A company subject to shelved plans to buy...

A company subject to shelved plans to buy a station from Sinclair and other changes as part of Sinclair’s planned buy of Allbritton Communications’ TV stations sought “assurance” from the FCC that the Sinclair divestitures would serve the public interest so the deals could be rekindled. Sinclair had proposed to end (CD March 21 p16) its proposed deal to let Howard Stirk Holdings buy WMMP Charleston, S.C., because it involved joint sales agreements (JSAs), said Stirk in a filing posted Monday in docket 13-203 Monday (http://bit.ly/1gEPKSF). Since Sinclair proposed not to have WMMP sold to Stirk, the agency said it would allow JSA ownership-quota attribution rule waivers (CD April 1 p4), said Stirk. That was in a 3-2 order adopted to crack down on some JSAs. If Stirk gets a waiver, it said Sinclair would consider selling to it certain rights associated with WABM Birmingham, Ala., and to enter agreements with Stirk to allow it to buy assets of WLYH Lancaster, Pa. Sinclair also had proposed to end its plan to sell WABM to a third party with sharing arrangements, among other changes to Sinclair/Allbritton TV involving stations assets of which Stirk may now seek to get. Stirk said its “established record as a broadcaster,” and “long and distinguished record” of sole owner Armstrong Williams, meet waiver standards.