American Television Alliance Urges FCC To Close “Affiliation-Swap” Loopholes Enabling “Big Four” Duopolies at Consumers’ Expense

New Filing Details How Big Broadcast Intentionally Evades FCC Regulatory Scrutiny of Shell Game Acquisitions that Raise Consumer Prices and Weaken Local News

WASHINGTON, D.C. – Today, the American Television Alliance (ATVA) submitted a letter to the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) urging the agency to prevent and deter Big Broadcasters from evading meaningful FCC review of broadcast transactions.

“Consumers deserve a consistent review process whenever transactions effectively combine major network affiliations within a market, regardless of how the transactions are technically structured,” said ATVA spokesman Hunter Wilson. “The Commission’s transaction review framework should reflect how broadcast affiliation transactions are structured in today’s marketplace.”

Under the 1996 Telecom Act, the FCC must review transactions involving television stations to ensure they serve the public interest. Further, when a broadcaster seeks to combine two or more major national broadcast network affiliations within a single market, the Commission must evaluate potential harms to consumers and local communities, including higher prices, reduced competition and diminished local news coverage.

ATVA’s filing explains how Sinclair Broadcast Group is now exploiting a loophole to sidestep this review. Rather than directly acquiring a competing station with a major network affiliation, Sinclair has first acquired that station’s network programming rights – such as ABC content – a transaction that does not trigger the review process. It can then place that programming on a secondary digital “multicast” channel of a station it already owns, temporarily carrying, for example, both CBS and ABC programming under a single broadcast license.

Sinclair then submitted an application to acquire the now stripped-down station itself. Because the second station no longer carries a “Big Four” network at the time of the sale, the resulting transaction appears less significant on paper and often receives only a cursory review. After the deal is approved, Sinclair can then shift the ABC programming back to the newly acquired station.

Sinclair CEO Chris Ripley told Wall Street analysts during an April 30 first-quarter earnings call that duopolies, or “double-ups,” are core to Sinclair’s strategy due to their inherent operating efficiencies.

As part of the quadrennial regulatory review, ATVA urged the Commission to close these “affiliation-swap” loopholes to ensure “Big Four” duopoly transactions receive full public-interest reviews as intended.

Learn more about how Big Broadcast keeps getting bigger HERE.

To learn more about ATVA’s work on these issues and their impact on the American consumer, visit https://americantelevisionalliance.org/about-the-issue/.