After Sinclair-Tribune Falls Apart, How Do You Model A Media Merger?

Posted by Forbes

After Sinclair-Tribune Falls Apart, How Do You Model A Media Merger?

By Howard Homonoff

This week saw the formal announcement of the end of the Sinclair Broadcasting-Tribune Media merger, a victim of, among other things, the gathering opposition to the deal inside the Federal Communications Commission. In its aftermath, given the still-perilous future for broadcasters and traditional media more broadly, it raises a fair question: What does it take to get a merger around here?

Every deal is different, with its own set of facts, internal corporate dynamics and external legal and regulatory context. The Sinclair-Tribune merger attracted an unusual amount of external heat from the beginning, given Sinclair’s size in the broadcasting universe and the company’s conservative political profile that drew heat not only from the left but perhaps more surprisingly from right-wing figures such as Newsmax CEO Chris Ruddy. But given the federal government’s apparent halt to this horizontal merger, and its continued opposition to the AT&T-Time Warner vertical integration (with its appeal filed this week), it does suggest that broadcasters and media brethren seeking the next set of acquisitions ought to craft a thoughtful playbook about how they proceed.

Without any judgment on what would have/could have worked for Sinclair-Tribune, I see several chapters of that merger book that should be included moving forward:

Economic efficiency alone won’t get it done

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