Tribune media has abandoned the merger it had proposed to strike up with Sinclair Media.

Done deal, done deal, done deal. Dropped.

Tribune media has abandoned the merger it had proposed to strike up with Sinclair Media.

Should they have gone through with the deal, it would have made Sinclair a broadcast giant on the spectrum with Fox News.

The Sinclair Broadcast Group is the largest operator of local TV in the US- it’s overwhelming support of President Donald Trump is often considered rather suspicious.

The support is mutual.

Donald Trump was a vocal supporter of the merger, which would have given Sinclair control of more than 200 tv stations broadcasting to 72% of the US population.

On Twitter, in the wake of the deal falling through, Trump expressed his disappointment regarding the turn of events.

“So sad and unfair that the FCC wouldn’t approve the Sinclair Broadcast merger with Tribune. This would have been a great and much needed Conservative voice for and of the People,”

So why was the deal dropped?

Sinclair’s acquisition had become increasingly imperilled in recent weeks after the Federal Communications Commission referred the deal for legal review.

Throughout the lawsuit, Tribune accused Sinclair of ‘unnecessarily aggressive and protracted negotiations’ with government and regulators.

Lobby groups across the States condemned the move, saying a merger would decrease the diversity of viewpoints in local news.

The FCC demanded that Sinclair divest itself of some of the US local stations, in order not to dominate the market.

Sinclair did try to reassure regulators by offering to relinquish 23 stations- but they were still accused of acting without transparency in their plans.

Tribune charged that Sinclair dragged its feet on selling off stations, and engaged in “unnecessarily aggressive and protracted negotiations” with the FCC and the Department of Justice.

In an effort to seemingly maintain control over the stations.

Tribune said that the merger could have gone through years ago if Sinclair had followed the rules. 

The Sinclair Group has been in the spotlight for some time, after news anchors on different local stations felyt the need to quit due to Trump orientated bias in their daily scripts, required by all anchors to recite- called ‘must reads’.

Meanwhile, Sinclair have been deflecting the blows- accusing other media outletsof ‘fake news and bias’-

But should the merger with Tribune have come through, their domination of the media market would have been so great that many feel that Americas democracy would be compromised.

Now the deal is shattered, the danger to democracy has been lessened- but the doomed merger is not without casualty for Tribune.

According to an agreement the two companies reached last year, Tribune would be on the hook for a $135m breakup fee – if it is unable to establish Sinclair’s responsibility for the deal’s failure.

Another casualty is 21st Century Fox’s deal to acquire seven of the Tribune stations from Sinclair for $910m.

Tribune said it has notified Fox of the terminated agreement.