Media Bureau Rejects Information, Time Extension Requests on Sinclair/Tribune
The FCC Media Bureau denied requests from the American Cable Association, Public Knowledge and Dish Network for more time to comment and more information on Sinclair's buying Tribune Media (see 1707250045), said an order released Friday in docket 17-179. The…
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bureau agreed with Sinclair and Tribune arguments that the requests for more information and third-party data should properly be filed as part of a petition to deny, during the time frame for such petitions. The motion for additional information is “misplaced,” the bureau said. “Movants do not need access to the wide-ranging and highly confidential information movants request the Commission to demand in order to file a petition to deny.” The movants and Sinclair/Tribune conceded it's up to commission staff to issue information requests in the merger proceeding, so the motion for more information is dismissed, the order said. Because of the dismissal, the bureau didn’t consider whether a previous case on confidential documents in a deal, CBS v. FCC, applies to this matter. ACA, PK and Dish also didn’t establish a basis for an extension of time, the order said. Though they had asked for the extension to have more time to go over the additional information requested, the denial of that request makes the time extension moot, the bureau said. Several other entities had filed in support of the request, including Common Cause and NTCA. A spokesman for ACA said the movants were "disappointed but not surprised." Commissioner Mignon Clyburn indicated with a tweet she hadn't been informed 48 hours ahead of the decision to deny the request. "I've asked about the @FCC majority’s policy of providing 48 hours notice but it doesn’t seem to apply here," Clyburn said of the order. "The 48-hours policy does not apply to requests for extension of time, which are routinely handled at the Bureau level," an FCC spokeswoman emailed. "That said, the offices were given notice." Representatives from Dish, ACA, Common Cause, the Computer & Communications Industry Association and other supporters of the motion plan a news-media call Monday on their opposition filings to Sinclair/Tribune, said a news release: "As a group, these representatives will call for the Sinclair-Tribune merger to be rejected."