Pai Responds to Lawmakers on Sinclair/Tribune
FCC Chairman Ajit Pai doesn’t plan to create new processes to review broadcast deals that involve financial and sharing agreements, he said in a Dec. 21 response to a September letter from House Commerce Democrats posted Wednesday. In the initial…
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letter, Committee ranking member Frank Pallone, D-N.J., Communications Subcommittee ranking member Mike Doyle, D-Pa., and Commerce Oversight Subcommittee ranking member Diana DeGette, D-Colo., asked Pai numerous questions about the Sinclair/Tribune deal (see 1709290063). Along with declining to change the way the bureau handles deals involving sharing, Pai repeated he wasn’t seeking to favor a particular company, and answered questions about the timing of FCC actions related to the merger and contact with Sinclair officials. Pai said One Media Executive Vice President-Strategic and Legal Affairs Jerald Fritz had used Pai's personal email address to send a letter about ATSC 3.0 chip development in India, but that email was then forwarded to Pai's work email address in order to include it in the record. Pai also said the FCC had been in communication with Sinclair about a pending enforcement matter -- the agency released a notice of apparent liability against Sinclair on Dec. 21 (see 1712210042), the same day as Pai’s response. Pai also left open the possibility the Media Bureau could request further information from Sinclair on the deal, and said he first learned of the proposed merger through news reports. Pai responded only briefly to numerous other letters from lawmakers on the Sinclair/Tribune deal, according to responses posted Wednesday. Pai sent the same letter to each lawmaker who wrote in about the deal, assuring all of them that their comments would go into the record but declining to discuss the matter. “While I am unable to discuss the merits of this particular proceeding, I can assure you that the Commission is conducting an open and transparent process as required by FCC rules and regulations,” Pai said in letters responding to questions about the proposed merger from Rep. David Cicilline, D-R.I., Senate Minority Whip Dick Durbin, D-Ill., and Sen. Richard Blumenthal, D-Conn. “Our decision will be based on a careful analysis of the robust record that has been developed,” Pai said.