Sinclair, Tribune Close to Merger Deal

[mardek1995 200]

And even now Sinclair thought they could get away with owning 2 top four stations in Harrisburg (WPMT-WHP) turns out it took the DOJ ordering that market to be divested before Sinclair realized that they couldn't do that in Harrisburg.

 

For almost 30 years (since the creation of the sharing agreements) Sinclair has shown time and time again they don't want to play by the rules and regulations as set forth by the FCC and the reason that Sinclair is able to not play by the rules and get away with it is because none of the FCC Commissioners from the time Sharing Agreements was created to today have put a stop to Sinclair's efforts to evade FCC rules.

 

You might say that this merger should not be approved but it will be approved anyway, why? Because Sinclair thinks they can get away with every rule and regulation in the FCC handbook, that's why.

Don't get me wrong, Sinclair can get quite ridiculous with the rule breaking (owning two top 4 stations in Rochester, NY for example), but what about Raycom and their operations in Hawaii and Tucson? Are we not going to criticize them?

 

"The sharing of biased and false news has become all too common on social media," the script says. "More alarming, national media outlets are publishing these same fake stories without checking facts first. Unfortunately, some members of the national media are using their platforms to push their own personal bias and agenda to control 'exactly what people think' ... This is extremely dangerous to our democracy."

But not you Sinclair. You're reporting is so honest and objective about how Trump is the greatest President in the history of the world and that anyone who says otherwise is an enemy who hates American...give me a break.

 

It takes a lot of guts to be THAT hypocritical like they were in that statement above. You guys are part of the problem and eventually local TV's credibility is going to be shot because of people like you. I believe that Sinclair will be the iheartMedia/Clear Channel of local TV in more ways than one.

Local TV's credibility is already being shot! But not because of Sinclair! Besides, most of their stations aren't even market leaders or runner ups, nor do they own any station in the top 10 DMA markets besides WJLA. I'm talking about station groups like TEGNA, and it's quite well documented on the out and about and the TEGNA general discussion threads how TEGNitis is ruining TEGNA's stations!

 

See, and this is the point. This is so stupid on multiple levels, especially with the risk of chasing away a wide swath of viewers based solely on a pro-GOP agenda.

 

But this has the same potential to drive away advertisers, either through their own objections or through social media-driven pressure. This is not a recipe for success by any means.

 

If they want to be like conservative talk radio, then be like conservative talk radio. Nothing but opinion pieces read by old white males with nothing but direct-service ads for colon cleansing and male hormone supplements. Ya know, stuff that no one but people over the age of 55 listen to.

What about Infowars? Are there not 18-25 year olds who listen to Alex Jones and the others? Also, I doubt that Sinclair cares about ratings like most other station groups do (Nexstar seeming to be the only other group who doesn't care about ratings either as far as I know).

[Georgie56 3059]

Local TV's credibility is already being shot! But not because of Sinclair! Besides, most of their stations aren't even market leaders or runner ups, nor do they own any station in the top 10 DMA markets besides WJLA. I'm talking about station groups like TEGNA, and it's quite well documented on the out and about and the TEGNA general discussion threads how TEGNitis is ruining TEGNA's stations!

 

People trust local news more than national news.

 

What about Infowars? Are there not 18-25 year olds who listen to Alex Jones and the others? Also, I doubt that Sinclair cares about ratings like most other station groups do (Nexstar seeming to be the only other group who doesn't care about ratings either as far as I know).

 

Yes, but only kooks listen to InfoWars.

[mardek1995 200]

People trust local news more than national news.

 

 

 

Yes, but only kooks listen to InfoWars.

Yes, people do trust local news more than national news, but they don't trust either a lot. Only sometimes as Pew Research Center has documented. http://www.journalism.org/2016/07/07/trust-and-accuracy/

 

Also, about the kooks listening to Infowars... HERE'S TO THE KOOKS BITCHES!!!

[Rusty Muck 4159]

What about Infowars? Are there not 18-25 year olds who listen to Alex Jones and the others?

InfoWars and Prison Planet are not news sources.

