Under FCC regulation, there were (are, at least in lip-service) limits on how many teevee stations a single owner could have.
In 1953 the commission decided a single company could own 7 teevee, 7 AM radio, and 7 FM radio stations. Of course, at that time there were about 200 commercial teevee stations.
In 1990, the limit was raised from 7 to 12, and the requirement that a teevee owner could not also own a newspaper in the same market. The FCC could not control newspaper ownership, but could (and did) decline teevee licenses for companies that already owned a newspaper.
The FCC slowly became toothless as the government became more and more beholden to deep-pocketed corporate donors.
On Trump’s watch, Sinclair Broadcast Group is expected to soon own more than 200 teevee stations (it currently has 173) and a reach of 72% of the national audience.
Sinclair is “right-leaning” – in my not so humble opinion they are right of FOX by a long shot.
Sinclair made a deal with the Trump campaign to get “access” to candidate Trump, in exchange for favorable coverage. Sinc corp produces “must run” stories which all affiliates are required to put in their local news, as well as garbage like the “Terrorist Alert Desk” which is thinly coated propaganda.
Here in podunk, in the age of digital media, Sinclair and Nexstar between them totally control our television available for free. And cable or satellite does not get you any local news. That is controlled by the two big boys,
That bleak outlook is becoming more and more common outside the major cities.
Much though I hate Nexstar, I think it is a good thing that they are mainly just money-grubbing cheapskate fatcats.
Sinclair is out to rule the world.