D.C. Memo: Rep. Issa Raises Antitrust Issues with Netflix Buying WBD Studio Assets, HBO Max
Issa's Interference Could Harm WBD CEO Zaslav's Effort to Fetch Top Dollar
▪️BREAKING: Sinclair Files with SEC to Buy E.W. Scripps▪️X Post of the Day: Trump, Carr Meet in Florida ▪️House Bill Would Remove LFAs from Cable TV Transfer Process▪️Financially Stressed HughesNet Looks to Sell Subs to Starlink▪️Penn. Lawmaker Concerned about Broadband Labor Costs▪️Disney Strips DEI from 2025 Annual Report to SEC▪️Charter Promotion: Take Four Mobile Lines, Get Free Broadband for Life▪️ CAGW Wants Spectrum Language Stripped from NDAA▪️ Policyband Opinion: Message to Trump White House − Pull the Plug on Biden’s BEAD Failure ASAP ▪️Trusty Defers on Legal Status of FCC
BREAKING: TV station ownership consolidation keeps rolling. Over the past 60 days, Sinclair Inc. has accumulated an 8.2% stake in E.W. Scripps Co., in an effort to merge the two TV station owners. “Recent industry consolidation and intensifying competition reinforce [Sinclair’s] view that further scale in the broadcast television industry is essential to address secular headwinds and compete effectively with larger-scale big-tech and big-media players, as well as major broadcast groups,” Sinclair said in an SEC filing this morning. Sinclair said the transaction would create “more than $300 million in expected annual synergies.” Scripps has 60 local TV stations that reach about 25% of the nation’s television households. The portfolio includes 18 ABC affiliates, 11 NBC affiliates, nine CBS affiliates and four FOX affiliates, according to CNBC. Sinclair said it paid $15.5 million for its stake in Scripps based on a share count of 76.8 million. Scripps has a market cap of $271 million. Sinclair did not disclose whether it intended to pay in cash or stock or both. “The proposed combination would be structured to require no external financing as the combined company would maintain each company’s respective debt and preferred capital structures. As a result, the transaction would avoid significant refinancing costs while meaningfully reducing the Issuer’s leverage through the realization of synergies and lowering future refinancing risk,” Sinclair told the SEC. (More after paywall.)
X Post of the Day 1.0
