Claims that joint sales agreements create jobs are...

Claims that joint sales agreements create jobs are “absurd” and “not supported by any data,” said Free Press’s Derek Turner in a meeting with FCC Chairman’s Office Special Counsel for External Affairs Gigi Sohn, according to an ex parte filing Monday (http://bit.ly/1fkCcuS). “Because the entire purpose of the use of these agreements is to eliminate independent outlets, they not only result in fewer independent voices, but also reduce the number of broadcast employees that would have otherwise existed absent these arrangements,” Turner said. Sinclair “has a long track record of laying off workers and reducing the number of staff at each of its stations,” said the filing. The commission should “reject these farcical and self-serving attempts to paint the use of outsourcing by the industry’s leading companies as pro-jobs, and move forward to close the outsourcing loopholes.” Armstrong Williams, owner of Howard Stirk Holdings (HSH), expressed opposite views on JSAs in a meeting with Commissioner Mignon Clyburn and her staff, according to an ex parte filing (http://bit.ly/1fkYqBA). “Mr. Williams emphasized that without the ability to enter into JSAs and SSAs, as an African American, he would not have been able to fulfill his lifelong dream of being a TV station owner,” the filing said. Howard Stirk Holdings is involved in sharing deals with Sinclair. Sharing arrangements help HSH in retrans negotiations, to provide local programming and “to survive the competitive marketplace,” the filing said. “Singleton buyers of a TV station, especially in small and medium size markets, simply cannot get financing without these types of shared services agreements,” the filing said.