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 Headquarters of Sinclair Broadcast Group in Cockeysville, Maryland | |
| Sinclair Broadcast Group | |
| Formerly | Chesapeake Television Corporation (1971–1985) |
| Company type | Public |
| Nasdaq: SBGI (Class A) Russell 1000 Index component | |
| ISIN | US8292261091 |
| Industry | |
| Founded | April 11, 1971 Baltimore, Maryland, U.S. |
| Founder | Julian Sinclair Smith |
| Headquarters | , U.S. |
Area served | United States |
Key people |
|
| Products | Broadcasting equipment |
Production output | Sports and news programming |
| Services | |
| Revenue |  $2.73 billion USD[1] (2016) |
| $233.4 million USD[1] (2016) | |
| $245.3 million USD[1] (2016) | |
| Total assets | $5.96 billion USD[1] (2016) |
| Total equity | $557.9 million USD[1] (2016) |
| Owner | Smith family (controlling) |
Number of employees | 11,500[2] (2022) |
| Divisions |
|
| Subsidiaries | |
| Website | www |
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 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 a total of 193 stations across the country in over 100 markets (covering 40% of American households), and is the largest owner of stations affiliated with Fox, NBC, CBS, ABC, MyNetworkTV, and The CW. Sinclair also owns four digital multicast networks (Comet, Charge!, The Nest, and TBD), and sports-oriented cable networks (Stadium, Tennis Channel, and Bally Sports Regional Networks). On June 2, 2021, it was announced that Sinclair had become a Fortune 500 company, having reached 2020 annual revenues of US$5.9 billion (equivalent to $6.8 billion in 2023).[3]
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 the same market."[4][5] 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.[6][7][8][9][10]
History
Early roots
The company's roots date back to 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,[11] with the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) granting the construction permit – for the estimated US$25,964 (equivalent to $271,400 in 2023) construction project – in April 1959.[12] Sinclair's first station, WFMM-FM (now WPOC), signed on the air in February 1960.[13]
By 1967, Smith (as Chesapeake Engineering Placement Service, partly owned by the name-shortened Commercial Radio Inc.) had applied for, and was granted, a construction permit for a new UHF television station in Baltimore, expected to be operating by September 1968 on channel 45 (no call sign yet assigned).[14]
Chesapeake Television Corporation
Channel 45, with the call sign WBFF, did not sign on until 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, would found WPTT (now WPNT) in Pittsburgh, in 1978; and WTTE in Columbus, Ohio, in 1984. All three stations originally were independents, though WBFF and WTTE became charter affiliates of the Fox Broadcasting Company at its launch in 1986. The Fox affiliation in Pittsburgh went to higher-rated WPGH-TV, which would be 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, and in 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 the weather read over a stock video shot denoting the conditions outside, and 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 the company's only foray into local news for years, a genre it would become much more involved in from the mid-1990s on.
Sinclair Broadcast Group
1985–2010
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 the Sinclair Broadcast Group. In 1990, David Smith and his three brothers bought their parents' remaining stock and went on a buying spree that eventually made it one of 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 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 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 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.[15][16] In 2001, the FCC levied a $40,000 fine against Sinclair for illegally controlling Glencairn.[17] Sinclair became a publicly listed company in 1995, while the Smith family retained a controlling interest.
In 1994, Sinclair signed 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.[18] In 1996, Sinclair bought out Superior Communications for $63 million.[19] In 1997, Sinclair reached a deal with The WB to convert many of the UPN affiliates to The WB.[20] Following the disputes, in August 1998, Sinclair and UPN signed a new agreement.[21] On February 25, 1998, Sinclair bought out Sullivan Broadcasting for $1 billion.[22] In 1998, Sinclair bought out Max Media Properties, for $252 million.[23] On November 8, 2004, Sinclair sold off KSMO-TV in Kansas City to Meredith Corporation for $26.8 million.[24] In December 2004, Sinclair divested KOVR-TV in Sacramento to Viacom (now Paramount Global) for $285 million.[25]
In 2004, as 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.[26]
In a filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission on July 14, 2009, 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.[27] However, the company seemingly recovered its financial fortunes enough, as it would begin a major string of acquisitions involving television stations and other properties two years later.
