapeake's first foray into local news came in the early 1980s when it launched a newscast on WPTT, a rarity at this time for stations not affiliated with the then-major networks ( ABC , CBS and NBC ). This newscast was called WPTT News . In
17100-418: The Prometheus Radio Project , the National Hispanic Media Coalition and Common Cause ) on May 15. The coalition argued that the UHF discount was no longer logical from a technical standpoint (as stations that transmit on the UHF band have typically maintained better digital signal quality than those transmitting on VHF, a reversal of the technical issues with both bands during the analog era) and would trigger
17325-531: The Turner Broadcasting System utilized World Championship Wrestling (WCW) and its predecessors (including Jim Crockett Promotions and Georgia Championship Wrestling ) from the 1970s until the early 2000s through TBS and TNT . Had the acquisition gone through and the promotion moved its broadcasts to the network, Ring of Honor Wrestling would have marked WGN America's first foray into professional wrestling since WWE Superstars left
17550-524: The X Games and Little League World Series . In 2015, ESPN's annual ESPY Awards presentation moved to ABC from ESPN. Bolstered by Caitlyn Jenner accepting the inaugural Arthur Ashe Courage Award during the ceremony, the 2015 ESPY Awards ' viewership was roughly tripled over the 2014 ceremony on ESPN. After the NFL signed a new contract with the Walt Disney Company , ABC will air Super Bowl LXI in 2027 and Super Bowl LXV in 2031. The network has not aired
17775-903: The Yuma - El Centro market) and Southern Nevada . Scripps also owns and operates several ABC stations in the Mountain and Pacific time zones, including in Denver, San Diego , Bakersfield, California , and Boise, Idaho , and when combined with the ABC-owned stations in Los Angeles , Fresno , and San Francisco , the affiliations from the News-Press & Gazette Company in Santa Barbara , Palm Springs , Yuma-El Centro , and Colorado Springs-Pueblo , and Sinclair's affiliations in Seattle and Portland, Oregon , these four entities control
18000-414: The construction permit – for the estimated US$ 25,964 (equivalent to $ 271,400 in 2023) construction project – . Sinclair's first station, WFMM-FM (now WPOC ), signed on the air in February 1960. In 1967, Smith, as Chesapeake Engineering Placement Service, partly owned by the name-shortened Commercial Radio Inc., applied for and was granted, a construction permit for
18225-412: The programming block is syndicated exclusively to ABC owned-and-operated and affiliated stations, rather than being leased out directly by the network to Litton. ABC's daytime schedule currently features the talk show The View , news show GMA3 , and the soap opera General Hospital . Originally premiering in 1963, General Hospital is ABC's longest-running entertainment program. In addition to
18450-595: The " Big Three " U.S. television networks, the network is sometimes referred to as the Alphabet Network , as its initialism also represents the first three letters of the English alphabet in order. ABC launched as a radio network in 1943, as the successor to the NBC Blue Network , which had been purchased by Edward J. Noble . It extended its operations to television in 1948, following in the footsteps of established broadcast networks CBS and NBC , as well as
18675-458: The 1920s, but also share similarities with several other fonts, such as ITC Avant Garde and Horatio, and most closely resembling Chalet. The logo's simplicity made it easier to redesign and duplicate, which was beneficial before the advent of computer graphics. A color version of the logo was also developed around 1963, and animated as a brief 10-second intro to be shown before the then-small handful of network programs broadcast in color (similar to
18900-433: The ABC Circle logo's many variants was a 1977 ID sequence that featured a bubble on a black background representing the circle with glossy gold letters, and was the first ABC identification card to simulate a three-dimensional appearance. In 1983, for the 40th anniversary of the network's founding, ID sequences had the logo appear in a gold CGI design on a blue background, accompanied by the slogan "That Special Feeling" in
19125-587: The Assistant Attorney General of the Department of Justice Antitrust Division , Makan Delrahim , to relax rules pertaining to a broadcast television combination's total advertising share within a media market but was denied in their efforts – was reportedly close to a deal with the U.S. Department of Justice to sell thirteen unspecified television stations (although Sinclair had attempted to gain DOJ permission to divest only ten stations) as
19350-558: The Big Four television networks (ABC, CBS, Fox and NBC) in order to expand their own respective O&O groups , leading to the networks adopting a similar model to their Canadian counterparts in that the majority of their stations are owned-and-operated with only a few affiliates . (Unlike in Canada, which has considerably fewer densely populated areas and media markets than the U.S., such a move would be unfeasible as it would necessitate
19575-568: The Department of Justice and FCC in an effort to maintain control of stations that it had been advised to divest, and violating conditions barring divestitures from attracting "even the threat" of regulatory scrutiny. If the lawsuit by Tribune was unsuccessful, Tribune would owe Sinclair a $ 135 million termination fee. Nineteen days later, on August 28, Sinclair responded to the Tribune Media lawsuit by countersuing Tribune for $ 1 billion in
19800-400: The Department of Justice and FCC over regulatory negotiations in order to maintain control of stations that it was advised to divest, as well as violations of the sale agreement requiring divestitures of stations to not result in any threats of regulatory scrutiny. Following the failed acquisition of Tribune Media, Sinclair has mentioned publicly about buying Fox Sports Networks , as well as
20025-658: The Department of Justice approved the Sinclair–Tribune deal, it was reported that Fox would be purchasing KCPQ/KZJO in Seattle, and was at least interested in the Tribune-owned Fox affiliates in Cleveland, Denver, Kansas City, and San Diego ( KSWB-TV , channel 69), as well as some of the other aforementioned Fox affiliates owned by Sinclair and Tribune. The then-ongoing acquisition of the 20th Century Fox film and television production units and certain related cable television assets by The Walt Disney Company – which
20250-497: The El Paso market while KFOX ranked sixth, making it permissible under FCC duopoly regulations. Dielectric Communications, a key supplier of television broadcasting antennas, was purchased from SPX on June 18, 2013. SPX had intended to close down all of Dielectric's operations by the end of July, in turn threatening a FCC-proposed incentive auction and subsequent repacking of television broadcast spectrum . In July 2013, as part of
20475-580: The FCC Commissioner's Board, in a 3–1 vote passed by the board's conservative majority, eliminated a rule (dating to 1934) that required broadcast station groups to maintain a physical presence in the community of their primary local coverage areas, a move that would help media companies further consolidate their operations and potentially assist Sinclair Broadcast Group's media ambitions. Such a rule also sparked concerns by some interest groups that it would allow Sinclair to outsource news production and personnel to out-of-market stations that would be acquired through
20700-416: The FCC for WBMA-LD satellite stations WCFT-TV on September 24 and WJSU-TV on September 28. Sinclair continued its push into original programming. Since May 2015, three deals were made to expand American Sports Network beyond college sports. In June, subsidiary Sinclair TV Group, Inc. formed Tornante-Sinclair LLC, a TV production company, with Michael Eisner's Tornante Co. With MGM on October 31, 2015, Comet
20925-920: The FCC that it would sell CW affiliate WPIX in New York City to Cunningham Broadcasting for a below market-value price of $ 15 million, receiving an option to acquire WPIX outright. It also announced that it planned to sell off Tribune-owned stations in Chicago (WGN-TV) and San Diego (KSWB-TV), while intending to seek waivers to purchase the Tribune stations in Indianapolis (WXIN and CBS affiliate WTTV [channel 4] as well as its Kokomo -based satellite WTTK [channel 29]), South Central Pennsylvania (WPMT and CBS affiliate WHP-TV [channel 21]) and North Carolina 's Piedmont Triad region (WXLV and Fox affiliate WGHP [channel 8]) under relaxed rules that allowed for case-by-case acquisitions of two stations ranked among
