{"id":888,"date":"2017-08-14T21:56:22","date_gmt":"2017-08-15T01:56:22","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.gopplaybook.com\/?p=888"},"modified":"2018-04-02T22:03:07","modified_gmt":"2018-04-03T02:03:07","slug":"how-a-conservative-tv-giant-is-ridding-itself-of-regulation","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.gopplaybook.com\/?p=888","title":{"rendered":"How a Conservative TV Giant Is Ridding Itself of Regulation"},"content":{"rendered":"
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By\u00a0CECILIA KANG<\/span><\/a>,\u00a0ERIC LIPTON<\/span><\/a>\u00a0and\u00a0<\/span>SYDNEY EMBER<\/span><\/a>\u00a0<\/span>

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With the purchase of Tribune Media, the Sinclair Broadcast Group would gain WITI, a Fox affiliate in Milwaukee.<\/span>\u00a0Credit<\/span>Alyssa Schukar for The New York Times<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n
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WASHINGTON \u2014 The day before President Trump\u2019s inauguration, the top executive of the\u00a0Sinclair<\/a>\u00a0Broadcast Group, the nation\u2019s largest owner of television stations, invited an important guest to the headquarters of the company\u2019s Washington-area ABC affiliate.<\/p>\n

The trip was, in the parlance of the business world, a deal closer.<\/p>\n

The invitation from David D. Smith, the chairman of Sinclair,\u00a0went to<\/a>\u00a0Ajit V. Pai, a commissioner on the Federal Communications Commission who was about to be named the broadcast industry\u2019s chief regulator. Mr. Smith wanted Mr. Pai to ease up on efforts under President Barack Obama to crack down on media consolidation, which were threatening Sinclair\u2019s ambitions to grow even bigger.<\/p>\n

Mr. Smith did not have to wait long.<\/p>\n

Within days of their meeting, Mr. Pai was named chairman of the F.C.C. And during his first 10 days on the job, he\u00a0relaxed<\/a>\u00a0a\u00a0restriction<\/a>\u00a0on television stations\u2019 sharing of advertising revenue and other resources \u2014 the exact topic that Mr. Pai discussed with Mr. Smith and one of his business partners,\u00a0according to records examined<\/a>\u00a0by The New York Times.<\/p>\n

\u201cThese are invaluable and effective tools, which were taken away by the commission,\u201d according to a\u00a0summary of their meeting<\/a>\u00a0filed with the F.C.C.<\/p>\n

It was only the beginning. Since becoming chairman in January, Mr. Pai has undertaken a deregulatory blitz, enacting or proposing a wish list of fundamental policy changes advocated by Mr. Smith and his company. Hundreds of pages of emails and other documents obtained under the Freedom of Information Act reveal a rush of regulatory actions has been carefully aligned with Sinclair\u2019s business objectives.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

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The moves, which include\u00a0easing\u00a0<\/a>a cap<\/a>\u00a0on how many stations a broadcaster can own, have opened up lucrative opportunities for Mr. Smith, among them a\u00a0$3.9 billion bid to buy Tribune Media<\/a>, another large owner of stations.<\/p>\n

Mr. Pai\u2019s deregulatory drive has also helped win him a following as a champion of pro-business, conservative causes \u2014 even leading some Republicans to approach him since he was first named to the F.C.C. in 2012 about running for elected office.<\/p>\n

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Sinclair\u2019s Expanding Range<\/h2>\n

The Sinclair Broadcast Group owns or operates 173 television stations across the country, almost three times the number it had in 2010. If a proposed merger with Tribune Media is approved, Sinclair would add 42 stations in spots across the United States, making its reach even broader.<\/p>\n

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An examination of the F.C.C. records shows that the Smith-Pai alliance does not follow the familiar script of a lobbyist with deep pockets influencing policy. Instead, it is a case of a powerful regulator and an industry giant sharing a political ideology, and suddenly, with the election of Mr. Trump, having free rein to pursue it \u2014 with both Mr. Smith, 66, and Mr. Pai, 44, reaping rewards.<\/p>\n