2011–2013
The beginning of the 2010s saw Sinclair's acquisition strategy intensify. Ring of Honor (ROH), a professional wrestling promotion, was purchased on May 21, 2011, for an undisclosed amount.[28] ROH's flagship program Ring of Honor Wrestling was consequently added onto the schedules of many Sinclair-operated stations.[29] Four Points Media Group was purchased on September 8, 2011, 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.[30][31] Sinclair then purchased Freedom Communications' television stations on November 2, 2011, for $385 million (equivalent to $521 million in 2023), making Sinclair the ninth-largest broadcast group in the United States.[32][33]
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.[34] A groupwide affiliation renewal with Fox reached on May 15, 2012, included an option for Sinclair to purchase WUTB, Baltimore's MyNetworkTV station, from Fox Television Stations before March 31, 2013.[35] 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.[36]
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) on July 19, 2012, as part of a larger dispersal of Newport's 22-station portfolio.[37] That same day, Sinclair purchased Tampa station WTTA for $40 million (equivalent to $53.1 million in 2023).[38] Two of Sinclair's existing stations in markets affected by the Newport deal, WSTR-TV and KMYS, were sold to Deerfield Media.[38] Deerfield also acquired KBTV-TV, Beaumont, Texas's Fox affiliate, from Nexstar, with Sinclair assuming operations and merging it into CBS affiliate KFDM.[39] The non-license assets of ABC affiliate WHAM-TV in Rochester, New York, were sold by Newport to Sinclair, with Deerfield purchasing the station's license.[40]
Cox Media Group sold five television stations, their smallest by media market rankings, to Sinclair on February 25, 2013, with Deerfield Media assuming ownership of Cox-operated KAME-TV in Reno.[41][42] Three days later, Sinclair purchased Schaumburg, Illinois–based Barrington Broadcasting on February 28, 2013, including six other stations operated by Barrington.[43] The former Cox and Barrington stations are operated through subsidiary Chesapeake Television, focusing on smaller markets and with management separate from Sinclair proper.[41][44] Two Barrington stations, along with the lease for a third, were initially set to be transferred to Cunningham Broadcasting,[43] but were ultimately sold to an affiliate of Northwest Broadcasting owner Brian Brady.[45][46]
Prevailing in a bidding war with LIN Media, Sinclair purchased Fisher Communications on April 11, 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.[47] This deal also returned Sinclair to radio ownership since the divestment of their radio portfolio between 1999 and 2000.[48][49] 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.[50] Shortly after the announcement, a lawsuit was filed by a Fisher shareholder;[51] the suit was settled in July 2013[52] and the merger approved shortly thereafter.[53][54]
Titan TV Broadcast Group sold four stations, along with operating agreements for two stations, to Sinclair on June 3, 2013.[55] Prior to the deal, a seventh station, KDBC-TV in El Paso, Texas, to Cunningham,[56] fueling speculation KDBC-TV would be consolidated with Sinclair-owned KFOX-TV.[57] Sinclair exercised its option to purchase KDBC-TV outright[58] citing KDBC-TV's fourth-place ranking in the El Paso market while KFOX ranked sixth, making it permissible under FCC duopoly regulations.[59][60] 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.[61]
As part of a refocus on the Politico website and newspaper, Allbritton Communications sold their seven station portfolio—including Washington, D.C.'s WJLA-TV—to Sinclair on July 29, 2013, for $985 million (equivalent to $1.29 billion in 2023).[62] 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,[63] Sinclair then announced on March 21, 2014, intentions to divest three stations and one existing LMA to independent third parties. Unable to find a buyer, Sinclair proposed on May 29, 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.[64][65] One other Allbritton station, WHTM-TV in Harrisburg, Pennsylvania, was sold to Media General for $83.4 million (equivalent to $107 million in 2023).[66] After nearly a year of delays, the deal was approved by the FCC on July 24, 2014,[67] and completed on August 1.[68] WCIV, WCFT-TV and WJSU-TV were ultimately sold to Howard Stirk Holdings.[69]
Sinclair announced the purchase of eight stations owned or operated by New Age Media on September 25, 2013. 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.[70][71] New Age Media and MPS Media terminated the deal on October 31, 2014, more than a year after it was announced. Sinclair purchased the non-license assets for all eight stations and began operating them through master service agreements the next day.[72][73]
2014–2016
Sinclair signed an agreement in June 2014 to carry the classic film subchannel network GetTV in 33 markets by the end of September.[74] 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, is primarily carried on Sinclair stations.[75] 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 was announced as Arthur Hasson, general manager of Sinclair stations in Harrisburg, Pennsylvania.[76] 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, 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.[77][78] The swap was approved by the FCC alongside the Media General-LIN merger on December 12, 2014.[79]
On September 3, 2014, Sinclair announced 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.[80] The purchase of KSNV's non-license assets was completed on November 1, 2014.[72] 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.[81][82][83] Similar sales were filed with the FCC for WBMA-LD satellite stations WCFT-TV on September 24[84] and WJSU-TV on September 28.[85] 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 was launched as a sci-fi broadcast subchannel network.[86][87] On October 12, Sinclair Original Programming and the programming department was merged into Sinclair Programming and moved into Sinclair Television Group.[88]
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 the broadcasting assets of Schurz Communications (owner of WSBT), was necessary as Gray already owns WNDU-TV in South Bend.[89] The sale was completed on February 16, 2016.[90]
