Sinclair Broadcast Group Inc. (Sinclair) is a television broadcasting service provider that owns and operates television programs. Content creation, digital and internet services, programming and operating services, an advertising platform, and technical solutions are all part of the company’s service portfolio. Sinclair Broadcast Group Inc. provides content for digital, cable, radio, television, and other forms of media. Sinclair Broadcast Group Inc. also provides advertising services, such as integrated marketing and local advertising. Sinclair also makes equity investments in important businesses. In the United States, the company offers its services through multi-channel video program distributors, over-the-air television stations, and digital platforms. The headquarters of Sinclair Broadcast Group Inc. are located in Hunt Valley, Maryland, USA.
Sinclair Broadcast Group Inc. History
The Commercial Radio Institute was established in 1958 as a broadcasting trade school in Baltimore, Maryland, by electrical engineer Julian Sinclair Smith and a group of shareholders. WFMM-FM (now WPOC) went live in February 1960 after the Commercial Radio Institute submitted an application to build an FM radio station. The following year, a construction permit was granted.
By 1967, Smith had applied for and received a construction permit for a new UHF television station in Baltimore under the name Chesapeake Engineering Placement Service.
Progression Of Chesapeake Television Corporation.
On April 11, 1971, Chesapeake Television Corporation, formerly known as Chesapeake Engineering Placement Service, launched its first television station, WBFF, in Baltimore. In 1978, the Commercial Radio Institute, which was at the time a division of the Chesapeake Television Corporation, established WPTT, which is now WPNT, in Pittsburgh and WTTE in 1984 in Columbus, Ohio. WBFF and WTTE joined the Fox Broadcasting Company as charter affiliates in 1986, but all three stations started out as independents. WPGH-TV, which Sinclair would later acquire in 1990, was given the Fox affiliation in Pittsburgh. This station had a higher rating.
In the early 1980s, Chesapeake made its first foray into local news when it launched a newscast on WPTT. At the time, stations that were not affiliated with the major networks (ABC, CBS, and NBC) were uncommon. WPTT News was the name of this newscast, and in the first segment, a compass with the four cardinal directions was used to make the letters “news. “During a scene in the movie Flashdance where Jennifer Beals’ character returns home and turns on the television, this opening segment, which featured Kevin Evans, who was the anchorman at the time, appeared briefly and could be heard. The presentation didn’t have a lot of money, and the anchor just read copy. There were no field video shots other than the weather read over a stock video shot that showed the weather outside. The presentation didn’t hurt ratings for WIIC-TV (now WPXI), which was a market laggard at the time, or the solid runner-up WTAE-TV, or the then-locally owned Group W powerhouse KDKA-TV. This marked the company’s only foray into local news for years, a genre it would become much more involved in from the mid-1990s on. Since WBFF did not air newscasts until 1991 and WTTE did not air newscasts from its 1984 sign-on until Sinclair purchased ABC affiliate WSYX in 1996, this marked the company’s only foray into local news.
Transition into Sinclair Broadcast Group Inc.
In the 1980s, Smith’s son David D. Smith began participating in the business more actively. The Sinclair Broadcast Group Inc. acquired the Chesapeake Television Corporation in 1985 and rebranded as such. Through the acquisitions of companies like Act III Broadcasting (in 1995) and River City Broadcasting (in 1996), David Smith and his three brothers bought their parents’ remaining stock in 1990 and began a buying spree that would eventually make them one of the largest station owners in the nation.