Also, I doubt that Sinclair cares about ratings like most other station groups do (Nexstar seeming to be the only other group who doesn't care about ratings either as far as I know).

Then Sinclair is even more stupid that I give them credit for. Money is what drives broadcasting, and forcing their stations to go pro-Republican hurts their ability to make money.

[NewsMaster 226]

I have to agree with @Nicktes95 on this one. As much as I don't care for Trump or Sinclair, this is simply CNN pushing their anti-Republican agenda against a pro-Republican company. It's that simple, folks. Honestly, any news article on either side of the aisle that points fingers at the other cannot be trusted.

[Rusty Muck 4159]

[quote name='NewsMaster']I have to agree with @Nicktes95 on this one. As much as I don't care for Trump or Sinclair, this is simply CNN pushing their anti-Republican agenda against a pro-Republican company. It's that simple, folks. Honestly, any news article on either side of the aisle that points fingers at the other cannot be trusted.[/QUOTE] It’s a piece written by a media critic and [I][B]de facto[/B][/I] ombudsman for his employer doing his job. That’s why Brian Stelter is at CNN. It’s [B]THAT[/B] simple.

[mardek1995 200]

It’s a piece written by a media critic and de facto ombudsman for his employer doing his job. That’s why Brian Stelter is at CNN.

 

It’s THAT simple.

I'm not so sure about doing his job. The media is supposed to hold those in power accountable, yet most of them didn't investgate why the FBI failed to act to prevent the Stoneman Douglas shooting sooner. I never thought I'd say this but... I have to agree with Sinclair on this one.

[ColtFromGulfcoast 695]

InfoWars and Prison Planet are not news sources.

 

Then Sinclair is even more stupid that I give them credit for. Money is what drives broadcasting, and forcing their stations to go pro-Republican hurts their ability to make money.

 

And you notice that most of the stronger Sinclair stations are the ones who bury the must runs in overnight. See KOMO among others.

[mardek1995 200]

And you notice that most of the stronger Sinclair stations are the ones who bury the must runs in overnight. See KOMO among others.

And that's okay! Because the stations that do that, are in liberal areas (such as KOMO) where just airing the must runs would cause more controversy than it's worth.

[oklahomanewsman 210]

Don't get me wrong, Sinclair can get quite ridiculous with the rule breaking (owning two top 4 stations in Rochester, NY for example), but what about Raycom and their operations in Hawaii and Tucson? Are we not going to criticize them?

You do have a very vailid point in Raycom's shells, some of them were carried over when new ownership took over (Tucson is a prime example of that)

 

But at the same time the reason why we don't criticize companies like Raycom who plays the same shell game as Sinclair is because we tend to view companies like Raycom as "good villian" while we view a company like Sinclair as a "bad villiain" and I think if we're going to be harsh on Sinclair for playing the shell game, we should be that harsh on Nexstar, Raycom and TEGNA as well because they're just as bad when it comes to playing the shell game as Sinclair.

[TSSZNews 1046]

It’s a piece written by a media critic and de facto ombudsman for his employer doing his job. That’s why Brian Stelter is at CNN.

 

It’s THAT simple.

 

Narrator: It wasn't that simple.

As much as I respect him, Stelter could have done a great service to himself and to CNN by disclosing in his article that his parent company, Time Warner, and AT&T are themselves in the middle of a media mega merger, also currently under review by the government.

 

The President has not minced words about how he feels about CNN. They and the parent company have skin in the game if Sinclair-Trib passes muster and their merger doesn't--especially if theirs doesn't.

 

In that respect, Nicktes95 is right. Every company right now is trying to get theirs while they can get away with it--some simply to survive the scale wars, others...well, not so much. What can be said of Sinclair-Trib or Time Warner-ATT can be said of the deal with Disney-FOX. Or Comcast-SKY. Or Comcast-FOX, potentially. Or Viacom-CBS, potentially.

 

We live in interesting times.

[Eat News 4738]

The problem lies in our liberal colleges and university's ...