Neither Mr. Pai nor Mr. Smith would comment for this article.<\/p>\n

Associates say both men believe that local television stations, which fall under the commission\u2019s rules because they broadcast over federally owned airwaves, are at a disadvantage when competing against cable companies and online streaming services like Comcast and Netflix.<\/p>\n

Tina Pelkey, spokeswoman for Mr. Pai, said the new chairman had not taken steps to help Sinclair specifically; his concerns relate to the broadcast industry generally.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt has nothing to do with any one company,\u201d Ms. Pelkey said.<\/p>\n

Other broadcast companies, as well as the National Association of Broadcasters, have pushed for some of the same changes that have benefited Sinclair.<\/p>\n

Loosened regulatory requirements, Sinclair executives said, will help even the playing field and benefit millions of Americans who rely on broadcast stations for news and entertainment by allowing the companies to invest in new equipment and technology.<\/p>\n

\u201cThankfully we\u2019ve got Chairman Pai, who\u2019s launched an action to look at antiquated rules,\u201d Christopher S. Ripley,\u00a0who became<\/a>\u00a0Sinclair\u2019s chief executive<\/a>\u00a0in mid-January, said in a recent speech, adding that the rules had \u201cartificially tipped the playing field away from TV broadcast.\u201d<\/p>\n

But critics say the rollback undermines the heart of the F.C.C. mission to protect diversity, competition and local control in broadcast media. It also gives an increasingly prominent conservative voice in broadcast television \u2014 Sinclair has\u00a0become known for its right-leaning commentary<\/a>\u00a0\u2014 an unparalleled national platform, as television remains the\u00a0preferred source<\/a>for most Americans of news, according to Pew.<\/p>\n

A merger with Tribune would transform Sinclair into a media juggernaut, with reach into\u00a0seven out of 10 homes<\/a>\u00a0through more than 200 stations in cities as diverse as Eureka, Calif., and Huntsville, Ala. The company would have a significant presence in important markets in several electoral swing states, including Pennsylvania, Ohio and North Carolina, and would gain entry into the biggest urban markets: New York, Los Angeles and Chicago.<\/p>\n

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Ajit V. Pai, named chairman of the Federal Communications Commission in January, has pursued a deregulatory blitz at the agency.<\/span>\u00a0Credit<\/span>Eric Thayer for The New York Times<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

The result would illustrate the real-world stakes of the Trump administration\u2019s pursuit of\u00a0dismantling regulations across government<\/a>. The rollback\u00a0at the F.C.C.<\/a>, a microcosm of the broader effort, pleases business interests and\u00a0many Republicans<\/a>\u00a0who complain that regulators are heavy-handed and hostile in their approach. It raises alarms among free-speech advocates and many Democrats who say consumers suffer without aggressive oversight.<\/p>\n

\u201cI worry that our democracy is at stake because democracy depends on a diversity of voices and competition of news outlets,\u201d said Representative Frank Pallone Jr. of New Jersey, the top Democrat on the House Energy and Commerce Committee.<\/p>\n

If Sinclair\u2019s past is any guide, the changes for viewers could be profound.<\/p>\n

The company has a history of cutting staffs and shaving costs by requiring stations to share news coverage, in that way reducing unique local content. And it has required stations to air conservative-leaning segments, including law-and-order features from its \u201cTerrorism Alert Desk,\u201d as well as punditry from Republicans like Boris Epshteyn, a former surrogate to Mr. Trump, who was still seen visiting the White House after joining Sinclair.<\/p>\n

In the political battleground state of Wisconsin, a merger would give Sinclair six stations in the biggest markets \u2014 Milwaukee, Green Bay and Madison \u2014 causing some journalists to fear a statewide, coordinated corporate news strategy that would tilt right.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe\u2019ve moved from a high-quality independent news ownership structure to one where a few companies have outsized influence,\u201d said\u00a0Lewis A. Friedland<\/a>, a professor of journalism at the University of Wisconsin-Madison.<\/p>\n

Mr. Friedland previously worked as a news manager at WITI, the current Fox affiliate in Milwaukee. It is owned by Tribune and would become part of the Sinclair empire if the merger is approved, as expected.<\/p>\n