21150-523: The FCC to put the deal up for review by an administrative law judge and Pai to publicly reject it. Several months after the deal's termination, Tribune Media was successfully acquired by Nexstar Media Group . This unsuccessful acquisition occurred concurrently with two successful major media mergers: The Walt Disney Company 's acquisition of 21st Century Fox and AT&T 's purchase of Time Warner . On February 29, 2016, Tribune announced that it would review various "strategic alternatives" to increase
21375-753: The FCC's top-four market viewership restrictions.) Amid objections by the Justice Department, Sinclair terminated the planned sale of KPLR to Meredith on May 15. (The termination of the sale likely resulted from similar viewership and advertising market conditions in St. Louis that scuttled a 2013 proposal by the Gannett Company , which spun off its broadcasting unit into Tegna, Inc. in June 2015, in which it planned to sell KMOV's license to Tucker Operating Company LLC upon its acquisition of that station from
21600-572: The FCC. In August 2020, Sinclair reached a $ 25 million settlement agreement for its shareholders related to three lawsuits. Of the $ 25 million, $ 20.5 million will be paid into a settlement fund. In November 2020, Sinclair announced that they would sell KBSI in Cape Girardeau, Missouri , and WDKA in Paducah, Kentucky , to Standard Media for $ 28 million, in a transaction that closed in 2021. In 2021, Sinclair began moving
21825-591: The NBC "Laramie" peacock intro used during that era). The "a" was rendered in red, the "b" in blue, and the "c" in green, against the same single black circle. A variant of this color logo, with the colored letters against a white circle, was also commonly used throughout the 1960s. The 1970s and 1980s saw the emergence of many graphical imaging packages for the network which based the logo's setting mainly on special lighting effects then under development including white, blue, pink, rainbow neon, and glittering dotted lines. Among
22050-436: The New York City market accounts for 6.44% of all U.S. television households according to Nielsen market tabulations, precludes its applications under the UHF discount and would put Nexstar over the 39% national ownership cap.) Nexstar's purchase of Tribune was valued at a higher price than Sinclair was willing to pay. Despite the Nexstar deal, Tribune and Sinclair continued their respective lawsuits against one another, although
22275-484: The North American home video rights to the ABC feature film library (along with some lesser known live action films from Disney's library, mostly from Touchstone Pictures , Hollywood Pictures and 20th Century Studios ). When the FCC imposed its Financial Interest and Syndication Rules in 1970, ABC proactively created two companies: Worldvision Enterprises as a syndication distributor, and ABC Circle Films as
22500-454: The Numbers . On the radio side, Sinclair would also have acquired ownership of WGN (720 AM) in Chicago, which was Tribune's lone radio property. Also acquired would have been the following assets associated with WGN-TV: The following equity stakes would also have been acquired by Sinclair: With the purchase of Tribune, speculation arose about how Sinclair would utilize WGN America, which
22725-497: The Scranton– Wilkes-Barre television market.) To comply with Department of Justice antitrust and FCC ownership regulations (assuming a draft of the latter agency's media ownership review was unable to receive Congressional approval), Sinclair Broadcast Group was expected to likely be required to sell stations owned by either Tribune or Sinclair in up to twelve markets in order to address ownership conflicts associated with
22950-401: The Sinclair acquisition, Sinclair rival Nexstar Media Group announced that it would finally seek to acquire Tribune, raising its purchase offer to $ 4.1 billion (plus $ 2.3 billion in debt, less debt than Sinclair would have assumed had its deal been successful), totaling the value of the all-cash deal at $ 6.4 billion and representing a 15.5% premium of Tribune's valuation on the day the transaction
23175-450: The Sinclair–Tribune deal, CBS Corporation CEO Leslie Moonves stated it would purchase more stations if ownership caps were lifted. The concerns about Sinclair potentially led public interest groups to file petitions to block the FCC reinstatement of the UHF discount in an end-run to stop the merger, as the rule would artificially reduce cap space under national group ownership limits to allow Sinclair to acquire Tribune stations in most of
23400-467: The Sinclair–Tribune merger, including within articles that had originally been written by the Associated Press and Reuters and syndicated to those publications. Although Sinclair intended to acquire all of Tribune's television stations, in order to comply with FCC ownership regulations forbidding either common ownership of two of the four highest-rated stations or more than two stations in
23625-533: The Tampa–St. Petersburg market—including WWSB's city of license , Sarasota —as the transmitters of WTSP , the market's former primary ABC affiliate from 1965 to 1994, and Miami affiliate WPLG had been short-spaced to avoid interference between their respective analog-VHF channel 10 signals, WWSB remained an ABC affiliate after its Tampa affiliation moved from WTSP to WFTS in December 1994, even though WFTS's signal reaches Sarasota and some surrounding areas.) WCVB-TV
23850-516: The Tribune acquisition, withdrawing the sale of WPIX to Cunningham to acquire WPIX directly and proposing the sale of 22 other stations to both independent and affiliated third-party companies to comply with FCC and DOJ rules. CW affiliate KPLR-TV in St. Louis would be sold to the Meredith Corporation (owner of CBS affiliate KMOV , channel 4) for $ 65 million. Cunningham Broadcasting was to have acquired two stations in Dallas (KDAF) and Houston (KIAH) for
24075-854: The Tribune acquisition. The most significant conflicts exist in Seattle , Salt Lake City , Oklahoma City , Harrisburg – Lancaster – Lebanon – York and Grand Rapids – Kalamazoo – Battle Creek , where Sinclair and Tribune each have two stations that rank among the four highest-rated in terms of total viewership and maintain news departments. Other divestitures or signal reshuffling were likely to be required in St. Louis , Portland, Oregon , Norfolk / Virginia Beach / Hampton , Greensboro / Winston-Salem / High Point , Richmond , Scranton / Wilkes-Barre and Des Moines where ownership regulations would be violated (either because Sinclair already had or would have operational stewardship of three or more stations, or just two stations with too few independent station owners to permit
24300-406: The Tribune purchase) – raised concerns that Sinclair would have the potential of persuading voters to support Republican presidential candidates in key swing states , creating a disadvantage over their Democratic Party competitors. Some of the Tribune markets where Sinclair would have entered through the deal have predominate voter support of Democratic candidates in national and local elections, with
24525-406: The Tribune purchase. In November 2017, two Democratic members of the U.S. House of Representatives, John Conyers ( Mich. ) and David Cicilline ( R.I. ), asked David L. Hunt, the inspector general of the FCC, to investigate whether Pai's legislative actions regarding the relaxation of broadcast ownership rules were biased in favor of Sinclair. The FCC, under Pai, undertook a number of actions that
24750-655: The Trump administration in the weeks leading up to Trump's January 2017 inauguration, as analyzed in an August 2017 New York Times article. The article reported that Trump adviser and son-in-law Jared Kushner had arranged an agreement with Sinclair to have reporters from the group's stations interview Trump with the provision that they do not challenge any inaccurate statements, and that Sinclair representatives had met with Pai prior to his expected promotion to agency chief to replace colleague and former FCC Commissioner Tom Wheeler to discuss his deregulatory policies and had given Pai
24975-459: The UHF discount was no longer logical from a technical standpoint (as stations that transmit on the UHF band have typically maintained better digital signal quality than those transmitting on VHF, a reversal of the technical issues with both bands during the analog era) and would trigger a wave of mergers and acquisitions in the broadcast television industry that would further reduce diversity in station ownership. The D.C. Court of Appeals denied
25200-515: The access of ABC network programming in most of the Western United States, particularly in terms of audience reach. All of ABC's owned-and-operated stations and affiliates have had their own facilities and studios, but transverse entities have been created to produce national programming. As a result, television series were produced by ABC Circle Films beginning in 1962 and by Touchstone Television beginning in 1985, before Touchstone
