Take Two translates the day’s headlines for Southern California, making sense of the news and cultural events that affect our lives. Produced by Southern California Public Radio and broadcast from October 2012 – June 2021. Hosted by A Martinez.
Sinclair Broadcast Group is not content with being pretty big. It wants to be huge.
Sinclair announced Monday it will buy Tribune Media for almost $4 billion.
Baltimore-based Sinclair is already the largest owner of local television stations in the country. Combining forces with Tribune means it will operate 233 TV stations, including KTLA in Los Angeles.
A quick note--Tribune is the former parent company of the LA Times and Chicago Tribune, but the papers were spun off into a new company called Tronc in 2014.
The goal is to get bigger. The Trump administration has signaled that it's going to loosen up the ownership rules that limit the amount of TV stations a single company can own. They've already taken a step in that direction by changing what they call the UHF discount.
Basically, UHF stations count for half as much coverage as they did before. That allowed Sinclair to buy more stations under the cap. The cap is anticipated to be expanded.
What will happen now is that Sinclair becomes a different kind of company. They've been the largest owner of [local] TV stations for a while. But now they have New York, Chicago, and KTLA in Los Angeles. That will give them a very different profile in the media industry, by being in those markets.
One of the things that people know them for is a slant towards conservative politics. They have conservative commentators on their TV stations. They have a Sunday morning program now with Sharyl Attkisson, who is a former CBS correspondent who had many issues with the Obama administration.
There's also talk that Sinclair could use its scale to actually launch a full-time news service aimed at an audience that's more conservative than the Fox News audience. Fox has always had the niche for being the network for those who felt mainstream media was too liberal.
It's early to determine what's going to happen, exactly.
I would say this, though. They have a morning show that's pretty successful at KTLA. It's often number-one. It often beats the network programs.
When you're winning, and you're making money, it's a good idea to leave it alone.
Also, will the viewpoints that Sinclair has on its TV stations in the Midwest or in so-called red states where they operate play as well in the very deep-blue country of Los Angeles and California?
You have to be careful not to alienate your audience. It's more important for these companies to make money that to espouse their political views.
This transcript has been edited for clarity and brevity on the web. To hear the full interview, click on the blue media player above.