Sinclair rejects suggestions that its stations push right-leaning views, and says the company\u2019s mission is to be objective in its news coverage.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe are proud to offer a range of perspectives, both conservative and liberal \u2014 to our consumers \u2014 on our Sinclair broadcast stations each day,\u201d Scott Livingston, Sinclair\u2019s vice president for news,\u00a0wrote in a July memo<\/a>\u00a0to staff members. \u201cIt is unfortunate that so many of our competitors do not provide the same marketplace of ideas.\u201d<\/p>\n

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Credit<\/span>Doug Wells\/The Des Moines Register, via Associated Press<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

An Opposition Voice Rises<\/h4>\n

Though Sinclair is not a household name like the conservative cable\u00a0TV\u00a0<\/a>channel\u00a0Fox<\/a>\u00a0News, it has been a powerful operator in Washington, with a decades-long history of courting Republicans and Democrats even as regulators accused it of flouting broadcast rules.<\/p>\n

Sinclair was founded in 1971 by Mr. Smith\u2019s father,\u00a0Julian Sinclair Smith<\/a>, an electrical engineer with a deep curiosity about new broadcasting technology. At the time, the company consisted of a radio station and a single UHF station in Baltimore, but it wasn\u2019t long before it embarked on an ambitious growth strategy.<\/p>\n

With more stations, Sinclair could command more lucrative advertising, and later, higher fees from cable and satellite companies that retransmitted its broadcasts.<\/p>\n

Sinclair helped pioneer a range of creative growth techniques that the company insisted were both legal and good for television viewers.<\/p>\n

Most notable was its use of so-called joint sales agreements, which allowed it to work around ownership rules that prevented any one company from owning multiple top-rated channels in a single market.<\/p>\n

The practice\u00a0started in 1991<\/a>\u00a0in Pittsburgh as a game of ownership hot potato, when Sinclair sold its station there to an employee, Edwin Edwards, and retained ownership of a second station. The two stations then shared resources and programming, but on paper they remained under separate ownership. David Smith\u2019s mother, Carolyn Smith, later helped fund Mr. Edwards\u2019s company and\u00a0took a stake in it<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Consumer advocates long complained about the maneuver, and by President Obama\u2019s second term, regulators at the F.C.C., then led by Democrats, were taking a hard look at it.<\/p>\n

That is when, records show, Mr. Pai first met with Sinclair\u2019s top lawyers.<\/p>\n

Mr. Pai was a fresh Republican face on the commission. He had an impressive background: degrees from Harvard and the University of Chicago Law School, and stints at the Department of Justice, at the general counsel\u2019s office of the F.C.C. and at the Senate Judiciary Committee, as an aide to Sam Brownback, then a Republican senator from Kansas and now the state\u2019s governor.<\/p>\n

The child of immigrants from India, he liked\u00a0to tell the story<\/a>\u00a0of how his parents arrived in the United States with nothing but $10 and a transistor radio.<\/p>\n

Perhaps most appealing to Sinclair and other TV station owners, Mr. Pai exhibited blanket empathy for the broadcasting industry, both television and radio.<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019ve been listening carefully to what you have to say,\u201d Mr. Pai\u00a0told broadcast executives<\/a>\u00a0in late 2012. \u201cUnfortunately, it seems there\u2019s a widespread perception that today\u2019s F.C.C. is largely indifferent to the fate of your business.\u201d<\/p>\n

An enthusiastic purveyor of free-market philosophy, Mr. Pai quickly became a dependable opponent to regulations created by the F.C.C.\u2019s Democratic majority. He promised to take a \u201cweed whacker\u201d to regulations if he ever became chairman.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe commission,\u201d he told the broadcast executives, \u201ccan do a better job of focusing on what\u2019s important to broadcasters.\u201d<\/p>\n

An Alliance Is Forged<\/h4>\n

Just seven months into Mr. Pai\u2019s tenure, in December 2012, he welcomed a group of\u00a0visitors<\/a>\u00a0to his office: Barry M. Faber, Sinclair\u2019s general counsel, and two of the company\u2019s Washington-based corporate lawyers.<\/p>\n

\u201cTelevision stations have utilized J.S.A.s for at least 10 years,\u201d Mr. Faber told Mr. Pai according to records of the meeting filed with the F.C.C., referring to the joint sales agreements that Sinclair utilized in Pittsburgh and elsewhere.<\/p>\n

