Sinclair said it signed a long-term affiliation agreement with Fox...
Sinclair said it signed a long-term affiliation agreement with Fox that also gives it the option to buy a Fox-owned station in Baltimore. The affiliation agreement covers 19 stations that Sinclair owns or programs, it said. The deal runs Jan.…
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1, 2013 to Dec. 31, 2017 and continues “monthly programming fee payments at rates and increases consistent with the marketplace for Fox stations,” Sinclair said. It also gives Sinclair the option to buy WUTB-TV Baltimore between July 1, 2012, and March 31, 2013, while giving Fox the option to buy up to three of Sinclair’s stations in Raleigh, Las Vegas, Cincinnati and Norfolk during the same period. The deal caps at $52.7 million the price of the Fox Baltimore station; that amount “decreases by $25 million should FOX exercise its option to purchase any of the” Sinclair stations, it said. Shedding those stations would reduce Sinclair’s count of MyNetworkTV and CW affiliates especially in markets where it does not operate another station, CEO David Smith said. He said he expects Sinclair’s retransmission consent fees to rise enough to cover the licensing fees it agreed to pay the network. “We believe the best and quickest strategy to achieving that goal is by having our broadcast network partners’ and our interests aligned,” he said.