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The '''Sinclair Broadcast Group, Inc.''' (SBG) is a media company and the single largest operator of local television stations in the United States. According to the company's webpage, Sinclair's television group includes 20 FOX, 19 WB, 6 UPN, 8 ABC, 3 CBS, 4 NBC affiliates and 2 independent stations and reaches approximately 24% of all U.S. television households. [http://www.sbgi.net/business/television.shtml] The company is based in Hunt Valley, Maryland.
SBG has been compared to the radio conglomerate Clear Channel Communications, and programming produced by the group is considered to have a right-wing slant. In April 2004, the company [[Sinclair Broadcast Group refuses to broadcast Nightline episode on fallen soldiers|refused to broadcast a special "Nightline" broadcast]], produced by the ABC television network, that was devoted to reading the names of soldiers who had died in [[Operation Iraqi Freedom]]. "Of the top twenty TV and Radio companies to make political contributions in 2004," reported MediaChannel at the time, "Sinclair Broadcasting Group, is among the most conservative, giving 98 percent of its $65,434 in political contributions to GOP candidates." ['''Sinclair Broadcast Group, Inc.''' (SBG) is a media company that owns and operates the largest number of TV stations -- ''483 local television channels'' -- in the United States, as of its 2016 annual report. Those channels include 36 ABC, 30 CBS, 22 NBC, and 54 FOX affiliates, reaching approximately ''38 percent of all U.S. television households'' (the [[Federal Communications Commission]]'s (FCC's) national ownership cap restricts television broadcasters from reaching more than 39 percent of the country's population). The company is based in Hunt Valley, Maryland.<ref name="2016AR">Sinclair Broadcast Group, [http://sbgi.net/wp-content/uploads/investor-relations/Annual-Reports/sbgi-2016.pdf 2016 Annual Report], corporate report, February 28, 2017.</ref> Sinclair is the subject of controversy for its $3.9 billion planned acquisition of the 42 broadcast stations owned by [[Tribune Media]] -- former owners of the ''Chicago Tribune'' and ''Los Angeles Times''" -- announced May 2017, as well as for its "size, rightwing politics and close connections to [President] Donald Trump's White House," according to ''The Guardian'' as well as ''Politico'' and ''CNN''.<ref name="Guardian">Lucia Graves, [https://www.theguardian.com/media/2017/aug/17/sinclair-news-media-fox-trump-white-
