Sinclair has hired an investment bank to assess possible sale of at least 60 of their stations.

Sinclair currently owns 185 stations, if they sell 60, it will be about 30%.

Sinclair CEO Chris Ripley has shown long ago that he is not in the television business to be a pillar of Journalism. Sinclair has merged the opeartions of stations hundreds of miles a part in an effort to cut costs.

Newscasts are produced and anchored not even in the same state the station is located in.

As for which stations Sinclair will put on the block. Ripley says it could be any of the ones they own. “As we’ve always stated, we have no sacred cows,” Ripley said during Sinclair’s earnings conference call. “We want to unlock the sum of the parts valuation that we think we’re grossly undervalued for. And to the extent that asset sales makes sense in order to unlock that value and help us de-lever, then that’s something that we’d be open to as well.”

Sinclair has made some bad business moves that have costed them dearly (I.e. buying the regional sports channels) and the comapny has lost more than 70% of its market value in the last five years.

The fact that Sinclair is looking to sell its TV stations is good news for journalism. But, the problem is, with such a consolidated industry, who would be the buyer.

You just know Byron Allen will somehow put his name in the mix.

Just saying….