25425-456: The action from Tribune) was finally settled in early 2020, with Sinclair paying Nexstar $ 60 million, and transferring ownership of WDKY-TV and the non-license assets of KGBT-TV (including the CBS affiliation to a KVEO-TV subchannel) to Nexstar. On May 7, 2020, Sinclair was fined $ 48 million to settle investigations related to reports and statements made to the FCC. In August 2020, Sinclair reached
25650-594: The announcement, a lawsuit was filed by a Fisher shareholder. The suit was settled in July 2013 and the merger approved shortly thereafter. On June 3, 2013, Titan TV Broadcast Group sold four stations, along with operating agreements for two stations, to Sinclair. Prior to the deal, a seventh station, KDBC-TV in El Paso, Texas , to Cunningham, fueling speculation KDBC-TV would be consolidated with Sinclair-owned KFOX-TV . Sinclair exercised its option to purchase KDBC-TV outright citing KDBC-TV's fourth-place ranking in
25875-630: The branding ESPN on ABC . General industry trends and changes in rights have prompted reductions in sports on broadcast television, with Disney preferring to schedule the majority of its sports rights on the networks of ESPN (until 2020). Since 2020 ESPN has prioritized ABC with airings of its sports telecasts with occasional simulcasts and exclusive games of ESPN Monday Night Football broadcasts on ABC. Since 2006, ABC has at least aired ten weeks of primetime sports programming, and since 2020 has aired sports programming almost every week from September to May each year (with primetime encores and movies airing
26100-582: The broadcast rights from CBS, which originated the specials in 1965 with the debut of A Charlie Brown Christmas (other Peanuts specials broadcast annually by ABC, in addition to A Charlie Brown Christmas , include Charlie Brown's All Stars! , It's the Great Pumpkin, Charlie Brown , You're Not Elected, Charlie Brown , A Charlie Brown Thanksgiving , It's the Easter Beagle, Charlie Brown , Be My Valentine, Charlie Brown , She's
26325-426: The broadcast television industry – through which Sinclair and Nexstar Media Group, which has a station portfolio of similar size and has historically used outsourcing agreements to acquire and operate stations it cannot legally own directly as Sinclair historically has done as well, would run a large share of the local television stations operating in the United States – and may lead to more consolidation, including among
26550-717: The broadcasting assets of Schurz Communications (owner of WSBT), was necessary as Gray already owns WNDU-TV in South Bend. The sale was completed on February 16, 2016. On January 27, 2016, Sinclair Broadcast Group announced that it would acquire Tennis Channel for $ 350 million. The channel's corporation comes with $ 200 million in net operating losses that SBGI can use to offset future income thus reducing taxes. Sinclair's news operations had launched six drone teams in September 2016. Initial stations getting drone teams were in Washington, Baltimore, Green Bay, Wisconsin, Columbus, Ohio; Tulsa, Oklahoma and Little Rock, Arkansas. In
26775-547: The cable network from a superstation in 2014. On March 1, 2017, reports surfaced that Sinclair Broadcast Group was in discussions to acquire Tribune Media, which was approached by Sinclair management about a possible merger deal in late February. Any deal would have been forged pending FCC review of the UHF discount, a rule enacted by the agency in 1985 with the intent of encouraging ownership of UHF television stations by subtracting their total market coverage by 50% of their overall signal distribution, which had been eliminated in
27000-466: The center, referencing the network's roots in radio. When the ABC-UPT merger was finalized in 1953, the network introduced a new logo based on the FCC seal, with the letters "ABC" enclosed in a circular shield surmounted by a bald eagle. In 1957, just before the television network began its first color broadcasts, the ABC logo consisted of a tiny lowercase "abc" in the center of a large lowercase letter
27225-482: The closing of its reorganization as a holding company. In May 2023, Sinclair sold its controlling interest in Stadium to Silver Chalice, Sinclair stating that the network did not have enough viewership for Sinclair to continue funding it; Sinclair will continue to supply some programming. On October 10, 2023, Sinclair announced that on October 30, 2023, it will convert Stadium's over-the-air service into The Nest ,
27450-488: The company also produces a segment, Terrorism Alert Desk , which has been criticized for utilizing Islamophobic stereotypes citing past stories that have focused on Muslims with no association with terrorism (such as a 2016 segment centering on a French law prohibiting burkinis from being worn at public beaches within the country). Further attention to the content in the Sinclair-syndicated news segments
27675-493: The company was acquired and merged with Capital Cities, forming Capital Cities/ABC in 1986. The company was sold to the Walt Disney Company in 1996. The ABC television network currently provides an average of 89 hours of network programming each week. It also offers 22 hours of prime-time programming to affiliated stations from 8:00 p.m. to 11:00 p.m. Monday through Saturday (Eastern and Pacific Time) and 7:00 p.m. to 11:00 p.m. on Sundays. Daytime programming
27900-422: The company would consider full divestitures of any conflict stations to independent buyers (stating the markets where station divestitures were likeliest to occur, to comply with antitrust regulations on advertising share, are in Seattle, Scranton/Wilkes-Barre and Salt Lake City). On August 2, 2017, reports surfaced that Fox Television Stations was in talks with Ion Media to create a joint venture that would own
28125-524: The company's only foray into local news for years, a genre it became much more involved in from the mid-1990s on. Smith's son David D. Smith began taking a more active role in the company in the 1980s. In 1985, the Chesapeake Television Corporation changed its name to Sinclair Broadcast Group . In 1990, David and his three brothers bought their parents' remaining stock and went on a buying spree that eventually made it one of
28350-410: The company's stations), and resulted in data being taken from its server network. Many of Sinclair's stations saw varying disruptions to programming in the days following the attack; many of its stations were able to produce their newscasts using limited internal resources (while generally being unable to display lower-third and/or full-screen graphics), while a few were forced to preempt them outright for
28575-494: The company's stock, was technically a Sinclair arm that planned to use the LMA with KOKH to gain control of the station and create an illegal duopoly with KOCB . In 2001, the FCC levied a $ 40,000 fine against Sinclair for illegally controlling Glencairn. Sinclair became a publicly listed company in 1995, raising $ 105 million in a June sale of 5 million shares. The Smith family retained a controlling interest. In 1994, Sinclair signed
28800-504: The company's value to shareholders, which include a possible sale of the entire company and/or select assets, or the formation of programming alliances or strategic partnerships with other companies, due to the decrease in its stock price since the Tribune Publishing spin-off and a $ 385 million revenue write-down for the 2015 fiscal year, partly due to original scripted programming expenditures for WGN America since it converted
29025-508: The current five-note version introduced in 2020) and the Fox fanfare (which was phased out by the Fox network in 2019). The four-note signature has been updated with every television season thereafter until 2020–21 season. In 1999, ABC launched a web-based promotional campaign focused around its circle logo, also called 'the dot', in which comic book character Little Dot prompted visitors to "download
29250-399: The day after their original broadcast. In addition, ABC on Demand disallows fast forwarding of accessed content. In 2021, ABC updated the app to allow app users to watch shows from ABC's sister networks: Freeform , FX , and National Geographic . Free ad-supported streaming television channels were added to the ABC app in 2022 and 2023, including a 24-hour version of ESPN8 The Ocho and
29475-450: The deal also includes up to $ 6 million in earnout if certain targets are reached. Sinclair intends to integrate the properties with Tennis Channel. On April 21, 2017, following the reinstatement of the "UHF discount" (a policy that counts television stations broadcasting on UHF channels by 50% of their total audience towards the FCC's 39% market cap), Sinclair announced its intent to purchase Bonten Media Group for $ 240 million. The sale
