T-Mobile’s gambit to have the deal scrapped is likely to fall flat – the FCC has already scrapped an Obama era rule that initially blocked Sinclair’s bid.
August 9, 2017
‘T-Mobile US Inc. is urging the Federal Communications Commission to block Sinclair Broadcast Group Inc. from acquiring Tribune Media Co., arguing that Sinclair is likely to fight agency efforts to shift television broadcast signals around the airwaves.
The commission needs to move, or “repack,” broadcast signals to clear certain frequencies for T-Mobile and other buyers of licenses in the FCC’s incentive spectrum auction. T-Mobile contended, in an agency filing posted Aug. 8, that Sinclair is already trying to obstruct the repack, and the combined company would have “substantial leverage” in the process.’