Paging Mark Suppelsa

When I heard that Sinclair would have to sell off Channel 9 in order to comply with FCC rules, I celebrated. I'm guessing Mark Suppelsa stopped in mid wood-chop somewhere up in Montana and said "What did I just hear?" Unfortunately, it doesn't mean what I thought it meant. From this morning's Robert Feder column...

Sinclair Broadcast Group plans to sell WGN-Channel 9 and stations in New York and San Diego to comply with ownership limits as part of its amended $3.9 billion proposed merger with Tribune Media, according to a filing Wednesday with the FCC. But that doesn’t mean it won’t be taking over “Chicago’s Very Own.” Even if Sinclair transfers the license for WGN, the company still plans to operate it (and the two other divested stations) under “shared services agreements” with separate licensees. “It’ll be one of those arrangements where, for all intents and purposes, they still own and run the stations,” said a former FCC staffer, who called it “a complete and total evasion of the rules.” In any case, Sinclair is expected to own Tribune Media news/talk WGN AM 720 outright. The controversial merger still awaits FCC and Justice Department approval.