29700-586: The deal could give Sinclair an effective oligopoly on television broadcasting. Sinclair's prior track record of running public affairs shows and commentary segments in local newscasts among their station group supportive of conservative platforms induced concern over possible imperiled editorial independence among the Tribune stations, with said programming potentially used by Sinclair for favoritism of Republican presidential and congressional candidates in swing states . Federal Communications Commission (FCC) chairman Ajit Pai also encountered backlash over
29925-603: The deal on October 31, 2014. Sinclair purchased the non-license assets for all eight stations and began operating them through master service agreements the next day. Sinclair signed an agreement in June 2014 to carry the classic film subchannel network GetTV in 33 markets by the end of September. In July of that year, Sinclair announced the launch of the American Sports Network (ASN) service, operating within its Sinclair Networks company. This service, which produces and distributes college sports broadcasts,
30150-438: The deal – most notably by then- House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi and House Committee on Energy and Commerce ranking member Frank Pallone in a letter they co-authored in advance of the FCC's vote on April 20, 2017, which reinstated the UHF discount – that Sinclair could choose to retain the conflict stations through its partner companies, potentially eliminating an independent news voice in those markets. On October 24, 2017,
30375-624: The deal) was challenged by the Rainbow/PUSH coalition (headed by Jesse Jackson ) to the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) in 1998, citing concerns over a single company controlling two broadcast licenses in the same market in violation of FCC rules. The coalition argued that Glencairn passed itself off as a minority-owned company (Edwards is African American ) which, since the Smith family controlled most of
30600-423: The deal; prior to the merger announcement, Pai reversed several decades-old policies pertaining to broadcast ownership—along with policies implemented by prior chairman Tom Wheeler —leading some to speculate that Pai instituted those changes to benefit Sinclair. The purchase attempt was ultimately terminated by Tribune Media on August 9, 2018, after emerging scrutiny over proposed divestitures by Sinclair, prompting
30825-475: The divestment of their radio portfolio between 1999 and 2000. The deal was initially met with financial scrutiny. The law firm Levi & Korsinsky notified Fisher shareholders with accusations that Fisher's board of directors were breaching fiduciary duties by "failing to adequately shop the Company before agreeing to enter into the transaction", and Sinclair was underpaying for Fisher's stock. Shortly after
31050-551: The emergency stay motion on June 15, 2017, though it is still subject to a pending court proceeding to appeal the UHF discount implementation. On February 21, 2018, Sinclair informed the FCC that it planned to sell off Tribune stations in New York City , Chicago , and San Diego , while seeking waivers to purchase the Tribune stations in Indianapolis , South Central Pennsylvania , and the Piedmont Triad . Sinclair
31275-422: The exception of some outlying areas in some of the affected cities that tend to lean conservative. (Some Sinclair stations in liberal-leaning markets, such as ABC affiliate KOMO-TV in Seattle, have opted to put the commentary and Terrorism Alert Desk segments in lower-profile time slots or immediately preceding or following commercial breaks to blend in with commercial spots.) Observers also expressed concern that
31500-426: The expansion of partisan content by Sinclair into new markets could worsen existing distrust of American media organizations to local media, which has maintained higher ratings of trustworthiness among the general public over national media in large part because of their localized focus and tendency to forego political opinion. Opponents of the deal had pointed out that if approved, the deal would create an oligarchy in
31725-422: The first stations to offer streams of their programming on the service, with the six remaining ABC O&Os offering streams by the start of the 2013–14 season. Hearst Television also reached a deal to offer streams of its ABC affiliates on the service, though as of 2016 these stations are only available for live-streaming for DirecTV subscribers. In November 2015, it was reported that ABC had been developing
31950-482: The following entities to ensure compliance with local and national ownership restrictions: († - owned by Sinclair) Cunningham Broadcasting acts as an effective subsidiary of Sinclair Broadcast Group, as its shareholding structure consists of trusts controlled by the estate of Carolyn C. Smith, who was the wife of Sinclair's founder Julian Sinclair Smith , in the name of Julian's four sons, all of whom (including current Sinclair executive chairman David D. Smith ) are also
32175-480: The former Tribune Broadcasting stations in Seattle ( KCPQ and KZJO ) and Milwaukee ( WITI ), with Fox paying $ 350 million for the three stations and Nexstar paying $ 45 million for the Charlotte stations, in a deal completed on March 2, 2020. All three stations acquired by Fox were initially intended to be acquired from Sinclair in the aforementioned side deals. On December 3, 2018, four months after Tribune aborted
32400-630: The former of which was earlier sought by Fox in 2014 in a failed attempt to leverage KCPQ's Fox affiliation in order to convince Tribune into selling as part of the group's attempt to expand its reach in markets with NFL franchises based in the National Football Conference , to which the Fox network holds national broadcast television rights). On December 6, 2017, reports stated that FTS would purchase up to 10 Fox-affiliated stations from Sinclair (all in NFL markets), in order to allow
32625-484: The group's Hunt Valley, Maryland headquarters for inclusion within local newscasts on the stations. Continuing after the dissolution of News Central in 2005, the company has also produced commentaries – presented first by Mark Hyman (through the opinion segments The Point and Behind the Headlines ) and later by Boris Epshteyn (through his segment Bottom Line with Boris ) – that reflect a conservative perspective;
32850-433: The group's January 2016 purchase of Tennis Channel that Sinclair would launch a conservative-leaning cable news rival to Fox News, Newsmax TV and One America News Network (OANN) to suggest that Sinclair would use the network's existing wide national reach to launch such an effort over WGN's existing transponder and channel space. However, Variety reporter Cynthia Littleton noted in a May 8, 2017, article that launching
33075-476: The headquarters building on Riverside Drive, other ABC facilities in Burbank include a building at 3800 West Alameda, known as 'Burbank Center', which is primarily associated with Walt Disney Television and functions as the headquarters and broadcast center for Disney Channel , Disney Junior , Disney XD , Freeform , FX , National Geographic , and Radio Disney . Additionally, Disney Television Animation has
33300-605: The in-house productions it continues to produce (such as America's Funniest Home Videos , General Hospital , ABC News productions, and series from Disney Television Studios ( ABC Signature and 20th Television ). Disney–ABC Domestic Television (formerly known as Buena Vista Television and 20th Television) handles domestic television distribution, while Disney–ABC International Television (formerly known as Buena Vista International Television) handles international television distribution. Since its inception, ABC has had over 300 television stations that have carried programming from
33525-424: The largest U.S. broadcast television network by total number of affiliates. The network has an estimated national reach of 97.72% of all households in the United States (or 305,347,338 Americans with at least one television set). Currently, New Jersey , Rhode Island , and Delaware are the only U.S. states where ABC does not have a locally licensed affiliate (New Jersey is served by New York City O&O WABC-TV in
33750-627: The largest station owners in the country, through the purchases of stations and of companies that owned groups of stations. Sinclair pioneered the concept of the local marketing agreement (LMA) in American television in 1991, when it sold WPTT to its general manager Eddie Edwards (founder of Glencairn, Ltd., the Sinclair-affiliated licensee that would eventually become Cunningham Broadcasting ) in order to purchase fellow Pittsburgh station WPGH-TV to comply with FCC ownership rules of
33975-500: The late 1950s, when electrical engineer Julian Sinclair Smith and his wife Carolyn B. Smith, owning 34.5% of the shares, along with a group of shareholders, formed the Commercial Radio Institute , a broadcasting trade school in Baltimore , Maryland. In March 1958, Commercial Radio Institute applied to build an FM radio station in Baltimore. In April 1959, the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) granted