Mr. Faber added that \u201cto his knowledge, not a single example of harm to program diversity or competition for viewers resulting from J.S.A.s has been documented.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

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F.C.C. headquarters in Washington.<\/span>\u00a0Credit<\/span>Eric Thayer for The New York Times<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n
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The Sinclair executives made the same pitch to the other commissioners, but it was Mr. Pai, the records show, who aggressively picked up the company\u2019s cause in opposing the commission\u2019s crackdown on the disputed agreements.<\/p>\n

In two follow-up visits with Mr. Pai\u2019s chief of staff, Matthew Berry, in January and February 2014, Sinclair sent\u00a0Rebecca Hanson<\/a>, a lobbyist for the company who had just left a job at the F.C.C.<\/p>\n

Federal law\u00a0prohibits top officials<\/a>\u00a0from lobbying former colleagues immediately after leaving government, but Ms. Hanson was not senior enough at the F.C.C. to be subject to the restriction.\u00a0Agency records show<\/a>that\u00a0she met with Mr. Berry<\/a>, and shared with him data that showed the benefits to consumers of joint sales agreements.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Mr. Pai inserted the information, almost word for word, in his\u00a0formal legal argument<\/a>\u00a0when voting against the F.C.C. measure, in addition to citing experiences at other companies, like\u00a0Entravision<\/a>, an owner of Spanish-language television stations. He then echoed arguments made by broadcasters like Sinclair that opposed the move in a series of\u00a0speeches<\/a>,\u00a0remarks before Congress<\/a>\u00a0and in social media, where\u00a0he is a prolific user of Twitter<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Ms. Hanson said the meetings were entirely appropriate, and they were disclosed as required under F.C.C. rules. \u201cSinclair has followed the rule-making process like everyone else,\u201d Ms. Hanson said in an interview.<\/p>\n

Mr. Pai also made appearances on conservative media, extending Sinclair\u2019s arguments beyond telecommunications circles to the broader Republican audience. The advocacy did not go unnoticed. Mr. Pai has been eyed for years by Republican leaders in Kansas and asked at least three times to consider a run for public office, according to two former government colleagues familiar with Kansas Republican politics.<\/p>\n

Harold Feld, a senior vice president at the left-leaning consumer advocacy group Public Knowledge, said Mr. Pai had translated his visibility \u201cinto enormous influence and a much brighter future\u201d in Republican circles.<\/p>\n

\u201cHe discovered in the same way Trump discovered that sounding off on things \u2014 taking extreme positions, using social media, being the \u2018rock star\u2019 \u2014 has benefits,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

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Boris Epshteyn, a spokesman for President Trump, at the White House in March. After leaving the White House he became a commentator for Sinclair.<\/span>\u00a0Credit<\/span>Andrew Harnik\/Associated Press<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Still, Mr. Pai\u2019s advocacy did not improve Sinclair\u2019s plight during the Obama years, when rulings repeatedly went against the company. \u201cThe F.C.C. continues to bury its head in the sand,\u201d Sinclair\u2019s lawyers\u00a0wrote to the agency<\/a>\u00a0in frustration.<\/p>\n

Sinclair also faced two investigations into rule violations.<\/p>\n

In July 2016,\u00a0the F.C.C. announced a $9.5 million<\/a>\u00a0settlement with Sinclair for violating \u201cgood faith obligations\u201d when negotiating fees from cable and satellite companies that retransmit its broadcasts. The company did not admit to any wrongdoing.<\/p>\n

A second investigation, which is continuing, deals with commercials aired on Sinclair stations by the Huntsman Cancer Institute, based in Salt Lake City. The commercials were broadcast as news stories on some stations without viewers\u2019 being alerted to the fact that they were paid content.<\/p>\n

Emails reviewed by The Times show that Ms. Hanson, the Sinclair lobbyist, reached out to her former F.C.C. colleagues about the Huntsman investigation.<\/p>\n

\u201cHow can they not tell us what they have against us? Will this ever end? Why won\u2019t they tell us? Can you get them to tell us?\u201d Ms. Hanson\u00a0wrote on July 26, 2016, to her former boss<\/a>, William Lake, the head of the F.C.C. media bureau.<\/p>\n

