S. Catherine McCabe

Sinclair Broadcasting Group

– Image courtesy of sbgi.net

Overview

The Sinclair Broadcast Group, Inc., based in Baltimore, Maryland, is a diverse television broadcasting company, which owns and operates over one hundred stations in over sixty markets around the country. It also provides programming and sales services for its stations under local market agreements (LMA), a concept that was pioneered by SBG in the 1990s. It reaches almost 30% of households in the United States and is one of the biggest broadcasting groups in the country. [1]

History

The Sinclair Broadcast Group, Inc., was founded in 1986 by the four sons of Julian Sinclair Smith, a pioneer in ultra high frequency (UHF) television broadcasting. Julian Smith started the company as the Chesapeake Television Corporation in 1971; under which name Sinclair broadcasted one of the first UHF stations in the country from their flagship station WBFF-TV. UHF broadcasting immediately became a major part in the television industry and started to become more involved with their father’s company in the 1980s.

Julian Smith’s sons began acquiring other UHF stations and quickly saw the Chesapeake Television Corporation become a major consolidator in the industry. The name was changed to the Sinclair Broadcast Group in 1985. In 1990 the Smith brothers bought the remaining shares of SBG, owned by their parents, and immediately began acquiring more stations. It was not long before SBG became one of the largest media distributers in the country. [2]

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Smith Brothers

 David D. Smith

David D. Smith is currently serving as the President and Chief Executive Officer of the Sinclair Broadcast Group and has held the position since 1988. He was a major part it’s founding in 1986 and has help a position on the Board of Directors since. Before Sinclair, Smith was an officer and director at Comark Communications, a manufacturer of high power transmitters for UHF television companies, which he founded. [3]

Frederick G. Smith

Dr. Frederick G. Smith was an oral and maxillofacial surgeon before coming to Sinclair as the Vice President. He took that position in 1990 and has served on the Board of Directors since 1986. Dr. Smith also serves as a director or trustee of Sinclair Ventures, Inc., the Freven Foundation, Gerstell Academy, University of Maryland at Baltimore Foundation, St. Joseph’s Hospital, The Sinclair Relief Fund, Bay Television Inc., Cunningham Communications Inc., Gerstell Development, LP, Keyser Investment Group, Inc. and Beaver Dam, LLC. [3]

J. Duncan Smith

J. Duncan Smith who started off building and operating television stations in Pittsburgh, PA; Columbus, OH; Bloomington, IN; and multiple cities in Florida, now serves as the Vice President, Secretary and a Director of Sinclair. He has been with Sinclair since it’s founding  in 1986. Before Sinclair, Duncan also worked with David at Comark Communications. [3]

Robert E. Smith

Robert E. Smith served as the Vice President and Treasurer of Sinclair from 1988 to 1998. he later resigned from this position to shift focus to a commercial real estate investment firm which he started. He still holds a position on the Board of Directors which he has held since 1986.  Before Sinclair, Robert also worked at Comark Communications with his brothers. [3]

Affiliates

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Sinclair has stations in over sixty markets across the country and they have agreements with 8 different networks. These include 27 FOX, 20 MyTV, 20 CW, 17 ABC, 15 CBS, 11 NBC, 1 Azteca and 1 Independent affiliate. [4]

 Investments

In the past Sinclair has made very strategic investments over a variety of different industries. They currently hold interest in over five different companies. These include: [5]

• Sterling Venture Partners a private equity firm that invests $5 million to $100 million in early-stage and expansion-stage health care, software, education, industrial technology and business services companies.
  

  -Image courtesy of sbgi.net

• Allegiance Capital a private mezzanine venture capital fund, which invests in the subordinated debt and equity of privately held companies.
  

  -Image courtesy of sbgi.net

• Patriot Capital provides structured debt and mezzanine financing to small businesses.
  

  -Image courtesy of sbgi.net

• Ring of Honor wrestling programing known for its athleticism and professional wrestling.
  

  -Image courtesy of sbgi.net

• Triangle Sign and Service private company that fabricates, installs and services commercial signs across the country.
  

  – Image courtesy of sbgi.net

• Alarm Funding Associates security funding and acquisition company helping full service alarm operating companies.
  