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.[91] 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.[92] In 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.[93] In December 2016, SBG announced TBD, a new digital subchannel network aimed towards millennials, with a focus on digital content.[94] It began broadcasting on February 13, 2017.[95] At the NATPE conference on January 17, 2017, SBG and MGM announced a second TV network, Charge!, a new digital subchannel network focusing on action-adventure based programming. It begin broadcasting on February 28, 2017.[96] 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 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.[97]
2017–present
On March 1, 2017, Sinclair bought Tennis Media Company for $8 million, which includes the Tennis.com website and Tennis magazine; the deal also includes up to $6 million in earnout if certain targets are reached. Sinclair intends to integrate the properties with Tennis Channel.[98] 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.[99] The sale was approved on June 30,[100] and the sale was completed September 1.[101][102][103][104]
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,[105] To comply with Department of Justice antitrust and FCC ownership regulations, it was suggested that Sinclair would have to divest stations in multiple markets.[106]
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 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 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.[107][108][109][110][111] 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.[112][113][114] 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 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.[115] On July 16, 2018, FCC chairman Ajit Pai was reported to have "serious concerns" about the transaction and proposed a hearing before an administrative law judge.[116] 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 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.[117][118]
Following the failed acquisition of Tribune Media, Sinclair has mentioned publicly about buying Fox Sports Networks, as well as the stations owned by Cox Media Group.[119] 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.[120] 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.[121] On March 9, 2019, Sinclair purchased a minority stake in YES Network.[122] While Sinclair did not bid on the Cox stations,[123] on April 26, 2019, it was reported that Sinclair was the successful bidder for Fox Sports Networks at $10 billion.[124] On August 22, 2019, Sinclair completed the acquisition of FSN and thus FSN is now a wholly owned subsidiary and becoming sisters to Marquee.[125]
On January 27, 2020, Sinclair announced that it would sell WDKY-TV in Lexington, Kentucky, and 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.[126] The transaction was completed on September 17, 2020.[127]
On May 7, 2020, the company was fined $48 million to settle investigations related to reports and statements made to the FCC.[128] 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.[129][130]
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.[131]
In 2021, Sinclair began moving 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.[132] On January 1, Fox moved from KFXA in Cedar Rapids, Iowa to KGAN, where its "Fox 28" branding was retained.[133] With a transitional simulcast period from January 1 to February 4, Fox moved from WRGT-TV in Dayton, Ohio to WKEF,[134] where its "Fox 45" branding 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[135] in Port Arthur, Texas to KFDM[136] 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 was retained.[137] 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.[137]
In March 2021 Sinclair laid off 550 employees, which represented about 5% of its workforce, citing the COVID-19 pandemic.[138] On June 2, 2021, it 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.[3] The company has 10,000 employees as of 2021, and acquired an additional 46,000-square-foot (4,300 m2) office building near its main Hunt Valley headquarters to accommodate an additional 260 employees.[3]
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 a Canadian charity which builds schools in Africa.[139][140]
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 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 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 a feed of its syndicated newscast The National Desk).[141][142][143] 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 was also linked to a similar cyberattack that hit Olympus Corporation's corporate server network on October 10) within Sinclair's servers.[144]
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.[145]
In March 2023, it was reported that Sinclair had laid off news employees and reduced 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.[146][147]
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 the non-broadcast operations would be placed under Sinclair Ventures. Then, the two companies would be placed under a new holding company, "Sinclair, Inc.".[148][149]
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.[147][150] On June 1, 2023, Sinclair announced the closing of its reorganization as a holding company.[151]
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.[152][153]
On October 10, 2023, Sinclair announced that on October 30, 2023, it will convert Stadium's over-the-air service into The Nest, a network that will feature reruns of home improvement, true crime, reality and celebrity-driven shows.[154]
Programming
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, 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.[155][156]
In October 2015, Sinclair premiered Full Measure, a syndicated public affairs program hosted by Sharyl Attkisson.[157]
On July 1, 2017, Sinclair launched a new daily morning kids' TV block called KidsClick, partnering with This TV.[158] The block 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.[159] 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.[160] On September 27, 2021, The National Desk expanded to a two-hour evening newscast, airing 10 pm to midnight Eastern Time.[161]