\u201cBeing on the outside of the F.C.C. is so \u2026 weird,\u201d she wrote.<\/p>\n

At that point, tensions between the F.C.C. and Sinclair were at a high point.<\/p>\n

Mr. Smith, the Sinclair chairman, had shown his own frustration around the same time with the F.C.C.\u2019s investigation of the Huntsman segments. He lashed out during a session in Baltimore with more than 100 news directors and executives.<\/p>\n

In an expletive-filled rant, Mr. Smith suggested that Sinclair stations that ran the segments would have to pay for their mistake. He also ordered news directors to write him emails admitting they had erred and outlining what they would do to prevent it from happening again.<\/p>\n

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Milwaukee\u2019s police chief, Edward Flynn, talking with reporters from local media outlets last month, among them WITI. A Sinclair-Tribune Media merger would give Sinclair six stations in Wisconsin\u2019s biggest markets.<\/span>Credit<\/span>Alyssa Schukar for The New York Times<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Together, Winning<\/h4>\n

\u201cExciting times, to say the least!\u201d said\u00a0the email<\/a>\u00a0to Mr. Pai\u2019s assistant days after Mr. Trump\u2019s victory in November. It was from Ms. Hanson, the Sinclair lobbyist. \u201cI am sure the commissioner will be in increasing demand in the coming weeks.\u201d<\/p>\n

Mr. Pai was widely seen as the top contender to take over as F.C.C. chairman under a Republican administration, and Ms. Hanson had already invited him to speak at a gathering on Nov. 16 of general managers from Sinclair stations at the Four Seasons Hotel in Baltimore.<\/p>\n

Now that Mr. Trump had been elected, she was adding another request: \u201cWould he have time to meet with our C.E.O., David Smith, for a few minutes after his session?\u201d<\/p>\n

The answer was yes, and Mr. Pai and Mr. Smith, then Sinclair\u2019s chief executive and chairman, met in private at the end of the event.<\/p>\n

It is unclear whether the two men had previously met. If not, Mr. Pai would soon learn that Mr. Smith was hardly a conventional television mogul.<\/p>\n

Unpolished, gruff and intensely private, he does not belong to the slick world of media elites, where his contemporaries, like Leslie Moonves at CBS and Rupert Murdoch at 21st Century Fox, are staples of the society pages.<\/p>\n

His inventory of business investments includes a\u00a0small chain of pizza restaurants<\/a>\u00a0and a farm where he grows\u00a015 varieties of tomatoes<\/a>.<\/p>\n

A frank and adversarial titan of local news, Mr. Smith has on occasion himself become news. In 1996 he and a prostitute were\u00a0arrested by the Baltimore police in his company Mercedes<\/a>\u00a0during a sting operation. And in 2015,\u00a0a jury awarded a farmer $1.8 million after the farmer sued Mr. Smith<\/a>for having 95 acres of his cornfield mowed down. The farmer leased the field from Mr. Smith in Monkton, Md., near Sinclair headquarters in Hunt Valley. Mr. Smith\u00a0prevailed on an appeal<\/a>.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

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The control room at WPIX, a Tribune Media station in New York. With the purchase of Tribune, Sinclair would gain entry into the nation\u2019s biggest urban markets.<\/span>\u00a0Credit<\/span>Hiroko Masuike for The New York Times<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n
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Mr. Smith and Mr. Pai met for a second time in January, just before Mr. Trump\u2019s inauguration. Mr. Smith was joined by Armstrong Williams, a business partner and Sinclair conservative talk show host, and Mr. Ripley, Sinclair\u2019s newly named chief executive, who later expressed confidence that the F.C.C. under Mr. Pai would enact sweeping regulatory changes.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe do expect this new F.C.C. to tackle the ownership rules,\u201d Mr. Ripley said on an earnings call with investors in February. \u201cWe\u2019re very optimistic about this new F.C.C. and the leadership of Ajit Pai.\u201d<\/p>\n

