The FCC’s new policies on TV sharing arrangements...

in North Dakota KNDX Bismarck and KXND Minot. The three stations were to have been purchased by Excalibur Broadcasting and operated through sharing deals with Gray Television, the statement said. “These transactions, however, were blocked by the Commission’s new rules prohibiting the use of JSAs in these markets.” Similar to a recent announcement by Sinclair, the stations will be replaced by multicast channels on other Gray-owned stations. Gray has three more stations in Colorado, Louisiana and North Dakota that “will soon go dark because of the Commission’s JSA restrictions” the statement said. Gray said earlier this month it hired the brokerage arm of the Minority Media and Telecommunications Council to sell all six stations. “Are these the victories for competition that critics of sharing agreements were hoping to see?” Pai and O'Rielly asked. “Or has the real goal all along just been to drive television stations off the air?” It could be hard to find a buyer, the commissioners said. “It could be difficult for a station to be viable in markets of this size over the long term with neither a major network affiliation nor a sharing agreement.” The stations referenced in the joint statement “aren’t dead,” said MMTC President David Honig in an interview, but are going dark as they wait to be sold. That’s not an uncommon practice, he said. “They are for sale, and we hope to find buyers."