Sinclair, Inc. has agreed to acquire an upstate New York television station for $6 million, according to documents submitted to federal regulators on Monday.
The station, WHAM-TV (Channel 13), serves as the ABC affiliate for Rochester and is currently owned by Deerfield Media, a company whose entire portfolio of broadcast TV stations is operated through shared-services agreements with Sinclair.
The purchase comes about a month after Sinclair announced it was conducting a “strategic review” of its business with the goal of acquiring other assets that were complementary to its long-term financial strategies.
If approved by regulators, the deal involving WHAM would create a local market duopoly with WUHF (Channel 31), the Fox affiliate for the Rochester area, which Sinclair owns outright.
Deerfield acquired WHAM-TV from Newport Television in 2012, part of a broader deal that included around a half-dozen other Newport-owned TV stations. Sinclair agreed to pay $54 million for assets not related to WHAM’s TV license, including its building.
Under current federal ownership rules, broadcasters are not allowed to own a portfolio of TV stations that reach more than 39 percent of the American population. To overcome this, some broadcasters like Sinclair enter into agreements with other companies like Deerfield Media, bankrolling the acquisition of their broadcast licenses on condition that the larger broadcast entity gets to operate the stations when the deals close.
The Federal Communications Commission (FCC) must still approve Sinclair’s desire to acquire WHAM’s TV license from Deerfield Media. Despite a shifting regulatory environment, it isn’t clear that the agency will do so.
Over the past few months, broadcasters — including Sinclair — have expressed a desire for federal regulators to lift the ownership cap, so they can have more direct ownership of licensed TV stations.
Some broadcasters feel confident that federal regulators will eliminate or lift the ownership cap. Last month, Nexstar announced its intention to acquire peer broadcaster TEGNA for over $6 billion, a deal that would technically put it over the ownership cap and a signal to the industry that larger broadcasters believe the government will fulfill their regulatory reform wish lists.
In documents submitted to the FCC this week, Sinclair said the $6 million it will offer up for full ownership of WHAM’s license does not come with any other obligations, including benefit plans connected to current employees of the station. Sinclair intends to retain some WHAM staffers, but isn’t required to retain all employees as a condition of the deal.
Sinclair and Deerfield say the agreement will dissolve on August 26, 2026, if regulators do not approve the deal before then or both companies decide to walk away.
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