Sinclair Broadcast dustup to change FCC rules?

[Miulang]

The one good thing about this whole Sinclair Broadcasting debacle (Sinclair will be airing "stolen Honor", a decidedly anti-Kerry "documentary" prior to the Presidential election next month) is that it has raised so many eyebrows and is now on the national agenda that Congress may force the FCC to revise the ruling governing the number of stations any media outlet can own within a market. Sinclair apparently wants to continue to thumb its nose at the regulators even while stripping local stations of the control of their own local news. Hmmm...is this not called propaganda?

More here:http://www.chicagotribune.com/news/nationworld/chi-0410160112oct16,1,151711.story

Miulang

[Miulang]

Additional information in which Reed Hundt, former FCC Commissioner weighs in: http://www.salon.com/news/feature/2004/10/14/sinclair/index.html

Miulang

[Linkmeister]

Sinclair desperately needs to have Republicans in the House, Senate, and White House. If Kerry wins, he'll toss the FCC's chair (Powell) out on his ear and possibly appoint Michael Copps, one of the Democrats in the minority on the commission, as chair. Copps has been outspoken against media consolidation, and the only way Sinclair can continue to make any money is through acquisition of more stations. Take a look at their stock info at Yahoo Finance (Symbol: SBGI); you'll see that they are buried under about $1.7B in debt and can't service it without more cash flow from more stations.