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Tribune withdraws from Sinclair merger, sues for $1 billion in damages over ‘breach’ of contract

www.washingtonpost.com|https://www.facebook.com/brian.d.fung

A proposed merger that would have created the biggest U.S. television company collapsed Thursday when Tribune Media announced a $1 billion lawsuit against Sinclair Broadcast Group on grounds that the conservative television giant engaged in “misconduct” and precluded U.S. government approving of the deal.

Tribune said it would terminate the $3.9 billion deal and accused Sinclair in a lawsuit of engaging in “belligerent and unnecessarily protracted negotiations” with the FCC as well as the Justice Department, which reviewed the merger over its potential effects on competition. By failing to divest television stations as regulators recommended, Tribune said, Sinclair had “breached” the companies' merger agreement, which required them to make their best efforts to secure federal approval.

Peter Kern, Tribune’s chief executive officer, in a statement Thursday. “This uncertainty and delay would be detrimental to our company and our shareholders. Accordingly, we have exercised our right to terminate the Merger Agreement, and, by way of our lawsuit, intend to hold Sinclair accountable.”