Sinclair Broadcasting snatches up local TV stations as part of plan to build a national powerhouse

In a world of fast-rising new-media companies, Sinclair Broadcasting has old-fashioned big-media ambitions: Control enough local news markets across the land to build a powerhouse to rival CNN and the Big Four networks.

To that end, it bought eight television properties this summer from Allbritton Communications, marking the end of an era for the Washington media family that will pivot its attention toward Politico and other Web ventures. The real prizes in the billion-dollar deal: NewsChannel 8, Washington’s only 24-hour, local news channel, which could be repositioned as a national franchise, and WJLA, the ABC affiliate with one of the biggest television newsrooms in the country. In the past year, Sinclair has paid almost $2.5 billion to snap up 79 local television stations. If all the acquisitions are approved, Sinclair will control local broadcast television for a third of US households. “We are headed for a world in which fewer than 10 companies will control most of the local TV stations in the entire country,” said Craig Aaron, the president of Free Press. “There will be less competition for local scoops, fewer voices on the air and the same cookie-cutter content everywhere you look. As a result, people will be less informed.” Federal communications rules are designed to preserve healthy competition among local newspaper and television outlets. But Sinclair and other conglomerates have deployed a complicated business tactic that allows them to maintain multiple business arrangements in one local market. By merging business and newsroom operations among multiple stations, they can cut costs and boost profits. Sinclair has used the strategy of sidecar agreements, whereby they own one TV station and lease a second or third, across the country.