{"id":151991,"date":"2025-11-24T23:52:09","date_gmt":"2025-11-24T23:52:09","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/151991\/"},"modified":"2025-11-24T23:52:09","modified_gmt":"2025-11-24T23:52:09","slug":"broadcast-giant-sinclair-makes-bid-to-buy-out-ew-scripps-for-7-per-share","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/151991\/","title":{"rendered":"Broadcast giant Sinclair makes bid to buy out EW Scripps for $7 per share"},"content":{"rendered":"

NEW YORK (AP) \u2014 Sinclair<\/a> has submitted a bid to buy out E.W. Scripps for $7 per share, in a deal that could bring further consolidation<\/a> across America\u2019s local TV news landscape.<\/p>\n

Under the proposal, which Sinclair disclosed Monday, the broadcast giant would acquire all of Scripps\u2019 outstanding shares that it doesn\u2019t already own. Sinclair has already upped its stake in Scripps<\/a> recently \u2014 accounting for nearly 10% of the company\u2019s class A common stock as of Nov. 17, per regulatory filings.<\/p>\n

The proposed $7 per share price tag would consist of both cash and stock. If approved, the deal would give Scripps\u2019 shareholders about a 12.7% stake of the combined company upon closing.<\/p>\n

Sinclair is requesting a response from Scripps by Dec. 5.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe are submitting an updated, actionable merger proposal,\u201d Sinclair CEO Christopher S. Ripley wrote in a letter to Scripps\u2019 board. He said the deal would \u201cstrengthen local journalism\u201d and \u201cposition the combined company and employees for long-term success.\u201d<\/p>\n

Ohio-based Scripps acknowledged that it had received an \u201cunsolicited acquisition proposal\u201d from Sinclair on Monday. The company said its board would review it like any other offer \u2014 and determine next steps based on the interests of its stakeholders and \u201caudiences it serves across the United States.\u201d<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

\"Floodlights<\/p>\n

<\/a><\/p>\n

Scripps previously said it would also protect itself from any \u201copportunistic actions of Sinclair or anyone else.\u201d<\/p>\n

Shares of E.W. Scripps Co. climbed more than 7.5% Monday, closing at $4.43 apiece. Sinclair\u2019s stock jumped 1.41%, closing at $15.87 per share.<\/p>\n

Sinclair has been eyeing Scripps for some time. Last week, the Maryland-based company said it held months of talks \u201cregarding a potential combination\u201d \u2014 and maintained more broadly that increasing its scale is \u201cessential to address secular headwinds\u201d in the U.S. media industry, pointing to growing competition.<\/p>\n

Just this past August, Nexstar Media Group announced a $6.2 billion deal<\/a> to buy broadcast rival Tegna.<\/p>\n

Companies like Sinclair \u2014 as well as Nexstar and Tegna \u2014 have argued that acquisitions would allow them to better compete with both bigger media and tech players vying for consumers\u2019 attention today. But critics warn of wider homogenization of news. In other words, more and more local TV stations becoming \u201cduplicators\u201d of syndicated reporting \u2014 and sharing corporate owners who may decide not to air certain content<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Sinclair Broadcast Group owns, operates or provides services to 185 TV stations in 85 markets affiliated with all major broadcast networks, and it also owns the Tennis Channel. The company has a reputation for a conservative viewpoint in its broadcasts<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Meanwhile, E.W. Scripps Co. operates more than 60 local stations in over 40 markets. It also owns national news outlets Scripps News and Court TV, as well as entertainment brands like ION.<\/p>\n

Whether or not Scripps accepts Sinclair\u2019s proposal has yet to be seen. And like all major corporate mergers, the deal would still require the regulatory greenlight. Sinclair on Monday said it was confident that its proposed transaction could be completed under existing rules. <\/p>\n

Still, U.S. media consolidation could accelerate industrywide if the Trump administration loosens restrictions \u2014 or, perhaps more immediately, makes exceptions for certain mergers. Just last week, in efforts to complete its Tegna acquisition, Nexstar asked the Federal Communications Commission for a waiver on current rules that limit<\/a> the number of stations a single company can own. <\/p>\n

FCC Chairman Brendan Carr previously signaled openness to changing those requirements overall. But some conservatives \u2014 and President Donald Trump himself \u2014 have recently expressed disdain over the possibility of such a change leading to an expansion in networks they view as left-leaning.<\/p>\n

\u201cIf this would also allow the Radical Left Networks to \u2018enlarge,\u2019 I would not be happy,\u201d Trump wrote on social media Sunday. The Republican particularly targeted ABC and NBC, which he claimed were a \u201cVIRTUAL ARM OF THE DEMOCRAT PARTY.\u201d<\/p>\n

In response, Nexstar maintained that it believes \u201cthe landscape is ripe for regulatory reform\u201d \u2014 and added that \u201cwe agree with President Trump that the status quo is no longer acceptable.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"NEW YORK (AP) \u2014 Sinclair has submitted a bid to buy out E.W. Scripps for $7 per share,…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":151992,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[29],"tags":[28190,138,101315,65,156,29279,420,16890,96524,15093,76573,28981,111,139,78361,69,101314,13724,101313,437],"class_list":["post-151991","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-tv","tag-brendan-carr","tag-business","tag-christopher-s-ripley","tag-donald-trump","tag-entertainment","tag-federal-communications-commission","tag-inc","tag-journalism","tag-local-news-for-apple","tag-maryland","tag-md-state-wire","tag-mergers-and-acquisitions","tag-new-zealand","tag-newzealand","tag-nexstar-media-group","tag-nz","tag-oh-state-wire","tag-ohio","tag-the-e-w-scripps-co","tag-tv"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/151991","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=151991"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/151991\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/151992"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=151991"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=151991"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=151991"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}