Sinclair's merger breakup could frustrate its TV ambitions

Sinclair Broadcast Group’s singularly nasty breakup with Tribune Media may put a serious damper on the conservative-leaning broadcast giant's ability to expand, despite its persisting hunger to do so. Sinclair insists it will press on with business as usual and is already eyeing other acquisition targets in its bid to expand into a full-fledged conservative media titan on par with Fox News. But with few Washington allies outside of President Donald Trump, and now having botched the Tribune deal, the company may struggle to find other partners willing to roll the dice on facing regulators side-by-side with Sinclair. “Tribune flat-out says from the beginning Sinclair was a bad partner,” said Yosef Getachew, director of the Media and Democracy Program at Common Cause. “Any company that is interested in an agreement is going to think twice.”

[see more: Sinclair’s bumpy road ahead]