34200-1074: The latter to reduce the acquisition's effects on its reach under national ownership cap limits. The deal would have purportedly included Tribune's Seattle duopoly of Fox affiliate KCPQ and MyNetworkTV affiliate KZJO, since Sinclair already owns ABC affiliate KOMO-TV (channel 4) and then-Univision affiliate KUNS-TV. Other Fox affiliates owned by either Sinclair or Tribune involving NFL markets include former O&Os in Cleveland (WJW), Denver (KDVR), Kansas City ( WDAF-TV , channel 4) and Milwaukee ( WITI , channel 6) as well as stations in Baltimore ( WBFF , channel 45), Buffalo ( WUTV , channel 29), Green Bay ( WLUK-TV , channel 11), Indianapolis ( WXIN , channel 59), Nashville ( WZTV , channel 17) and Pittsburgh ( WPGH-TV , channel 53). Of these markets, only Milwaukee had overlapping properties operated by both Sinclair and Tribune that were in conflict with FCC regulations, as Sinclair owned CW affiliate WVTV (channel 18) and MyNetworkTV affiliate WCGV (channel 24, which had its license terminated and intellectual assets merged into
34425-442: The launch of its simulcast feed, ABC HD, on September 16, 2001, at the start of the 2001–02 season , with its scripted prime-time series becoming the first shows to upgrade to the format, the simulcast feed was launched first on ABC's owned television stations that same date with many major affiliates following after that. Both new and returning scripted series were broadcast in high definition. In 2011, Extreme Makeover: Home Edition
34650-541: The lease for a third, were initially set to be transferred to Cunningham Broadcasting, but were ultimately sold to an affiliate of Northwest Broadcasting owner Brian Brady. Prevailing in a bidding war with LIN Media, Sinclair purchased Fisher Communications in April 2013, for $ 373.3 million, equivalent to $ 488 million in 2023, including 20 television stations in the western United States, operational control of one station, and three radio stations in Seattle . This deal returned Sinclair to radio ownership, since
34875-425: The legislators believe would benefit Sinclair – which has lobbied for such changes for several years – including rolling back certain broadcast television station ownership limitations (including allowing exceptions to duopoly rules that forbid common ownership of two television stations in the same market if both are among the four highest-rated or if such a combination would dilute independent media voices, reinstating
35100-445: The lesser-known DuMont . In the mid-1950s, ABC merged with United Paramount Theatres (UPT), a chain of movie theaters that formerly operated as a subsidiary of Paramount Pictures . Leonard Goldenson , who had been the head of UPT, made the then-new television network profitable by helping to develop and green-light many successful television series. In the 1980s, after purchasing an 80 percent interest in cable sports channel ESPN ,
35325-454: The long-running All My Children (1970–2011) and One Life to Live (1968–2012), notable past soap operas seen on the daytime lineup include Ryan's Hope , Dark Shadows , Loving , The City and Port Charles . ABC also aired the last nine years of the Procter & Gamble -produced soap The Edge of Night , following its cancellation by CBS in 1975. ABC Daytime has also aired
35550-529: The mainstream media of having a liberal slant in and fabricating their coverage, claiming that such an "agenda" is "dangerous to our democracy." (Critics of both mainstream media and the Republican Party in independent media have long criticized statements similar to those made in the promotions for being used as a form of conservative propaganda to delegitimize mainstream media platforms and limit their willingness to report on certain political matters in
35775-499: The majority owners of Sinclair. The purchase of WSFL raised the specter that Fox planned to convert it into an owned-and-operated station of the Fox Broadcasting Company to replace Sunbeam Television flagship station WSVN (channel 7), which had been serving as the network's Miami affiliate since January 1, 1989. (KCPQ would eventually be acquired by Fox in a separate transaction.) Howard Stirk Holdings acts as
36000-464: The markets where that group has broadcast properties. On June 1, 2017, the District of Columbia Court of Appeals issued a seven-day administrative stay to the UHF discount rulemaking, in order to allow review of an emergency stay motion filed by The Institute for Public Representation (a coalition of public interest groups comprising Free Press , the United Church of Christ , Media Mobilizing Project,
36225-405: The merger review toward on August 9. U.S. President Donald Trump – who employed Sinclair commentator Boris Epshteyn as a foreign policy adviser for his 2016 presidential campaign – spoke in favor of the Sinclair-Tribune deal on July 25, calling the FCC's move to refer the deal to an administrative law judge "so sad and unfair" and "disgraceful" and stating the Sinclair-Tribune merger could provide
36450-479: The mid-2010s, Sinclair launched Refined , an online local lifestyle web magazine run in conjunction with local Sinclair stations. The third was announced for DC under WJLA-TV . In December 2016, SBG announced TBD , a new digital subchannel network aimed towards millennials , with a focus on digital content. It began broadcasting on February 13, 2017. At the NATPE conference on January 17, 2017, SBG and MGM announced
36675-492: The network at various times throughout its history, including its first two owned-and-operated and affiliated stations, founding O&O WABC-TV and inaugural affiliate WPVI-TV . As of 2020 , ABC has eight owned-and-operated stations, and current and pending affiliation agreements with 236 additional television stations encompassing 50 states, the District of Columbia, four U.S. possessions, Bermuda, and Saba . This makes ABC
36900-423: The network in 2011. Tribune Media's former newspaper division, then called Tronc (Tribune Online Content; the company was renamed to its former Tribune Publishing moniker in November 2018), would not have been part of the merger as it was spun off from Tribune in August 2014. Many Tronc-owned newspapers posted disclaimers that they were no longer operated as part of the former Tribune parent company when covering
37125-562: The network's corporate parent, American Broadcasting Companies, Inc., merged with Capital Cities Communications, owner of several television and radio stations and print publications, to form Capital Cities/ABC Inc. , which in turn merged into Disney in 1996. ABC has eight owned-and-operated and more than 230 affiliated television stations throughout the United States and its territories. Some ABC-affiliated stations can also be seen in Canada via pay-television providers, and certain other affiliates can also be received over-the-air in areas near
37350-438: The network's existing streaming portal at ABC.com and a mobile app for smartphones and tablet computers. This service provides full-length episodes of ABC programs and live streams of local affiliates in select markets (this was the first such offering by a U.S. broadcast network). Live streams are only available to authenticated subscribers of participating pay television providers . WABC-TV New York and WPVI-TV Philadelphia were
37575-519: The network's original programming budget was unjustified based on the channel's ratings (while not among the top 25 highest-rated cable networks, WGN America's viewership had gradually increased since the introduction of original scripted series, posting its highest monthly ratings in March 2017, during which it total viewership averaged 446,000 viewers and viewership among adults ages 25 to 54 totaled at 157,000). Media analysts revived speculation tracing to
37800-440: The network's programming, including a traditional VOD service called ABC on Demand, which is carried on most traditional cable and IPTV providers. The Walt Disney Company is also a part-owner of Hulu , and has offered full-length episodes of most of ABC's programming through this streaming service since July 6, 2009. In May 2013, ABC launched "WatchABC", a revamp of its traditional multi-platform streaming services encompassing
38025-1089: The ninth-largest broadcast group in the United States. At the same time, Sinclair purchased WWHO , a CW affiliate in the Columbus, Ohio , market, from LIN TV . Owing to Sinclair's existing Columbus duopoly of WSYX and WTTE , WWHO was resold to Manhan Media, who entered into a shared services agreement with Sinclair. In May 2012, a groupwide affiliation renewal with Fox reached, included an option for Sinclair to purchase WUTB , Baltimore's MyNetworkTV station, from Fox Television Stations before March 31, 2013. Sinclair purchased WUTB and resold it to Deerfield Media —controlled by Manhan Media owner Stephen P. Mumblow—on November 26, 2012, pairing with WBFF and WNUV. Concurrently, Fox had an option to purchase up to any combination of six different MyNetworkTV and CW stations in four different markets from Sinclair, which it declined. On July 19, 2012, Sinclair acquired six stations from Newport Television , along with existing operational agreements for two other stations, for $ 412.5 million, equivalent to $ 547 million in 2023, as part of