In order to comply with the FCC ownership rules of the time, which prohibited duopolies while agreeing to allow Sinclair Broadcast Group Inc. to retain operational responsibilities for the station, Sinclair sold WPTT to its general manager Eddie Edwards (founder of Glencairn, Ltd., the Sinclair-affiliated licensee that would eventually become Cunningham Broadcasting) in order to purchase fellow Pittsburgh station WPGH-TV. This transaction marked the beginning of the concept of the local marketing agreement (LMA) in America. Sinclair Broadcast Group Inc. plans to acquire KOKH-TV in Oklahoma City through Glencairn, which would then attempt to sell five of its 11 existing LMA-operated stations to Sinclair outright in turn (with Sinclair stock included in the deal), were challenged by the Rainbow/PUSH coalition, led by Jesse Jackson, to the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) in 1998, citing concerns over a single company controlling two broadcast licenses in the same market in violation of FCC rules. Despite the fact that LSince the Smith family controlled most of the company’s stock, the coalition argued that Glencairn was technically a Sinclair Broadcast Group Inc. arm that planned to use the LMA with KOKH to gain control of the station and establish an illegal duopoly with KOCB. In 2001, the FCC fined Sinclair Broadcast Group Inc. $40,000 for illegally controlling Glencairn. Edwards is African American.
In 1995, Sinclair became a publicly traded company, but the Smith family retained control.
Sinclair acquired Superior Communications for $63 million in 1996. Sinclair and The WB came to an agreement in 1997 to bring many UPN affiliates under their control. Sinclair and UPN reached a new agreement in August 1998 as a result of the disagreements. Sinclair bought Sullivan Broadcasting outright for $1 billion on February 25, 1998. Sinclair acquired Max Media Properties in 1998 for $252 million. Sinclair sold KSMO-TV in Kansas City to Meredith Corporation for $26.8 million on November 8, 2004. Sinclair sold KOVR-TV in Sacramento to Viacom, which is now Paramount Global, for $285 million in December 2004.
Close to bankruptcy
On July 14, 2009, Sinclair said in a filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission that the company might have to file for Chapter 11 bankruptcy if Cunningham Broadcasting went bankrupt because it didn’t pay back a $33.5 million loan or if Sinclair couldn’t refinance its $1.33 billion debt. Two years later, however, the company appeared to have recovered sufficiently to initiate a significant acquisitions series involving television stations and other properties.
Purchase Spree
Sinclair’s purchase of the professional wrestling organization Ring of Honor (ROH) was made public on May 21, 2011. The promotion started making a weekly show called Ring of Honor Wrestling as part of the purchase. It will air on Sinclair’s stations and be syndicated. Sinclair agreed to pay $200 million to Cerberus Capital Management to acquire all of Four Points Media Group’s assets on September 8, 2011. The Federal Trade Commission (FTC) approved the transaction in late September; As a result, on October 1, Sinclair took over the stations from Nexstar Broadcasting Group through time brokerage agreements. Nexstar would then pay Cerberus $6.7 million of Sinclair’s purchase price to end the outsourcing agreement, which was supposed to end in March 2012, five months early. In addition, Sinclair would provide the stations with working capital in exchange for service fees and performance incentives through the LMAs. After receiving approval from the FCC on December 21, 2011, the group deal was officially concluded on January 1, 2012. In an effort to help Freedom Communications pay off its debt, Sinclair announced on November 2, 2011, that it would acquire all eight television stations that Freedom Communications owned. Sinclair was the ninth largest broadcasting group in the United States at the time, and the purchase was worth $385 million. Through time brokerage agreements, Sinclair took control of the Freedom stations on December 1, 2011. The FCC approved the deal on March 13, 2012, and it was completed on April 1.
