Sinclair Broadcast Group
The
Sinclair Broadcast Group (
SBG) is the operator of the largest number of local
television stations in the
United States with a total of 59 stations across the country in 38 primarily small and medium markets, many of which are located in
the South and the
Midwest. Broadcasts by SBG stations can be received by 24 percent of American households. The company is based in
Hunt Valley, Maryland.
Though Sinclair became a public company in 1995 and is currently traded on NASDAQ under the symbol SBGI, the Smith family still retains a majority financial interest, and all four Smith brothers serve as executives or directors.
| Network ¦¦ # Stations | | Fox | 19 |
| WB | 17¹² |
| ABC | 11 |
| UPN | 6¹ |
| NBC | 1 |
| CBS | 2 |
| My Network TV | ¹ |
| CW | ² |
| Independent | 2¹² |
¹17 stations (10 WB, 6 UPN and
1 independent) starting September. |
²8 stations (7 WB and 1 independent)
starting September. |
Many stations are owned outright by the company, but many others are affiliated through
local marketing agreements, or LMAs. The stations are affiliates of various
television networks:
ABC,
CBS,
NBC and
Fox. In January 2006,
UPN and the
WB merged into a new network,
The CW, which announced on May 2006 that Sinclair's 8 WB stations (WVTV, KMWB, WNAB, WTTO/WDBB, KOCB, WLFL and WNUV) and independent KFBT will become affiliates of the newly-formed network. In February
2006 My Network TV, a new spin-off of Fox's parent News Corporation, was formed to pickup stations that were losing either UPN or The WB. That announcement resulted in Sinclair signing a deal the following March, bringing 10 soon-to-be-ex WB affils (WTTA, WCWB, WSTR, WBSC, KRRT, WTVZ, WNYO, KVWB, WDKA and WNYS), 6 soon-to-be-ex-UPN affils (WUXP, WCGV, WUPN, WMMP, WABM and WRDC) and one independent (WFGX) to the new upstart come September
2006. Fox's deal with Sinclair was also strengthened by renewing its 19 stations to a six-year deal. The deal also includes flagship WBFF/Baltimore, despite Fox having a O&O, My Network TV affiliate WUTB, in the same market.
SBG has been compared to the
radio conglomerate
Clear Channel Communications (although they own TV stations as well as radio stations). The company, founded by Julian Smith, originated in
1971 with the launch of
UHF station (and still current Sinclair
flagship)
WBFF (Channel 45) in
Baltimore,
Maryland. It is currently run by CEO David Smith and three other sons of Julian Smith.
SBG 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 SBG, also creates conservative
editorial segments called "The Point" that are broadcast on some of the group's 61 stations. In addition, most of the stations that aired "News Central" emulated the prepackaged news studio appearance for local stories. This model was ultimately unsuccessful, and on March 31, 2006, News Central ended its national news broadcasts (although as of July 2006, The Point survives). Most stations running the News Central format ended up cancelling their news coverage altogether, although some stations that did this have subsequently contracted with competing TV stations to produce their newscasts.
Between
1994 and
1997, nine stations owned by Glencairn Ltd. entered
local marketing agreements with Sinclair-owned stations in the same cities. Glencairn was owned by Edwin Edwards, a former Sinclair executive, who also personally owned WPTT-TV in
Pittsburgh. Since the Smiths owned nearly all of Glencairn's stock, some claimed Glencairn was a corporate shell with the sole purpose of evading
FCC rules against owning more than one station in a market. In December
2001, after complaints from
Jesse Jackson and several other media companies, the
FCC fined Sinclair $40,000 for illegally controlling Glencairn. Sinclair tried to merge outright with Glencairn in 2001 and purchase Edwards' Pittsburgh station, now
WPMY. However, the FCC only allowed four of the stations to come directly under the Sinclair banner. Glencairn kept the others and changed its name to Cunningham Broadcasting. Cunningham is owned by trusts in the name of four members of the Smith family.
In
2004, Sinclair attracted controversy when it decided that eight ABC stations it owned would not be allowed to broadcast an
April 30 airing of a
Nightline tribute to the 721 soldiers killed in the
2003 invasion and
occupation of
Iraq.
The group issued a statement that said in part, "The action appears to be motivated by a political agenda designed to undermine the efforts of the United States in Iraq." ABC responded, saying that the program was meant to be an expression of respect which seeks to honor those who have laid down their lives for this country."