Mr. Smith had already made clear his expectations. \u201cIf Donald Trump is as deregulatory as he suggests he is,\u201d Mr. Smith said at a media industry conference just after the election, according to TheStreet.com, \u201cwe\u2019re going to be the first industry in line to say, \u2018We are the most over-regulated industry that exists in the United States.\u2019\u201d<\/p>\n

Neither Sinclair nor the White House would say if Mr. Smith had recommended Mr. Pai for the chairmanship. Either way, Mr. Pai did not disappoint.<\/p>\n

In one of his first actions as chairman, he\u00a0struck down an effort<\/a>\u00a0to rein in the use of joint sales agreements, the issue he had discussed with Mr. Smith in January.<\/p>\n

Mr. Pai also froze a program for broadband subsidies for low-income families and began a rollback of net neutrality rules that ensured internet traffic was equally available to all consumers, acting on regulatory issues that will reshape other multibillion-dollar businesses under his watch.<\/p>\n

Mr. Pai then introduced his most stunning action to date, easing the cap on ownership for broadcast television stations.\u00a0The order allowed\u00a0<\/a>Sinclair to count just half of its UHF stations against the national limit.<\/p>\n

Almost immediately, Sinclair took advantage of the relaxed regulation, announcing\u00a0the purchase of Bonten Media<\/a>, an owner of television stations, and Tribune.<\/p>\n

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Here is an except from Ajit V. Pai\u2019s calendar detailing the January 2017 meeting with the Sinclair executives and a Sinclair business partner.<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

The proposed merger with Tribune raised\u00a0broad opposition<\/a>\u00a0from consumer groups, former regulators, satellite and cable firms and even conservative media. More generally, the relaxed ownership limits on UHF stations also unsettled some TV and media companies.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt doesn\u2019t make any sense. It is a sham,\u201d said Jim Goodmon, president of Capitol Broadcasting Company<\/a>, a small television and radio company in Raleigh, N.C. \u201cIt becomes a game of scale and the big guys will have everything.\u201d<\/p>\n

But days after the action on the ownership cap, Mr. Pai gave a keynote speech to the National Association of Broadcasters convention in Las Vegas, where he promised to rethink all media ownership restrictions.<\/p>\n

\u201cOne of the most powerful forces in government is inertia,\u201d Mr. Pai\u00a0told the group in April<\/a>. \u201cRules that get on the books seem to stay there forever,\u201d he added. \u201cI\u2019m trying to change that.\u201d<\/p>\n

Sinclair\u2019s viewers heard about Mr. Pai\u2019s performance. Mr. Williams, the conservative commentator, showered Mr. Pai with praise\u00a0on his show<\/a>, which is broadcast on Sinclair TV stations nationwide.<\/p>\n

\u201cWhen you ask people who are familiar with you, one of the common themes is that this guy really has courage, he\u2019s really tough, he knows who he is, he understand and respects the law and he has no political agenda,\u201d\u00a0Mr. Williams<\/a>\u00a0said to Mr. Pai during a televised interview, adding, \u201cWhere do you find that kind of self-awareness, that kind of courage that propels you?\u201d<\/p>\n

Sinclair\u2019s increasingly tight relationship with the F.C.C., and the likelihood that the commission will allow it to grow and spread its conservative agenda further, has made critics, including some longtime television journalists, uneasy.<\/p>\n

Jill Geisler<\/a>, a former vice president for news at WITI, the Tribune station in Milwaukee, said she was watching with intense interest.<\/p>\n

\u201cWill Sinclair be a responsible broadcaster of the news,\u201d she asked, \u201cor a creator of the largest programmer of propaganda?\u201d<\/p>\n

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Correction: August 17, 2017\u00a0<\/strong>
\nAn article on Monday about the Sinclair Broadcast Group misidentified the position that Jill Geisler once held at WITI, a television station owned by Tribune Media, a company Sinclair is trying to acquire. Ms. Geisler was a vice president, not a general manager.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n
Correction: August 15, 2017\u00a0<\/strong>
\nAn article on Monday about Sinclair Broadcast Group referred imprecisely to the results of an investigation by the Federal Communications Commission involving the company, the nation\u2019s largest owner of television stations. Sinclair agreed to pay $9.5 million to settle the case, without admitting wrongdoing; it was not fined that amount by the F.C.C.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n