At the same time, it was said that Sinclair had offered to buy CW affiliate WWHO from LIN TV. This would make WWHO a sister station to WSYX and WTTE, which is a managed Fox affiliate. Sinclair and Manhan Media entered into a shared services agreement after the station was ultimately acquired by Manhan Media. Sinclair extended its affiliation agreement with its 19 Fox affiliates for an additional five years, through 2017, on May 15, 2012.As part of the agreement, Sinclair had the option to acquire the Baltimore My Network TV affiliate of Fox Television Stations, WUTB, at any time between July 1, 2012, and March 31, 2013. If this option were chosen, Sinclair’s flagship station WBFF and CW affiliate WNUV, both managed by Sinclair under a local marketing agreement with Cunningham Broadcasting, would form a virtual triopoly. Additionally, it gave Fox Television Stations the option to acquire any combination of six CW and My Network television affiliates in three of Sinclair’s four markets: in Raleigh, North Carolina, WLFL and WRDC;KVCW and KVMY in Nevada’s Las Vegas; In Cincinnati, Ohio, WSTR-TV; and Norfolk, Virginia’s WTVZ. On July 19, 2012, Sinclair made the announcement that it would pay Newport Television $412.5 million to acquire six stations. WKRC-TV in Cincinnati, WOAI-TV in San Antonio, WHP-TV in Harrisburg, Pennsylvania (with its LMA for WLYH-TV), WPMI-TV and WJTC in Mobile, Alabama, and KSAS-TV (with its LMA for KMTW) in Wichita, Kansas are among these stations. Additionally, Sinclair announced that it would pay $40 million to acquire Tampa station WTTA from Bay Television, which Sinclair had previously managed under an LMA. In order to comply with the FCC’s restrictions on duopolies, Sinclair also sold two stations, WSTR-TV and KMYS, to Deerfield Media, a company owned by Manhan Media owner Stephen P. Mumblow. Sinclair will continue to operate these two stations in accordance with the shared services agreements. In addition, Sinclair provided Deerfield Media with the possibility of acquiring WJTC and WPMI in the future.
By the end of September, Sinclair had agreed to carry the classic film subchannel network GetTV in 33 markets. The American Sports Network (ASN) service, which was operated by Sinclair as part of its Sinclair Networks business, was announced to be available in July of that same year. Sinclair stations primarily carry this service, which produces and distributes college sports broadcasts. Beyond Ring of Honor Wrestling and school sports, the company’s foray into creating original, non-news content included the creation of ASN. After that, on August 21, 2014, the company made the announcement that Sinclair Original Programming, a new division that focuses on commercial and entertainment content, had been established. Additionally, the company revealed its plans for a future cable news network. Arthur Hasson, general manager of Sinclair stations in Harrisburg, Pennsylvania, was announced as the chief operating officer of the Original Programming division. Sinclair made the announcement on August 20, 2014, that it would give Media General WTTA in Tampa, KXRM-TV and KXTU-LD in Colorado Springs, and WJAR in Providence, Rhode Island, WLUK-TV and WCWF in Green Bay, and WTGS in Savannah, Georgia. Due to the FCC’s recent decision to examine sharing agreements between stations owned by different licensees, the deal was part of Media General’s merger with LIN Media, which also owned WLUK, WCWF, and WTGS at the time. Both Media General and LIN owned stations in the three markets, necessitating the sale of stations in opposing markets. On December 12, 2014, the FCC approved the Media General-LIN merger in addition to the swap.
Sinclair Broadcast Group announced on January 27, 2016, that it would pay $350 million for Tennis Channel. The corporation that owns the channel has net operating losses of $200 million that SBGI can use to offset future income and reduce taxes. Six drone teams had been established by Sinclair’s news operations in September 2016. Drone teams were initially deployed at Washington, Baltimore, Green Bay, Wisconsin, and Columbus, Ohio; Oklahoma City, Tulsa, and Little Rock, Arkansas. Sinclair launched Refined, a local lifestyle web magazine with local Sinclair stations, in the middle of the 2010s.Under WJLA-TV, the third was announced for DC.SBG introduced TBD, a brand-new digital sub channel network focused on digital content for millennials, in December 2016. On February 13, 2017, it began broadcasting. SBG and MGM announced Charge!, a second television network, at NATPE on January 17, 2017, with the intention of beginning broadcasting in the first quarter of 2017. Sinclair announced two rounds of executive promotions in November 2016, with CFO Christopher Ripley becoming president and CEO and chair and CEO David D. Smith moving up to executive chairman. Both promotions took effect on January 1, 2017. David Amy was promoted to vice chairman with responsibilities for corporate marketing, human resources, and the networks group, while Steven Pruett was promoted from co-COO of Sinclair Television Group to executive vice president and chief TV development officer.
