Deals
Possible Tribune Suitor Sinclair Woos FCC’s Pai on Regulations
- Pai went to Baltimore’s Four Seasons to meet broadcaster
- Broadcaster has tripled its holdings over past decade
Ajit Pai, chairman of the U.S. Federal Communications Commission, speaks in Barcelona, Spain, on Feb. 28, 2017.
Photographer: Pau Barrena/BloombergThis article is for subscribers only.
Sinclair Broadcast Group Inc., a broadcaster eager for freedom from U.S. rules limiting mergers, lined up a Republican regulator for a company conference in Baltimore’s Four Seasons hotel days after the Nov. 8 election.
Ajit Pai’s trip from nearby Washington turned out to be a coup when Donald Trump’s surprise election win put Republicans in charge of the U.S. Federal Communications Commission. Now Sinclair had a soon-to-be FCC chairman on hand for a gathering of its executives and a meeting with its Executive Chairman David Smith, who has guided the Maryland-based broadcaster through explosive growth and wants more.