WASHINGTON _ Sinclair Broadcast Group Inc.'s deal for Tribune Media Co. would give a broadcaster known for its conservative leanings fresh reach into leading media markets including New York, Los Angeles and Chicago.
Sinclair, which last month named a former aide to President Donald Trump as its chief political analyst and drew criticism for programming that benefited Trump and President George W. Bush during their campaigns, stands to gain stations in 42 cities and expand to a total of 108 communities.
The combined companies will serve almost three-fourths of U.S. households, raising questions about the concentration of media voices.
"Media consolidation leaves consumers behind with fewer independent news sources in many media markets," said Representative Frank Pallone, of New Jersey, the top Democrat on the Energy and Commerce Committee.
He blamed the policies of Federal Communications Commission Chairman Ajit Pai, a Republican chosen by Trump, for lowering barriers to broadcast mergers. The "announcement is disappointing, but should come as no surprise to anyone watching how Chairman Pai is running the FCC," Pallone said.
Hunt Valley, Md.-based Sinclair will hold the largest group of affiliates for ABC and Fox networks.
"Mega media # mergers in full swing," Mignon Clyburn, the only Democrat on the FCC, said in a tweet. The $3.9 billion transaction will be reviewed by the agency, where the Republican majority recently eased merger rules to permit such a combination.
A combined Sinclair-Tribune would have 233 stations. Sinclair said it may sell some stations to comply with FCC ownership requirements and antitrust regulations. Regulators might demand that Sinclair sell stations in St. Louis, Salt Lake City and Wilkes-Barre, Pa., Sinclair Chief Executive Officer Christopher Ripley told investors Monday.
Chelsea Koski, a spokeswoman for Sinclair, didn't return a telephone call and email seeking comment on the implications of media consolidation. FCC spokesman Neil Grace declined to comment about the merger.
Sinclair is credited with pioneering an aggressive tactic to expand from a single station in Baltimore in 1971. Under that strategy, Sinclair runs programming on the airwaves of a nearby station that retains its own FCC license. The stations can share front-office costs, too.
Pai's Democratic predecessor, Tom Wheeler, in 2014 called the arrangements an "end-run around the one-to-a-market limitation." Defenders, including Pai, say the arrangement helps cut costs, lets local stations afford news programming and promotes station ownership by members of minority groups.
"Sinclair has shrewdly and effectively gamed the FCC's ownership rules for many years," said Andrew Jay Schwartzman, senior counselor at Georgetown University's law school in Washington.
The expansion by Sinclair, which produces some national content for its local affiliates to use in newscasts, has led to speculation that the company could create a conservative-leaning alternative to Fox News if its relationship sours with the broadcaster.
"It's a scandal," Craig Aaron, president of the policy group Free Press, said in an emailed statement. "Sinclair _ the Trump-favoring broadcast mega-chain _ gets some FCC rules changed and expects others to be erased. All so that Sinclair can air its cookie-cutter newscasts" to stations around the country.
Sinclair calls itself the largest U.S. producer of news. In April it hired Boris Epshteyn, who had been a special assistant to Trump and adviser to his presidential campaign. The hiring shows "a commitment to provide additional political content that goes beyond the podium to provide a true point of difference with additional context," Sinclair said in a news release.
Commentator Mark Hyman appears on dozens of Sinclair news stations, according to a website for the show "Behind the Headlines with Mark Hyman." Recent offerings outline links between Hillary Clinton and a Bangladeshi figure, and another that called New York Times reporting on foreign student enrollment at U.S. colleges "completely dishonest."
The Washington Post reported that Sinclair stations aired four interviews with Trump last August and sent its stations another interview for their newscasts; Sinclair told the Post it reached out to Democratic candidate Hillary Clinton and didn't secure an interview.
Sinclair drew criticism when, just weeks before the 2004 presidential election, it was said to make plans to preempt its regular prime time programming to air a privately produced documentary critical of Democratic nominee John Kerry's anti-war efforts following his service in the Navy.
Word of the plans sparked complaints by Democrats and threatened advertiser boycotts. Sinclair's Washington bureau chief, Jon Leiberman, was fired after he called the program "inflammatory" and publicly criticized the company's involvement in the project.
Sinclair denied that it planned to air the program and instead produced a news special that contained a portion of it and other material.
