Congress grills Sinclair on 'must-run' content ahead of merger

Members of Congress are pushing Sinclair on the possible effects of its pending merger with Tribune Media, including whether the media company would continue to push controversial "must-run segments." In a letter to the company, 49 members of Congress, led by Rep. Tony Cárdenas (D-CA), underscored the scale of the deal and pressed Sinclair to explain how its $4 billion merger would benefit Americans. “Should the merger go through, the combined company would reach 72 percent of American homes, which is well above the cap that Congress imposed in order to protect viewpoint diversity and localism,” they wrote. “As such, we would like to review additional information about why Sinclair believes this merger would be in the public interest, as well as the impact it would have on the broader media landscape," it continued.