Sinclair Broadcast Group

Sinclair, Inc.
FormerlyChesapeake Television Corporation (1971–1985)
Sinclair Broadcast Group, Inc. (1985–2023)
Company typePublic
Nasdaq: SBGI (Class A)
Russell 1000 Index component
ISINUS8292261091
Industry
FoundedApril 11, 1971; 53 years ago (1971-04-11)
Baltimore, Maryland, U.S.
FounderJulian Sinclair Smith
Headquarters
Cockeysville, Maryland
,
U.S.
Area served
United States
Key people
ProductsBroadcasting equipment
Production output
Sports and news programming
Services
RevenueIncrease US$2.73 billion[1] (2016)
Increase US$233.4 million[1] (2016)
Increase US$245.3 million[1] (2016)
Total assetsIncrease US$5.96 billion[1] (2016)
Total equityIncrease US$557.9 million[1] (2016)
OwnerSmith family (controlling)
Number of employees
11,500[2] (2022)
Divisions
Subsidiaries
Websitewww.sbgi.net Edit this at Wikidata

Sinclair, Inc., doing business as Sinclair Broadcast Group, is a publicly traded American telecommunications conglomerate that is controlled by the descendants of company founder Julian Sinclair Smith. Headquartered in the Baltimore suburb of Cockeysville, Maryland, the company is the second-largest television station operator in the United States by number of stations, after Nexstar Media Group, owning or operating 193 stations across the country in over 100 markets, covering 40% of American households. It is the largest owner of stations affiliated with Fox, NBC, CBS, ABC, MyNetworkTV, and The CW. Sinclair owns four digital multicast networks, Comet, Charge!, The Nest, and TBD, and sports-oriented cable networks, Stadium, Tennis Channel, and Bally Sports Regional Networks. In June 2021, Sinclair became a Fortune 500 company, having reached 2020 annual revenues of US$5.9 billion, equivalent to $6.8 billion in 2023.[3]

A 2019 study in the American Political Science Review found that "stations bought by Sinclair reduce coverage of local politics, increase national coverage and move the ideological tone of coverage in a conservative direction relative to other stations operating in the same market".[4][5] The company has been criticized by journalists and media analysts for requiring its stations to broadcast packaged video segments and its news anchors to read prepared scripts that contain pro-Trump editorial content, including warnings about purported "fake news" in mainstream media, while Trump has tweeted support for watching Sinclair over CNN and NBC.[6][7][8][9][10]

  1. ^ a b c d e "Sinclair Broadcast Group Annual Reports 2016" (PDF). Sinclair Broadcast Group. Archived from the original (PDF) on December 8, 2017. Retrieved August 12, 2017.
  2. ^ "Sinclair Broadcast Number of Employees 2010-2022 | SBGI".
  3. ^ Mirabella, Lorraine (June 21, 2021). "Hogan, officials applaud rise to Fortune 500 by Sinclair Broadcast, McCormick and T. Rowe Price at new Sinclair office". The Baltimore Sun. Archived from the original on January 20, 2024. Retrieved June 22, 2021.
  4. ^ Cite error: The named reference :1 was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
  5. ^ Cite error: The named reference :2 was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
  6. ^ Vigdor, Neil; Lee, Edmund (May 7, 2020) [2020-05-06]. "Sinclair Wanted to Rival Fox News. Now It Faces a $48 Million Fine". The New York Times. Archived from the original on May 8, 2020. Retrieved March 20, 2021.
  7. ^ Domonoske, Camila (April 2, 2018). "Video Reveals Power Of Sinclair, As Local News Anchors Recite Script In Unison". NPR. Archived from the original on March 11, 2024. Retrieved April 4, 2021.
  8. ^ Stelter, Brian (March 7, 2018). "Sinclair's new media-bashing promos rankle local anchors". CNN Business. Archived from the original on March 10, 2018. Retrieved April 4, 2021.
  9. ^ Farhi, Paul (November 29, 2018). "Sinclair Broadcast gives its pro-Trump analyst a cold shoulder, then rethinks it". The Washington Post. Archived from the original on December 5, 2018. Retrieved April 1, 2024.
  10. ^ Fortin, Jacey; Bromwich, Jonah Engel (April 2, 2018). "Sinclair Made Dozens of Local News Anchors Recite the Same Script". The New York Times. Archived from the original on April 2, 2018. Retrieved April 4, 2021.