Aug 12, 2025 - Business

Sinclair may sell off its local TV stations

Dan Primack,
Sara Fischer

Illustration of a TV test pattern with an upside down exclamation point and a right-side up exclamation point. — Illustration: Shoshana Gordon/Axios

Sinclair has launched a strategic review of its broadcast business, which includes 178 television stations in 81 markets.

Why it matters: The U.S. broadcasting industry appears to be starting a new game of musical chairs, as Sinclair's announcement comes just days after a WSJ report that Nexstar is in talks to acquire Tegna.

Zoom in: Sinclair also said it will weigh a spinoff or other transaction for its $726 million Ventures unit, which includes private equity investments, real estate and assets like the Tennis Channel.

The bottom line: Any of these deals could run into FCC ownership cap issues, but there's a sense that FCC chair Brendan Carr would issue temporary waivers on the assumption that they plan to raise the ownership cap threshold.

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Sinclair may sell off its local TV stations

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