Sinclair purchased Tennis Media Company, which includes the Tennis.com website and Tennis magazine, for $8 million on March 1, 2017; The agreement also includes an earn out of up to $6 million if certain goals are met. Tennis Channel will be incorporated into the properties by Sinclair. Sinclair announced its intention to acquire Bonten Media Group for $240 million on April 21, 2017, following the reinstatement of the “UHF discount,” a policy that counts television stations broadcasting on UHF channels for 50% of their total audience toward the FCC’s 39% market cap. On June 30, the sale was approved, and it was completed on September 1.
Sinclair announced its intention to acquire Tribune Media for $3.9 billion on May 8, 2017. It was suggested that Sinclair would have to divest stations in multiple markets in order to comply with antitrust regulations set forth by the Department of Justice and the FCC. The sale would have given Sinclair ownership of additional stations in the top ten markets, as well as ownership of a stake in Food Network, WGN America, and other assets.
Sinclair announced on January 27, 2020, that it would pay Nexstar Media Group $60 million for WDKY-TV in Lexington, Kentucky, and the non-license assets of KGBT-TV in Harlingen, Texas, as part of a settlement over Sinclair’s unsuccessful acquisition of Tribune Media, which Nexstar eventually bought. On September 17, 2020, the transaction was concluded.
Sinclair was fined $48 million on May 7, 2020, to settle investigations into reports and statements made to the FCC. In August 2020, the company settled three lawsuits for $25 million for its shareholders. A settlement fund will receive $20.5 million out of the $25 million.
Sinclair blamed the COVID-19 pandemic for its 550 layoffs in March 2021, which accounted for approximately 5% of the company’s workforce. Sinclair was named a Fortune 500 company on June 2, 2021, and its annual revenues of $5.9 billion in 2020 placed it at number 465 on the annual list of the largest U.S. companies. As of 2021, the company will have 10,000 employees and has acquired an additional 46,000 square feet (4,300 m2) of office space near its Hunt Valley headquarters to accommodate an additional 260 employees.
Sinclair made the announcement on March 3, 2022, that they would sell the Ring of Honor wrestling promotion to Tony Khan, who is the primary owner of All Elite Wrestling, a rival organization.
Radio security problem.
After the alleged hackers broke into the television stations’ internal broadcasting systems through an Active Directory domain that connected the company’s corporate and local IT networks, Sinclair was hit by a ransomware attack on its internal servers and workstations on October 17, 2021. Data had been stolen from the company’s server network as a result of the incident, which had also disrupted some of its office and operational networks (including internal servers, email servers, corporate phone lines, workstations, and news graphics systems at the stations).In the days that followed the attack, there were a variety of programming interruptions at many of Sinclair’s stations; Despite generally being unable to display lower-third or full-screen graphics, many of its stations were able to produce their newscasts with limited internal resources, while others were forced to preempt them completely for a few days afterward. On its NBC, CBS, and Fox affiliates, numerous scheduled NFL game broadcasts on the 17th were disrupted (replaced by a different game feed or alternative programming).Sinclair also provided alternative programming feeds to occupy timeslots normally occupied by newscasts or to fill airtime on some of the affected stations due to difficulties in transmitting and receiving certain syndicated program feeds (mostly from company-owned multicast networks like Stadium and TBD, or via a feed of its syndicated newscast The National Desk). Ransomware experts later indicated that the attack was likely linked to Evil Corp., a Russia-based cyber gang that was sanctioned by the United States Treasury. Sinclair’s servers are thought to have been infected with the Macaw ransomware strain, which was linked to a similar cyberattack on the corporate server network of Olympus Corporation on October 10.
Finances
As at 2016 the company’s finances are as follow:
- Revenue: $2.73 billion USD
- Operating Income: $233.4 million USD
- Net income: $245.3 million USD
- Total assets: $5.96 billion USD
- Total equity: $557.9 billion USD
The employee strength of the company as of last recorded this year is 11500 employees.
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