FCC May Delay Sinclair/Tribune Ruling

The head of the FCC says that the decision on the Sinclair/Tribune deal might be delayed, because of the current rules on ownership. 

Bloomberg writes that Federal Communications Commission Chairman Ajit Pai has told an opponent of Sinclair Broadcast Group Inc.’s proposed purchase of Tribune Media Inc. that the agency may review media ownership rules before ruling on the $3.9 billion deal, something that could delay a decision on the merger.

“Ajit Pai told me in my meeting that he has not decided to approve the merger first, that he may conduct a review of the ownership cap,"  Christopher Ruddy, chief executive officer of Newsmax Media Inc., said in an interview Friday. “I can confirm to you on the record that he told me that he had not decided and that he was open to doing the review first. And I encouraged him to do it."

Ruddy said Pai made his statement in a Sept. 27 meeting. The Newsmax chief said the merger would allow too much media concentration that could crowd out independent voices. Newsmax offers a TV channel that appears on cable systems and online.

A review of the complex ownership rules could take months.

Sinclair is not commenting, but since they have the FCC in their back pocket, we're guessing they know exactly what is happening and when it will happen. 

Just saying... 

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