EXCLUSIVE! Sinclair to Sell 6-10 Stations to Fox Television
/On Monday, FTVLive told you in an EXCLUSIVE report that it appears that Sinclair and Fox Television maybe working on a backroom deal that could have some soon to be Sinclair/Tribune stations ending up in the hands of Fox.
To get approval on the deal, the feds want Sinclair to sell off 13 of the Tribune stations that they are acquiring. Sinclair is trying to get the feds to bring that number down to 10.
Sources tell FTVLive that Fox Television is looking to acquire somewhere between 6 and 10 stations from Sinclair in a cash and trade deal.
As FTVLive told you, Fox is mainly interested in stations in NFL markets.
Fox could pay Sinclair near a billion dollars for the stations and that will give Sinclair some much-needed cash in helping pay down their debt and even acquire more stations in the future.
Sources say there is still a good possibility that some Fox O&O's (i.e. Orlando) that Fox could send over to Sinclair in a trade.
Other non-Fox stations that Sinclair will be getting could be bought by Nexstar or Meredith.
Many Tribune GM and News Directors have been busy emailing and texting each other after FTVLive's report. The inside consensus seems to be, they would rather end up in the hands of Fox than Sinclair.
All we can say is be careful what you wish for.