  – Image courtesy of sbgi.net

  Bay Creek a planned community on almost 1,800 acres surrounding Cape Charles.

  

  -Image courtesy of sbgi.net

In Recent News

       On May 21st, 2011 Sinclair announced the acquisition of the “Ring of Honor” wrestling franchise. It is the third largest wrestling promotion in the country. Sinclair believes their backing and the power of the relationship between television and wrestling will allow ROH to become a household brand. It will premiere on Sinclair’s vast network of stations, as well as access for people outside of their markets online. ROH will be led by Chief Operating Officer, Joe Koff who was previously the director of sales at Sinclair Broadcasting Group. [6]

On September 8th, 2011 it was announced that Sinclair would be purchasing Four Points Media group for $200 million from affiliates of Cerberus Capital Management, L.P. In this deal they acquired seven different stations from five extremely strong markets in Salt Lake City, West Palm Beach Austin, Texas and Providence, Rhode Island. The acquisition was finalized in January 2012 when they finally received approval from the FCC. [7] [8]

         On November 2nd, 2011 Sinclair purchased the broadcast assets of Freedom Communications for $385 million. Freedom Communications reaches over 2% of households over seven different markets. The FCC granted them approval for this deal on March 13, 2012 even though Sinclair had already been managing all of Freedom Communications’ stations since December of 2011. [9]

         On February 28th, 2013, Sinclair acquired 24 stations from Barrington Broadcasting Group, LLC. for $370 million. Sinclair will buy 18 of the 24 stations and then will operate and provide sales services for the other 6 stations. They are currently waiting on approval of the FCC and antitrust clearance. However, due to FCC rules, Sinclair has chosen to sell it’s FOX affiliate in Syracuse, NY. They will then purchase a MNT affiliate in Syracuse under a local marketing agreement. Sinclair also announced the purchase certain COX Media stations. They are predicting the combination of these two deals will result in about $232 million of increased equity and $2.85 per share. [10]

Sinclair Broadcast Group has a history of struggling to come to retransmission agreements with the different cable providers. In the past they have had issues with both Time Warner Cable and Comcast and most recently they have finished negotiations with Dish Network and DirecTV. During their negotiations with the Dish Network, Sinclair threatened to black out over seventy channels if they did not come to an agreement by August 13, 2012. Dish Network claimed that Sinclair was charging more than any other broadcaster to carry their channels and Sinclair had doubts of whether or not they would be able to come to an agreement. They did not reach an agreement until August 16, 2012, but fortunately there was no lost signal during the extension. Similar circumstances surrounded their retransmission agreement with DirecTV, however they were able to come to an agreement just hours before 87 channels were due to go black. This deal was made on February 28, 2013.  [11] [12]

Sources:

[1] SBG Company Profile http://www.sbgi.net/about/profile.shtml

[2] SBG History http://www.sbgi.net/about/history.shtml

[3] SBG Directors http://www.sbgi.net/corp_governance/directors.shtml

[4] SBG Affiliates http://www.sbgi.net/business/television.shtml

[5] SBG Investments http://www.sbgi.net/business/ventures.shtml

[6] SBG News Release- Ring of Honor Acquired http://www.sbgi.net/site_mgr/temp/ROH-2_9c2yxbl4.shtml

[7] TV News Check- Four Points Media Acquisition http://www.tvnewscheck.com/article/53840/sinclair-buys-four-points-media-for-200m

[8] TV News Check-Four Points Media Acquisition  http://www.tvnewscheck.com/article/56431/sinclair-closes-four-points-media-acquisition

[9] SBG News Release- Freedom Communications acquisition http://www.sbgi.net/site_mgr/temp/Freedom_dbzq8g62.shtml

[10] SBG News Release- Barrington Broadcast Acquisition http://www.sbgi.net/site_mgr/temp/_7xfvjv6f.shtml

[11] The Daily News- Sinclair TV Blackout http://thedailynewsonline.com/news/article_6b4bfd54-e61e-11e1-8cf8-001a4bcf887a.html

[12] TV News Check- Sinclair and DirecTV deal http://www.tvnewscheck.com/article/65829/sinclair-and-directv-make-retrans-deal