38250-778: The non-broadcast operations would be placed under Sinclair Ventures. Then, the two companies would be placed under a new holding company, "Sinclair, Inc.". In late April 2023, Sinclair announced that starting May 15, it would end all local news broadcasts on stations in five markets: WGFL in Gainesville, Florida ; KPTH in Sioux City, Iowa ; KPTM in Omaha, Nebraska ; WNWO-TV in Toledo, Ohio ; and KTVL in Medford, Oregon . These low-rated newscasts were to be replaced by airings of The National Desk . On June 1, 2023, Sinclair announced
38475-484: The non-license assets of KGBT-TV in Harlingen, Texas , to Nexstar Media Group for $ 60 million, as part of a settlement between the two companies over Sinclair's failed acquisition of Tribune Media , which was ultimately acquired by Nexstar. The transaction was completed on September 17, 2020. On May 7, 2020, the company was fined $ 48 million to settle investigations related to reports and statements made to
38700-542: The north half of the state and Philadelphia O&O WPVI-TV in the south, Rhode Island is served by New Bedford, Massachusetts -licensed WLNE , though outside of the transmitter, all other operations for the station are based in Providence , and Delaware is served by WPVI in the northern two thirds and Salisbury, Maryland , affiliate WMDT in the southern third of the state). ABC maintains affiliations with low-power stations (broadcasting either in analog or digital) in
38925-702: The number of newscasts in four markets: KAEF-TV in Eureka, California ; WGXA in Macon, Georgia ; WEYI-TV / WSMH in Saginaw / Flint, Michigan ; and WACH in Columbia, South Carolina . The discontinued newscasts were replaced by airings of The National Desk . On April 3, 2023, Sinclair announced that it would be re-organizing its operations, with the TV broadcasting properties remaining under Sinclair Broadcast Group, while
39150-498: The opening segment, the letters "news" were formed from a compass indicating the four cardinal directions . This opening segment, featuring then-anchorman Kevin Evans, appeared briefly, and was audible, in the movie Flashdance during a scene where Jennifer Beals ' character returns home and turns on the television. The presentation was relatively low-budget, with the anchor simply reading copy, with no field video shots other than
39375-518: The owner of WLUK and WCWF and operator of WTGS at that time, as both Media General and LIN owned stations in the three markets, requiring both companies to sell off stations in conflicting markets due to the FCC's recent decision to scrutinize sharing agreements between stations owned by different licensees. The swap was approved by the FCC alongside the Media General-LIN merger on December 12, 2014. On September 3, 2014, Sinclair announced
39600-626: The owner would have to operate KPLR as a standalone affiliate of The CW (the lowest-rated of the six English language commercial networks, whose affiliates are largely operated as part of duopolies with affiliates of one of the Big Four television networks – ABC, CBS, Fox and NBC – as most CW and MyNetworkTV stations tend to fall outside the "top-four" ratings threshold) and address local programming issues associated with its news operations being integrated with those of KTVI. The prospect of Sinclair acquiring Tribune Media's television and radio properties
39825-415: The piecemeal breakup of station groups based on network affiliation in the majority, if not all, of the 210 American media markets, likely tacking on heavy amounts of debt for the parent companies of all four networks. It would also necessitate the breakup of companies like Sinclair and Nexstar to be able to allow such consolidation even in a downscaled manner.) In addition to Fox purchasing stations as part of
40050-647: The primary programming from so-called "sidecar" stations with which Sinclair has an LMA, to subchannels of stations Sinclair owns outright, replacing the sidecar stations' programming with subchannel network (also known as diginet ) affiliations on their main signals. On January 1, Fox moved from KFXA in Cedar Rapids, Iowa to KGAN , where its "Fox 28" branding was retained. With a transitional simulcast period from January 1 to February 4, Fox moved from WRGT-TV in Dayton, Ohio to WKEF , where its "Fox 45" branding
40275-435: The primetime Saturday Night Football . ABC also airs coverage of selected bowl games, ABC is also the secondary broadcast partner of Major League Baseball (MLB) with the network at least airing wild card series games since 2020 (except for 2021), and select Sunday Night Baseball games by sister network ESPN. Beginning in the 2015 NFL season , ESPN agreed to begin simulcasting/exclusively airing NFL games on ABC. Thus, ABC
40500-531: The program's timeslot), the Sunday political talk show This Week , early morning news programs World News Now and America This Morning and the late-night newsmagazine Nightline . Late nights feature the weeknight talk show Jimmy Kimmel Live! . The network's three-hour Weekend morning children's programming timeslot is programmed by syndication distributor Litton Entertainment , which produces Litton's Weekend Adventure under an arrangement in which
40725-498: The proposed partnership was meant to place pressure on Sinclair to divest some of the Fox stations owned by Sinclair and (especially) Tribune, because of the market share that it would have if the deal were to be consummated. The Ion stations have historically had little local staff, infrastructure, or programming, including local news (having terminated news share agreements that allowed them to rebroadcast newscasts from major network affiliates in their respective markets in July 2005 upon
40950-587: The purchase of Las Vegas NBC affiliate KSNV-DT from Intermountain West Communications Company for $ 120 million. As Sinclair already owns a duopoly in Las Vegas ( KVMY and KVCW ), the company will sell the license assets (though not the programming) of one of the three stations to comply with FCC ownership restrictions, with the divested station's programming being relocated to the other stations. The purchase of KSNV's non-license assets
41175-801: The purview of Howard Stirk – through spin-offs made as part of that group's purchase of Allbritton Communications . As with the Cunningham sales, Sinclair intended to hold operational control of the three stations through shared services agreements. Also to have been transferred to Standard Media as part of the Standard General agreement would be the local marketing agreements to Fox affiliate WOLF-TV (channel 56) in Hazleton and CW affiliate WSWB (channel 38) in Scranton, Pennsylvania , which were locally owned by New Age Media and operated alongside Sinclair-owned WQMY. (All three stations serve
41400-445: The rebranding of the former Pax TV to i: Independent Television, the brand preceded the network's January 2007 relaunch as Ion Television ), leading an analyst to consider the plan unfeasible. Sinclair's stock prices slipped following the news. On October 19, 2017, Tribune Media shareholders approved the $ 3.9-billion acquisition by Sinclair. On November 29, 2017, it was reported that Sinclair Broadcast Group – which attempted to convince
41625-401: The remainder of the year). ABC is the broadcast television rightsholder of the National Basketball Association (NBA), with its package (under the NBA on ESPN branding) traditionally beginning with its Christmas Day games , followed by a series of Saturday night and Sunday afternoon games through the remainder of the season, weekend playoff games, and all games of the NBA Finals . ABC
41850-435: The respective stations of both groups. The partnership was said to include plans to shift Fox network affiliations from Sinclair stations to Ion-owned stations, such as those in which affiliation agreements were set to expire by the end of 2017. Fox was reportedly concerned about Sinclair's growing influence, and that its conservative syndicated news inserts would harm its cable news channel, Fox News . It had been suggested that
42075-460: The sale agreement with Sinclair, intending to seek other M&A opportunities; it also filed a breach of contract lawsuit against Sinclair in the Delaware Court of Chancery , seeking $ 1 billion in damages for "repeatedly and willfully breach[ing] its contractual obligations in spectacular fashion". Tribune cited violations of the sale agreement in regards to divestiture of stations, including "belligerent and unnecessarily protracted negations" with
