CLAIRE McCASKILL 
MISSOURI 
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The Honorable Ajit Pai 
Chairman 
Federal Communications Commission 
445 12th Street SW 
Washington, DC 20554 
Dear Chairman Pai: 
WASHINGTON, DC 20510 
December 4, 2017 
In light of the Federal Communications Commission's recent action to loosen local television 
ownership rules, and the commission's ongoing review of the pending merger between Sinclair 
Broadcast Group and Tribune Media Company, I write to share my concerns about the negative 
impact these actions could have on the St. Louis television market. 
While I appreciate that in adopting its broadcast ownership order last month the commission did 
not eliminate the prohibition on a broadcaster owning more than one of the top four television 
stations in a market, I am concerned about the change that was adopted allowing a broadcaster to 
seek approval on a case-by-case basis for transactions that would violate this rule. 
In the St. Louis market, the 21st largest in the country and the largest in the state of Missouri, 
Sinclair currently owns KDNL, the ABC affiliate, while Tribune owns KTVI, the Fox affiliate, 
as well as KPLR, an affiliate of the CW. If the Sinclair-Tribune transaction is approved as 
proposed it would leave three stations in the hands of one company, including two of the top four 
stations in the market. 
Sinclair has been in the St. Louis television market since 1996, and on October 12, 2001 
eliminated its local newscasts on KDNL. With the exception of a brief return to airing a local 
newscast through a partnership with the local NBC affiliate in 2011-2013, Sinclair's ABC 
affiliate in St. Louis has been without a newscast for most of the past 16 years and remains the 
only affiliate of a top four network in a media market of St. Louis' size without a newscast. 
Although a recent filing with the commission by Sinclair indicates the company would agree to 
add newscasts at KDNL if the Sinclair-Tribune transaction is approved, the gesture is too little 
too late from a company that has demonstrated a stunning disregard for local news and the 
viewers who rely on it in the St. Louis market. 
Other recent broadcast mergers have highlighted the importance of enforcing the commission's 
rule on this matter. The Department of Justice required the sale of a station in the St. Louis 
market as a condition of the Gannett-Belo transaction in 2013, blocking one company from 
owning two of the top four stations in the market. 
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With regard to the St. Louis television market, I urge you to strictly enforce the prohibition on a 
broadcaster owning more than one top four television station in a market if the Sinclair-Tribune 
merger is approved. The commission should encourage diversity, localism, and competition in 
local television markets. Allowing one company - particularly one with Sinclair's track record of 
abandoning local news in the St. Louis market - to own two of the top four stations accomplishes 
none of those goals. 
Sincerely, 
Claire McCaskill 
United States Senator