For differing reasons, the decision to not air the episode attracted criticism both from supporters and opponents of the Iraq war. Affected stations were in the following markets:
*
Columbus, Ohio*
St. Louis, Missouri*
Charleston, West Virginia*
Pensacola, Florida*
Springfield, Massachusetts*
Asheville, North Carolina*
Greensboro, North CarolinaWTXL in
Tallahassee, Florida, formerly owned by Media Venture Management and, at that time, part of an
outsourcing agreement with SBG, decided to air the program. In other affected areas, a number of independent stations stepped into the breach to air the broadcast.
In
October 2004, it was reported that Sinclair would order all 62 of its affiliate stations to preempt
prime time programming to air
Stolen Honor: Wounds That Never Heal, a documentary critical of U.S. presidential candidate
John Kerry's anti-
Vietnam War activism, just two weeks before the
November 2 election. [
1] The film was produced by
Carlton Sherwood, a former associate of
Tom Ridge, and accuses
John Kerry of prolonging the
Vietnam War because of his
anti-war activism. The organization
Swift Boat Veterans for Truth, an anti-Kerry organization whose name become well known in the 2004 election year, was cross-promoting the film as part of a $1.4 million advertising campaign. [
2]
In response, the
Democratic National Committee filed a legal motion with the
Federal Election Commission stating that it is inappropriate for the media organization to air "partisan propaganda" in the last 10 days of an election campaign. [
3]
Sinclair fired its Washington bureau chief
Jon Leiberman, stating he revealed company business when he publicly discussed the documentary in an interview published October 18th in the
Baltimore Sun.
Liberal political action groups, such as
moveon.org, and mediamatters.org, rallied their members to threaten to boycotting companies who advertized during the program and to contact companies to let them know they intend to boycott them, and sign a petition on stopsinclair.org. The controversy caused Sinclair's stock to drop, with its heaviest volume after William Lerach threatened legal action claiming inside transactions and citing stopsinclair.org as evidence.
New York state comptroller Alan Hevesi wrote a
letter to the Smiths demanding answers about Sinclair's stock price. Hevesi is the trustee for the state's
pension fund, which holds 256,000 shares of Sinclair stock. Finally, Sinclair backed down and aired an edited version of the show.
On August 30, 2005, in the segment "The Point", broadcast on Sinclair newscasts across the country, Sinclair commentator
Mark Hyman falsely claimed that
Social Security discriminates against minorities, whereas the truth is that some minorities have longer life expectancies after retirement than whites[
4].
He also falsely claimed that spouses who worked for less than 10 years because they "gave up [their] career in order to raise a family... get diddly-squat"[
5]. In fact, married Social Security recipients are eligible for all the benefits that they haveearned for themselves, and, in addition, if those benefits are less than half of what their spouse receives, they also receive spousal benefits that increase their overall benefits to an amount equal to half their partner's benefit, plus survivor benefits.[
6]
:(L) - Local marketing agreement
(O) -
Outsourcing agreement
(C) - Owned by Cunningham Broadcasting and operated by Sinclair via a local marketing agreement, but effectively owned by Sinclair due to Cunningham's financial structure
1: Owned by Sinclair, but managed by
Nexstar Broadcasting Group-owned
CBS affiliate
WMBD-TV2: Owned by Sinclair, but managed by
Nexstar Broadcasting Group-owned
CBS affiliate
WROC-TV*
Lists of corporate assets*Paul Schmelzer (October 20, 2004).
The Eternal Twilight of the Sinclair Mind. AlterNet.
*Lisa de Moraes (April 30, 2004).
Stations to Boycott Nightline's List of the Fallen. Page C07,
Washington Post.
*Al Tompkins (April 30, 2004).
ABC Breaks Through Nightline Blackout (Poynter Online)*Paul Schmelzer (April 23, 2003).
The Death of Local News. AlterNet.
*Katie Benner (October 11, 2004).
Anti-Kerry film sparks DNC response.
CNN*Wil S. Hylton (December 2005).
Not Necessarily the News. GQ.
Sinclair
*
Sinclair Broadcast Group, Inc. official site
*
NewsCentral*
SBG - station list*
CJR Who Owns What: Sinclair Broadcast GroupAnti-Sinclair activism
*
Sinclair Action!*
Sinclair Watch*
Stop Sinclair.org petition
News/comment
*
"Not Necessarily the News" By Wil S. Hyton GQ December 2005.
*
David Smith denies political agenda, Oct 2004
*
Sinclair Broadcast: The Puppetmasters,
AlterNet, February 17, 2005.
*
"Sinclair's Disgrace" by Eric Boehlert,
Salon, Oct. 14, 2004
*
Disinfopedia - Sinclair Broadcast Group*
dKosopedia - Sinclair Broadcast Group*
Ketupa.net - Sinclair Broadcast Group