[Georgie56 3059]

And you notice that most of the stronger Sinclair stations are the ones who bury the must runs in overnight. See KOMO among others.

 

And Sinclair has responded by mandating Epshteyn must runs 9 times a week on evening newscasts.

[mardek1995 200]

And Sinclair has responded by mandating Epshteyn must runs 9 times a week on evening newscasts.

Yeah, ratings are officialy meaningless to them.

[ColtFromGulfcoast 695]

And Sinclair has responded by mandating Epshteyn must runs 9 times a week on evening newscasts.

 

I haven't seen it unless I missed something.

[cna247 173]

Did the domain for this website change to TVPoliticsTalk.net?

 

So, we've got Myron Falwell & scrabbleship (among others) on the left, and Eat News, CalItalian2 & Nicktes95 (among others) on the right. Seriously, enough with the politics already.

 

And ColDayNews & televisionguy16, yes I am complaining. No need for either of you to point that out as I'm sure both you drama queens are itching to do.

[mardek1995 200]

Did the domain for this website change to TVPoliticsTalk.net?

 

So, we've got Myron Falwell & scrabbleship (among others) on the left, and Eat News, CalItalian2 & Nicktes95 (among others) on the right. Seriously, enough with the politics already.

 

And ColDayNews & televisionguy16, yes I am complaining. No need for either of you to point that out as I'm sure both you drama queens are itching to do.

I'm actually liberal and Eat News has been known for making fun of both sides, but I do agree with you. Has polarization gone so bad that the left and right are on the brink of a civil war? Everytime I swear, the Sinclair threads are where we all go insane with politics. Can we all stop now? Also, I'm sorry that I was a part of it myself. Kinda got carried away.

[Georgie56 3059]

Centrism forever!

[mardek1995 200]

Centrism forever!

Can't we all just get along?

[Eat News 4738]

....yes I am complaining.

 

You don't ever contribute here...so you don't get to complain.

 

plonk

[Jase 818]

Goodbye WGN as we know it.

 

I think WGN can survive whatever will come their way. I'm not saying they won't take a beating or two or three, etc...but a death blow seems unlikely. We (at the local level) really need to see what actually airs to fully assess how viewers (us) will react/respond. I am more confident than I previously was that WGN management will find a way to make this work (they don't really have a choice). The question is how.

[Mrtraveler01 737]

And that's okay! Because the stations that do that, are in liberal areas (such as KOMO) where just airing the must runs would cause more controversy than it's worth.

 

KUTV seems to be another one, they dodged the standardization bullet (and avoided having to add the stupid flag to their L3's) and from what I've seen, they run their must-runs during the newscasts they air on KJZZ.

 

Whoever runs KUTV is smart because they took advantage of KSL's fall from grace and they've ran away with it. I think they realize that if they force the Sinclair stuff on their viewers, they will just go back to KSL which while it's also a conservative TV station (it's run by the LDS after all), it's not so over the top in its partisanship like Sinclair is on a corporate level.

[mre29 1339]

Centrism forever!

 

The moderates will rise again!

[cna247 173]

You don't ever contribute here...so you don't get to complain.

 

plonk

I guess you’re not stalking me as much anymore. I do offer valuable contributions ... unlike the majority of your posts which are (a) not funny, (b) sometimes inappropriate, and © contribute nothing valuable to the conversation.

[ColtFromGulfcoast 695]

And ColDayNews & televisionguy16, yes I am complaining. No need for either of you to point that out as I'm sure both you drama queens are itching to do.

 

I wasn't going to say anything until you brought my name up. It's very funny how you call us drama queens when all of your posts on this site, with the exception of some, consist entirely of you bitching at someone over their point of view. If you don't like people's posts that much, you have the option of hitting the ignore button so that you do not see what they have to say or not coming on this site. You brought our names up so expect one or both of us to respond to you. If you don't want people to respond to you, do not fix your fingers to mention their name.

 

And I saw the recent comments that you made earlier subtweeting me and I chose to take the high road. Keep my name off of your comments and keep me out of your comments in general and we won't have any personal problems. Ok?