42300-417: The sale of WGN-TV to WGN-TV LLC (a limited liability company to have been controlled by Steven Fader, a Baltimore -based automotive executive with close business ties to Sinclair executive chairman Smith) for $ 60 million, intending to operate it under a master services agreement and receiving an option for Sinclair to buy WGN-TV outright within eight years. On April 24, 2018, Sinclair filed an amendment to
42525-598: The same market as well as to comply with national ownership caps, Sinclair planned to flip 22 of the stations – fifteen owned by Tribune and seven stations owned and/or operated by Sinclair – to other buyers (although it would have ultimately retained control of stations in top-10 markets). Prior to its referral to an administrative law judge, the divestitures were reduced to 18 stations, with Sinclair choosing to rescind proposals to sell four television stations located in top-10 markets to third-party entities and instead directly acquire them. Sinclair proposed station divestitures to
42750-399: The same market in Tampa, Florida ( WFTS-TV and WWSB ), Boston, Massachusetts ( WCVB-TV and WMUR-TV ), Lincoln, Nebraska ( KLKN and KHGI-TV ), and Grand Rapids, Michigan ( WZZM and WOTV ), with an analogous situation arising in Kansas City, Missouri ( KMBC-TV and KQTV ). KQTV is licensed to St. Joseph , which Nielsen designates as a separate market from Kansas City, despite
42975-423: The same market". The company has been criticized by journalists and media analysts for requiring its stations to broadcast packaged video segments and its news anchors to read prepared scripts that contain pro-Trump editorial content, including warnings about purported " fake news " in mainstream media, while Trump has tweeted support for watching Sinclair over CNN and NBC. The company's roots date back to
43200-428: The seven Tribune-owned Fox affiliates, Sinclair received options to purchase MyNetworkTV owned-and-operated station WPWR-TV (channel 50) in Chicago and Fox owned-and-operated station KTBC (channel 7) in Austin, Texas from Fox Television Stations. (A purchase of KTBC would have resulted in an ownership conflict for Sinclair in Austin as the group already owns CBS affiliate KEYE-TV [channel 42], which both fall within
43425-586: The station's license. In February 2013, Cox Media Group sold five television stations, their smallest by media market rankings, to Sinclair, with Deerfield Media assuming ownership of Cox-operated KAME-TV in Reno. Sinclair purchased Schaumburg, Illinois –based Barrington Broadcasting on February 28, 2013, including six other stations operated by Barrington. The former Cox and Barrington stations are operated through subsidiary Chesapeake Television, focusing on smaller markets and with management separate from Sinclair proper. Two Barrington stations, along with
43650-438: The stations directly and those produced under news share or shared services agreements with other Sinclair-operated stations or competing stations in certain markets). Sinclair has been producing syndicated news content for its television stations since January 2003, when it launched News Central , a concept through which it produced long-form national news and sports segments and shorter, localized weather segments originating from
43875-444: The stations owned by Cox Media Group . In January 2019, Sinclair launched an OTT multi-channel streaming service Stirr providing free streaming access to local Sinclair station content as well as on-demand shows and films. On February 13, 2019, Sinclair and the Chicago Cubs announced a new regional sports network, Marquee Sports Network , to start in 2020 with exclusive rights to Cubs' games. On March 9, 2019, Sinclair purchased
44100-702: The stations. Had the merger been successful, Sinclair would have acquired the majority of the 42 television stations owned and/or operated by Tribune Broadcasting and their associated digital properties, along with two websites not associated with any television stations. Tribune has stations in the five largest media markets – CW affiliate WPIX (channel 11) in New York City , CW affiliate KTLA (channel 5) in Los Angeles , independent station WGN-TV (channel 9) in Chicago , MyNetworkTV affiliate WPHL-TV (channel 17) in Philadelphia , and CW affiliate KDAF (channel 33) in Dallas – Fort Worth in order from #1 through #5 – adding to Sinclair's existing station property in
44325-517: The street from Walt Disney Studios and adjacent to the Team Disney – Roy E. Disney Animation Building. The network maintains secondary offices at 77 West 66th Street on the Upper West Side of Manhattan , New York City , which houses its broadcast center and the headquarters of its news division, ABC News . Since 2007, when ABC Radio (also known as Cumulus Media Networks ) was sold to Citadel Broadcasting , ABC has reduced its broadcasting operations almost exclusively to television. The youngest of
44550-412: The then-recently deceased news anchor. Disney formerly leased 70,000 sq ft (6,500 m ) at 157 Columbus Avenue, on the northern side of 67th Street. ABC also owns the Times Square Studios at 1500 Broadway, on land owned by a development fund for the 42nd Street Project. Opened in 1999, Good Morning America is broadcast from this facility. ABC News has premises on West 66th Street, in
44775-454: The time that prohibited duopolies , while agreeing to allow Sinclair to retain operational responsibilities for the station. However, while LMAs would become an integral part of the company's business model in subsequent years, Sinclair's plans to acquire KOKH-TV in Oklahoma City through Glencairn, which would subsequently attempt to sell five of its 11 existing LMA-operated stations to Sinclair outright in turn (with Sinclair stock included in
45000-447: The top four in terms of overall viewership. Sinclair intended to enter into local marketing agreements to handle programming and advertising sales for WPIX and WGN-TV, and sell off KSWB outright to an independent third-party licensee. Overlapping stations in Seattle, St. Louis, Salt Lake City, Oklahoma City, Grand Rapids, Richmond and Des Moines, Iowa would be sold off to unaffiliated third parties. On February 28, 2018, Tribune announced
45225-531: The top-10 markets, which currently consist of two television properties in Washington, D.C. : one television station, ABC affiliate WJLA-TV (channel 7), and its associated 24-hour cable news channel , NewsChannel 8 (now WJLA 24/7 News ). Reports later stated that Sinclair was offering to buy Tribune at a per-share price in the high $ 30s. The reports of Sinclair's interest in acquiring Tribune led several unnamed station owners – which also inquired about purchasing some or all of Tribune's assets outright or through
45450-407: The two companies own, in particular, cover a combined 28% of the U.S.). These reports were confirmed on May 8, when Sinclair announced that it would acquire Tribune for $ 3.9 billion, along with the assumption of Tribune's $ 2.7 billion debt load; it beat Irving, Texas -based broadcaster Nexstar Media Group , which at the time was not willing to make a higher bid closer to Tribune's appraisal price, for
45675-427: The two companies' station clusters would conflict; the group announced the sale of 19 Nexstar and Tribune stations to McLean , Virginia -based Tegna Inc. and the Cincinnati -based E. W. Scripps Company on March 20, 2019, in separate deals worth $ 1.32 billion. (Of the stations sold, only WPIX was not part of an ownership conflict, likely being sold as its transmission over a VHF digital channel assignment, given that
45900-420: The weather read over a stock video shot denoting the conditions outside. It was not a factor in taking ratings away from then-market laggard WIIC-TV, now WPXI , much less solid runner-up WTAE-TV and then-locally owned Group W powerhouse KDKA-TV . As WBFF did not air newscasts until 1991 and WTTE would not air any newscasts from its 1984 sign-on until Sinclair purchased ABC affiliate WSYX in 1996, this marked
46125-404: Was also linked to a similar cyberattack that hit Olympus Corporation 's corporate server network on October 10) within Sinclair's servers. On March 3, 2022, Sinclair announced that they would sell the Ring of Honor wrestling promotion to Tony Khan , who is the principal owner of rival All Elite Wrestling . In March 2023, it was reported that Sinclair had laid off news employees and reduced
46350-424: Was announced as Arthur Hasson, general manager of Sinclair stations in Harrisburg, Pennsylvania . On August 20, 2014, Sinclair announced that it would swap WTTA in Tampa and KXRM-TV and KXTU-LD in Colorado Springs to Media General in exchange for WJAR in Providence, Rhode Island , WLUK-TV and WCWF in Green Bay and WTGS in Savannah, Georgia . The deal was part of Media General's merger with LIN Media,
