Sinclair To File 4th Version with FCC to Try and Buy Tribune

If at first, you don't succeed, try, try again.

That is what Sinclair is doing as it continues to try and get the FCC and Justice Department to sign off on their deal to gobble up the Tribune stations.

B&C reports that Sinclair is expected to file yet another version of its deal to buy the Tribune TV stations with the FCC, the fourth version since it was initially filed with the FCC last spring.

Sinclair has signaled to the FCC that its third version of the deal, submitted earlier this month, would not be the last and that there would be yet another version in a series of re-filings that have come in response to ongoing dialog with the Justice Department, which is apparently still ongoing.

The FCC has yet to restart its informal 180-day shot clock on vetting the deal, currently at 167 days and holding, even though staffers got the resubmitted deal almost three weeks ago, though that clock is only an unofficial guide. For example, it took the commission 327 days to approve Sinclair's purchase of the Allbritton stations back in 2014.

An FCC spokesperson had no comment on the shot clock's inactivity--it was stopped in January at Sinclair's signal of filing number two--but the FCC is likely waiting for the final version of the deal so it is vetting the one that it has signaled it will need to put out for new public comment before making a decision.

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