{"id":352780,"date":"2025-12-17T00:09:08","date_gmt":"2025-12-17T00:09:08","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/352780\/"},"modified":"2025-12-17T00:09:08","modified_gmt":"2025-12-17T00:09:08","slug":"sinclair-takeover-proposal-rebuffed-by-e-w-scripps-board","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/352780\/","title":{"rendered":"Sinclair Takeover Proposal Rebuffed By E.W. Scripps Board"},"content":{"rendered":"

\n\tLocal TV<\/a> station owner E.W. Scripps<\/a> said Tuesday that its board of directors has rejected an unsolicited takeover bid by larger rival Sinclair<\/a> Inc.<\/p>\n

\n\tScripps, whose assets also include the Ion broadcast network, said the board\u2019s decision was unanimous. It followed Sinclair\u2019s disclosure last month<\/a> that it had taken an 8.2% stake in the company and offered to acquire the rest of its stock in a $7-a-share deal comprised of cash and stock.<\/p>\n

\n\t\u201cThe board is committed to acting in the best interests of all Scripps shareholders as well as the company\u2019s employees and the many communities and audiences it serves across the United States,\u201d board chair Kim Williams said. \u201cAfter careful consideration, Scripps\u2019 board determined that Sinclair\u2019s unsolicited acquisition proposal is not in the best interests of Scripps and its shareholders. The board nonetheless remains open to evaluating opportunities to enhance shareholder value and will continue to consider any course of action, including any acquisition proposal, that is in the best interest of all shareholders.\u201d<\/p>\n

\n\tThe merger drama has unfolded as an even bigger deal winds its way through the regulatory process, with Nexstar Media Group looking to acquire Tegna in a $6.2 billion transaction. The local TV megadeals will require regulators and\/or lawmakers to relax or eliminate the current federal cap on station ownership. Under current rules, a single owner may not control stations reaching more than 39% of U.S. households. Nexstar-Tegna would double that reach, and Sinclair-Scripps also would have been above the longtime 39% limit.<\/p>\n

\n\tThe board\u2019s official rejection came after a strong signal that Scripps was not particularly receptive to the overture. Shortly after Sinclair\u2019s announcement of its proposal, Scripps said its board would \u201ctake all steps appropriate to protect the company and the company\u2019s shareholders from the opportunistic actions of Sinclair or anyone else.\u201d<\/p>\n

\n\tWith viewership and advertising on the wane due to ongoing cord-cutting, local TV is under enormous pressure. Nexstar and other large companies have been arguing that they are, in effect, the only chance for survival given the challenges of competing with Big Tech streaming platforms. They have publicly cited President Trump\u2019s support for doing away with the ownership cap, but the president has also thrown a curveball by agreeing with conservatives who worry that the abandonment of the cap could help left-wing programmers. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Local TV station owner E.W. Scripps said Tuesday that its board of directors has rejected an unsolicited takeover…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":352781,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[29],"tags":[64,63,193731,134,193732,26619,193733,427],"class_list":{"0":"post-352780","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-tv","8":"tag-au","9":"tag-australia","10":"tag-e-w-scripps","11":"tag-entertainment","12":"tag-local-tv","13":"tag-mergers-and-acquisitions","14":"tag-sinclair","15":"tag-tv"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/352780","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=352780"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/352780\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/352781"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=352780"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=352780"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=352780"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}