They are called “must-runs,” and they arrive every day at television stations owned by the Sinclair Broadcast Group — short video segments that are centrally produced by the company. Station managers around the country are directed to work them into the broadcast over a period of 24 or 48 hours.
Since November 2015, Sinclair has ordered its stations to run a daily segment from a “Terrorism Alert Desk” with updates on terrorism-related news around the world. During the election campaign last year, it sent out a package that suggested in part that voters should not support Hillary Clinton because the Democratic Party was historically pro-slavery. More recently, Sinclair asked stations to run a short segment in which Scott Livingston, the company’s vice president for news, accused the national news media of publishing “fake news stories.”
List of Stations Owned or Operated by Sinclair Broadcast Group
Read full listing of Sinclair local channels at Wikipedia
inclair Broadcast Group is the largest owner of television stations in the United States, currently owning or operating a total of 173 stations across the country (233 after all currently proposed sales are approved) in nearly 80 markets, ranging from markets as large as Washington, D.C. to as small as Steubenville, Ohio.
Many stations are owned outright by the company, but many others are affiliated through other companies through a local marketing agreement, a concept Sinclair pioneered in Pittsburgh in 1991 when the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) forbid duopolies. (The stations involved in the initial deal, WPGH-TV and WPTT — now WPNT — are now both owned by Sinclair outright.) Sinclair has done this with various companies, most notably Cunningham Broadcasting and Deerfield Media, both of which are each believed to be a shell corporation in order for Sinclair to circumvent FCC rules.
The stations are affiliates of various television networks: ABC, CBS, NBC and Fox. Sinclair also owned or managed several affiliates of the WB and UPN networks, which both launched in January 1995. In September 2006, the WB and UPN merged their operations into a new network, the CW. Eight of Sinclair’s WB stations, along with independent KFBT (now KVCW) in Las Vegas, became affiliates of the new network. At the same time, Sinclair aligned 17 of its stations (ten former WB affiliates, six former UPN stations, and independent WFGX) with MyNetworkTV, a programming service owned by Fox’s parent News Corporation. Sinclair’s relationship with Fox/News Corporation was also strengthened after Sinclair agreed to a six-year affiliation renewal for its 19 Fox-affiliated stations. The deal also included flagship WBFF in Baltimore, despite Fox owning a station, MyNetworkTV affiliate WUTB, in the same market; however, Sinclair would later purchase WUTB.
In addition to the major networks, many Sinclair stations air Ring of Honor Wrestling, a weekly professional wrestling program by Sinclair-owned Ring of Honor. Many Sinclair stations are also affiliated with the Sinclair-owned American Sports Network (ASN) on a secondary basis, effectively making those stations an owned-and-operated station (O&O) of ASN.”
