ACA Wants FCC to Force Sinclair Early License Renewal, Which May Be Long Shot
An American Cable Association petition asking the FCC to force Sinclair to resolve early the candor issues raised by the Sinclair/Tribune hearing designation order may not lead to much, communications lawyers told us. Sinclair and Chairman Ajit Pai aren't likely to want to address the matter before Sinclair’s currently scheduled license renewals in 2020, they said. The ACA petition’s reception at the FCC is uncertain, they added. “No one” expected Pai to issue the HDO and spike the deal, said Free Press Policy Manager Dana Floberg.
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The petition asks the FCC to require Sinclair to renew licenses of stations flagged in the HDO early. “Early renewal will permit the Commission to resolve the serious charges it leveled against Sinclair as soon as possible,” ACA said. The HDO raised allegations Sinclair may not have been truthful about level of control it would have over stations it proposed to divest in Sinclair/Tribune. The deal unraveled, and the matter has been on hold and waiting for Administrative Law Judge Richard Sippel to rule on how it should proceed.
A petition footnote said similar filings have been treated as “informal” requests for action, and the FCC isn’t obligated to act on the petition, noted communications lawyers. The agency and Sinclair didn’t comment.
Commissioner Jessica Rosenworcel said Tuesday in a statement the Sinclair matter should be resolved quickly: “This agency needs to take allegations of misrepresentation and lack of candor seriously. We shouldn’t put them on hold. They deserve scrutiny now.”
If the agency does act on the petition, it could put it out for comment, or either the Media Bureau or full commission could act, attorneys said. In a previous matter of early renewals, the agency acted without seeking comment, an attorney said. All of precedents cited by ACA date from decades ago, and may not be seen as very applicable to this matter, attorneys said. That the deal no longer exists also hurts ACA’s arguments, said Fletcher Heald broadcast lawyer Harry Cole, who isn’t connected to the case. “I’d be surprised if ACA expects this to actually happen.”
Sinclair is expected to oppose the petition because it’s probably seeking to resolve the candor issues with a consent decree, which would involve a much less public process than early license renewal, attorneys said. Sinclair could file an opposition to the petition without waiting to see if it’s put out for comment, they said.
A license renewal process would allow more public participation, said the Benton Foundation in a Tuesday letter supporting the petition. “The now-abandoned Sinclair/Tribune Media Company transaction was one of the most controversial and widely watched broadcast license proceedings in many years.” Free Press also supports the ACA petition, said Floberg in an interview. “We’re glad to see the FCC urged to see an investigation becoming a focus."
The petition is “reminiscent of the bad old days of broadcast regulation,” tweeted Mercatus Center Senior Research Fellow Brent Skorup. He characterized the move as the work of a “Lefty nonprofit (and ACA, a purchaser of programming).”
If the FCC does require early renewal, the process would likely take years, attorneys said. Concerns about a lengthy process are one reason to grant the petition, ACA said. “The Commission will ultimately have to resolve questions about Sinclair’s behavior one way or the other,” ACA said. “All parties -- Sinclair not least among them -- will benefit from resolution of these issues sooner rather than later.”