Tribune Media Sold To Sinclair Broadcast Group For $3.9B

CHICAGO, IL — Tribune Media Company, owner of WGN-TV and WGN Radio, is being purchased by Sinclair Broadcast Group for around $3.9 billion, a joint release from both companies stated Monday. The sale will combine Tribune's 42 TV stations — including WPIX in New York and KTLA in Los Angeles — with the more than 170 outlets owned by Sinclair — which include WVTV in Milwaukee and WJLA in Washington, D.C. — to create the largest TV broadcast group in the country, according to Sinclair's sales presentation.

The terms of the deal have Sinclair, which is based in the Baltimore area, buying 100 percent of Tribune's outstanding stock at $43.50 per share and assuming around $2.7 billion of the Chicago-based company's debt. The sale still needs approval from the Federal Communications Commission, which might force Sinclair to sell stations in certain markets in order to comply with ownership and antitrust requirements and regulations, the stations said.

SIGN UP: Get Patch real-time email alerts for the latest news for Chicago — or your neighborhood. And iPhone users: Check out Patch's new app.

“This will be the largest acquisition in our company’s history, and I want to thank everyone from the Sinclair team, as well as our advisors and bankers who made this possible,” David Smith, Sinclair's executive chairman, said in a statement. “Television broadcasting is even more relevant today, especially when it comes to serving our local communities. Tribune’s stations allow Sinclair to strengthen our commitment to serving local communities and to advance the Next Generation Broadcast Platform.”

Initially, 21st Century Fox had been considered an early front-runner to acquire Tribune Media, according to Crain's Chicago Business. In the end, however, people close to the sale said Rupert Murdoch's company never submitted a bid, the report added.

RELATED: Deal Reached to Sell Tribune Tower for $240 Million

Sinclair has built a reputation for its conservative leanings over the years, and the broadcast company was a significant player in last year's election. According to a December 2016 Poltico article, President Donald Trump's son-in-law, Jared Kushner, told business executives that the then-Republican candidate's camp struck a deal with Sinclair: The broadcaster would air Trump interviews without commentary on their stations across the country in exchange for more access to the campaign. At the time, Sinclair said it also offered a similar deal to Democratic candidate Hillary Clinton, who didn't take advantage of it. But the company later stated no such deal existed, according to the Washington Post.

However, an analysis by the Post of Sinclair's internal records and documents indicated "a strong tilt toward Trump." During the 2016 campaign, Sinclair stations "gave a disproportionate amount of neutral or favorable coverage to Trump" and often cast "Clinton in an unfavorable light," the report added.

Given its history of right-wing support, Sinclair's move to buy the Tribune is seen by some as a step toward creating its own Fox News-like network, according to CNN Money. The broadcaster, though, hasn't stated publicly that such a strategy is in the offing, the report added.

"I feel terrible for the local journalists who will be forced to set aside their news judgment to air Trump administration talking points and reactionary commentaries from headquarters," Craig Aaron, who heads the anti-consolidation group, Free Press, told CNN Money on Monday concerning the Tribune sale. "This deal would have been DOA in any other admin, but the Trump FCC isn't just approving it; they're practically arranging it."

RELATED: Tribune Media To Move Out Of Tribune Tower In 2017

It's not yet known what the sale means for Tribune Media's presence in Chicago. Last year, the company sold Tribune Tower for $240 million in an effort to sell off all of its real estate holdings, which are estimated at $1 billion. That sale precipitated Tribune's upcoming move later this year from its eponymous home to new offices in the Illinois Center across the Chicago River.

Along with its TV stations, Tribune Media also operates WGN America — the cable network that airs original programming, such as "Underground" and "Salem" — and owns a minority stake in the Food Network. In 2014, Tribune Media spun off its publishing division, which was the home of the Chicago Tribune and Los Angeles Times. Those newspapers now operate under the company umbrella known as tronc.

UPDATED (1:04 p.m. Monday, May 8)

The Tribune Tower (photo by Luke Gordon | Wikimedia Commons)

Like What You're Reading? Stay Patched In!

• Like our Crime page on Facebook
• Check out the Events Calendar for what’s going on