46575-574: Was announced that Sinclair is a Fortune 500 company, with annual revenues of $ 5.9 billion in 2020, placing it at 465 on the annual listing of the largest U.S. companies. The company has 10,000 employees as of 2021, and acquired an additional 46,000-square-foot (4,300 m ) office building near its main Hunt Valley headquarters to accommodate an additional 260 employees. On April 1, 2021, Sinclair anchorman Reed Cowan said that if WE Charity did not pay him $ 20 million, he would use Sinclair Broadcast Group's television platforms to disparage
46800-517: Was announced. Unlike the Sinclair-Tribune deal, opposition to Nexstar's purchase of Tribune was limited, despite the similar broadcast oligopoly concerns raised in the Sinclair acquisition applying to the Nexstar purchase; Nexstar has also tended to focus around local content with the only nationally syndicated news content produced by the group being more traditional in nature (consisting only of reports filed by its Washington, D.C. news bureau). Nexstar intended to sell off stations in 13 of 15 markets where
47025-454: Was approved on June 30, and the sale was completed September 1. On May 8, 2017, Sinclair announced its intent to acquire the Chicago-based Tribune Media for $ 3.9 billion. The sale would have given Sinclair ownership of additional stations within the top-10 markets, along with ownership of a stake in Food Network , WGN America , and other additional assets, To comply with Department of Justice antitrust and FCC ownership regulations, it
47250-503: Was brought about in April 2018, when Deadspin released a compilation of promotions in which anchors from the group's local news departments and certain unaffiliated stations that maintain news share agreements with Sinclair-run stations read a promotional script disseminated by the company that critics noted had echoed talking points long used by many conservatives (including President Donald Trump) and conservative-focused media outlets (including, most prominently, Fox News Channel) accusing
47475-400: Was completed on November 1, 2014. On September 11, 2014, the license assets of WCIV were sold to Howard Stirk Holdings (pending FCC approval) and aside from sharing studio space with WMMP (which will retain the ABC affiliation and current programming of WCIV), will have no operational control from Sinclair, saving the station from being forfeited back to the FCC. Similar sales were filed with
47700-498: Was in the process of shifting away from scripted content at the time of the purchase announcement. Sinclair CEO Christopher Ripley stated that it would de-emphasize high-end scripted series from WGN America's programming slate (an effort undertaken by Tribune beginning in 2015, following its reformatting of the network from serving as the superstation feed of WGN-TV into a conventional entertainment-based basic cable channel devoid of WGN-TV's news and sports programming); Ripley cited that
47925-430: Was launched as a sci-fi broadcast subchannel network. On October 12, Sinclair Original Programming and the programming department was merged into Sinclair Programming and moved into Sinclair Television Group. On October 1, 2015, Gray Television announced that it would acquire WLUC-TV from Sinclair; in return, Sinclair would receive WSBT-TV in South Bend, Indiana , from Gray. The swap, part of Gray's acquisition of
48150-430: Was met with consternation among media advocacy groups that were in opposition of the merger and employees with the Tribune stations concerned about the influence the group might have on their news content. A principal issue was the perceived politicized nature of some of the news and opinion segments that Sinclair produces internally and syndicates to its stations for inclusion in their local newscasts (both those produced by
48375-680: Was moved to TBD in 2018, and was eventually discontinued 8 months later. In June 2020, Sinclair announced it would launch "a headline news service" that would air weekday mornings (6:00 AM – 9:00 AM local time) and rely on news-gathering services of Sinclair's stations as well as original content, similar in format to NewsNation produced by Nexstar Media Group for WGN America . The show, titled The National Desk , launched on January 18, 2021, and airs on Sinclair's CW and MyNetworkTV -affiliated stations along with its Fox -affiliated stations that do not have their own local morning news shows. On September 27, 2021, The National Desk expanded to
48600-414: Was ordered to divest the networks as part of the agreement to allow the acquisition of most Fox assets by Disney , for $ 10.6 billion. That transaction did not include the YES Network , although in a separate transaction, Sinclair acquired a 20% stake in that channel, being reacquired by team ownership pursuant to a prior right of first refusal . The lawsuit between Sinclair and Nexstar (having inherited
48825-435: Was precluded from acquiring the Fox network and Fox Television Stations as these properties were spun-off into Fox Corporation due to FCC local ownership restrictions as well as a rule barring common ownership of any two of the four major broadcast networks, as Disney already owned ABC and its eight owned-and-operated stations – would reportedly fund the acquisition of stations by Fox. On February 21, 2018, Sinclair informed
49050-408: Was promoted from chief operating officer to vice chairman with responsibility for corporate marketing, human resources and the networks group, while Steven Pruett move from co-COO of Sinclair Television Group to executive vice president and chief TV development officer. On March 1, 2017, Sinclair bought Tennis Media Company for $ 8 million, which includes the Tennis.com website and Tennis magazine;
49275-466: Was purchased for $ 200 million, equivalent to $ 271 million in 2023. Sinclair assumed managerial control of the stations from Nexstar Broadcasting Group . Four Points owner Cerberus Capital Management paid Nexstar cash compensation for the prematurely terminated time brokerage agreements. In November 2011, Sinclair purchased Freedom Communications ' television stations for $ 385 million, equivalent to $ 521 million in 2023, making Sinclair
49500-489: Was renamed ABC Studios in 2007. Also part of the library are most films in the David O. Selznick library, productions from their previous motion picture divisions ABC Pictures International , Selmur Productions , and Palomar Pictures International (before its takeover by Bristol-Myers-Squibb) released by Cinerama Productions (films produced by the company themselves are now under the control of Pacific Theatres ), their later theatrical division ABC Motion Pictures , and
49725-439: Was reorganized as ABC Studios in February 2007 and later renamed to its current name ABC Signature in August 2020. Since the 1950s, ABC has had two main production facilities: the ABC Television Center (now The Prospect Studios ) on Prospect Avenue in Hollywood, California , shared with the operations of KABC-TV until 1999, and the ABC Television Center, East, a set of studios located throughout New York City. In addition to
49950-437: Was retained. On February 1, Fox moved from WVAH-TV in Charleston, West Virginia to WCHS-TV , where its "Fox 11" branding was retained. While in at least one case (Columbus) the move was done due to the transition to ATSC 3.0 , there are no explanations for the other stations. In March 2021 Sinclair laid off 550 employees, which represented about 5% of its workforce, citing the COVID-19 pandemic . On June 2, 2021, it
50175-537: Was retained; although beginning on February 4, WRGT-TV maintained a primary affiliation with non-diginet MyNetworkTV, on April 19, that affiliation also moved to WKEF. With a transitional simulcast period from January 1 to February 1, Fox moved from KBTV-TV in Port Arthur, Texas to KFDM in nearby Beaumont, Texas , where its "Fox 4" branding was retained. With a transitional simulcast period from January 7 to February 3, Fox moved from original Sinclair signee WTTE in Columbus, Ohio to WSYX , where its "Fox 28" branding
50400-443: Was suggested that Sinclair would have to divest stations in multiple markets. The concerns about Sinclair potentially creating an oligarchy in the broadcast television industry – alongside Nexstar Media Group, which has a station portfolio of similar size – led public interest groups to attempt to block the purchase by preventing the UHF discount from being reinstated. On June 1, 2017, the District of Columbia Court of Appeals issued
50625-442: Was the last program on the network's schedule that was broadcast in 4:3 standard definition. All of the network's new programming has been presented in HD since January 2012. The affiliate-syndicated Saturday morning educational and informative ( E/I ) block Litton's Weekend Adventure was the first children's program block on U.S. network television to feature programs available in HD upon its September 2011 debut. The HD programming
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