(cross-posted at
The Christian Dem Home Journal
We all remember when Sinclair Broadcast Group tried to inject itself into the presidential race by airing "Stolen Honor," a hit piece on Kerry. And as we all know, Sinclair blinked--and the blogosphere played a big role in that effort.
Well, folks, as unsavory as Sinclair's behavior was in this case, there's something else going on that hasn't gotten much attention--and unlike "Stolen Honor," this situation is absolutely illegal. There is nearly uncontestable evidence that through a corporate shell, Sinclair has illegal duopolies in six markets.
Sinclair operates
62 stations--48 owned outright and 14 more through local marketing agreements and outsourcing arrangements. Six of those LMA stations are owned by Cunningham Broadcasting Corporation. Cunningham is controlled by trusts in the name of Carolyn Smith, the matriarch of the family that founded Sinclair in 1971. Her ownership interest is held by her grandchildren--the children of Sinclair President/Chairman/CEO David Smith and his brothers, vice presidents Frederick Smith and Duncan Smith. All six Cunningham stations are located in the same cities as Sinclair stations, and have LMAs with Sinclair. They are:
WNUV-TV in Baltimore (WB affiliate, LMA with WBFF-TV, Fox affiliate)
WTTE-TV in Columbus, OH (Fox affiliate, LMA with WSYX-TV, ABC affiliate)
WBSC-TV in Greenville-Spartanburg-Asheville (WB affiliate, LMA with WLOS-TV, ABC affiliate)
WRGT-TV in Dayton (Fox affiliate, LMA with WKEF-TV, ABC affiliate)
WVAH-TV in Charleston-Huntington, WV (Fox affiliate, LMA with WCHS-TV, ABC affiliate)
WTAT-TV in Charleston, SC (Fox affiliate, LMA with WMMP-TV, UPN affiliate)
Sinclair has tried to buy all except WBSC outright, but has been turned down each time. In the cases of WTTE, WRGT and WVAH, Sinclair couldn't buy them outright because the FCC doesn't allow one person to own two of the four largest stations in a single market. I'm not sure about the other two--but I would imagine it was due to local outrage over Sinclair's "News Central" operation. When WBSC and WLOS' licenses came up for renewal in 2004, a local group, Sinclair Media Watch, wrote informal objections to both licenses because of the Cunningham issue.
Cunningham's been in the news before. It's been around since 1995 as Glencairn Ltd., owned by Edwin Edwards, former manager of a Sinclair station in Pittsburgh. Carolyn Smith supplied the initial capital for the group, which eventually grew to 11 stations--all LMA'd with Sinclair. One of those stations was WRDC-TV, the UPN station in the Triangle (home to Chapel Hill). Carolyn Smith supplied the initial capital for Glencairn, and the Smiths eventually bought 97% of the stock. Glencairn passed itself off as a minority-owned broadcaster (Edwards is black)--something that won it additional favor with the FCC.
Sinclair was able to keep up the charade until 1999, when it tried to buy five stations from Glencairn and take over from Glencairn as the buyer for another. Jesse Jackson and several other grassroots groups filed challenges to the move, and it later emerged that Edwards didn't know how much debt Glencairn would take on as a result of the sale. In 2001, the FCC fined Sinclair $40,000 for illegally controlling Glencairn--but took no further action. Glencairn eventually sold five of its stations to Sinclair outright and changed its name to Cunningham.
The only reason Sinclair and Glencairn/Cunningham have been able to get away with this for so long is because they've flown under the radar. But not anymore. Unfortunately, the renewal dates for the six Cunningham/Sinclair stations have passed. But I would imagine that any Kossack living in the areas I mentioned would be able to write to the FCC and allege that Sinclair and Cunningham are both guilty of not displaying full candor before the FCC. For those who don't know, that charge began the chain of events that ended in the death of RKO General.
Sinclair is already on life support--as we saw last year, its financial situation is precarious at best. But if there was ever a chance to throw these guys an anvil, this is it.
(hat tip to Sinclair Watch, Sinclair Media Watch and Common Dreams for info used in this entry)