A joint sales agreement (JSA) waiver request from...

A joint sales agreement (JSA) waiver request from Howard Stirk Holdings doesn’t come from Sinclair and Free Press shouldn’t have presented the request that way in a filing earlier this week, said Sinclair in an ex parte letter filed at the FCC Tuesday (http://bit.ly/1hVVO9M). “Sinclair is not the moving party behind the HSH proposal or the HSH letter,” said Sinclair. “Nor is this a ’scheme’ by Sinclair, as Free Press alleges, to evade the commission’s rules,” Sinclair said. Sinclair is in the process of restructuring its proposed deal to buy Allbritton so it won’t include JSAs that would run afoul of the commission’s new rules, the filing said. That restructuring changed HSH’s participation in the Allbritton deal. However, Sinclair agreed to give HSH time to try to obtain assurances of a waiver from the FCC so HSH could then participate in the Allbritton deal, Sinclair said. HSH is minority-owned, and the FCC has said JSAs that assist in promoting public interests like diversity are more likely to receive a waiver. That makes it incorrect for Free Press to suggest that the HSH waiver request is an attempt by Sinclair to “renege” on the restructuring, Sinclair said.