3 2020 Democratic Presidential Hopefuls Seek FCC, DOJ Review of Sinclair's Buy of RSNs
Three 2020 Democratic presidential hopefuls urged FCC Chairman Ajit Pai and DOJ Antitrust Division head Makan Delrahim Tuesday to review Sinclair's buy of 21 regional sports networks and Fox College Sports from Disney (see 1905030059) “and the effects it would…
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have on consumers.” Disney's sale of the sports networks follows their acquisition as part of the buy of most of the assets of 21st Century Fox (see 1901140039). “We are particularly concerned that adding ownership of these [sports networks] to its existing local television stations could allow Sinclair to increase fees on consumers and be used by the company as leverage to allow it to force its partisan political messaging on a larger swath of the American population,” wrote Sens. Cory Booker, D-N.J.; Bernie Sanders, I-Vt.; and Elizabeth Warren, D-Mass. “It is clear that Sinclair has an explicit interest in, and commitment to, relaying partisan political messages to its viewers -- making its recent anti-competitive expansion attempts into millions of additional households all the more concerning.” Distributors “understand the value of live sports and the limited number of un-bundled live sport streaming options available to consumers leave ‘sports fans ... tethered to their cable bundle,” the senators said. “Therefore, the agreement with Disney offers Sinclair an opportunity to charge consumers more by packaging their cable and broadcast programs.”