Standard General, Deal Opponents Lobbying FCC
Standard General and unions opposing the company’s buy of Tegna continued to lobby FCC commissioners on the deal last week. Standard founder Soohyung Kim and CEO Deborah McDermott “place a high value on local news operations and staff and they…
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have no intention of reducing either following the transaction,” the two company executives told Commissioner Geoffrey Starks via videoconference, per an ex parte filing in docket 22-163. “They also stated that there is nothing in the record that would justify failure to promptly approve the transaction,” the filing said. Apollo Global Management and Standard General will be able to collaborate in their television operations to their mutual benefit, said the Communications Workers of America's NewsGuild and National Association of Broadcast Engineers and Technicians sectors in their own videoconference with Commissioner Brendan Carr last week, according to another ex parte filing. “As a non-equity stockholder and lender, posttransaction, Apollo will share increased profits from the enhanced retransmission fees,” said the unions' filing. The unions are also skeptical of “enforceability of behavioral conditions” on the transaction, the unions said. “Approval of the applications, even with conditions, would be contrary to the public interest.”