Editing Sinclair Broadcast Group (section)

{{Short description|American media company, founded 1971}}
{{Redirect|Sinclair, Inc.|similarly-named corporations|Sinclair (disambiguation)#Companies{{!}}Sinclair § Companies}}
{{Use mdy dates|date=June 2024}}
{{Use American English|date=June 2024}}
{{Infobox company
| name = Sinclair, Inc.
| logo = Sinclair Broadcast Group new logo.svg
| image = Sinclair Broadcasting Hq.jpg
| image_size = 270px
| image_caption = Headquarters in [[Cockeysville, Maryland]]
| former_name = {{ubl|Chesapeake Television Corporation (1971–1985) | Sinclair Broadcast Group, Inc. (1985–2023)}}
| trade_name = Sinclair Broadcast Group
| type = [[Public company|Public]]
| traded_as = {{Unbulleted list |{{NASDAQ|SBGI}} (Class A) |[[Russell 1000]] component}}
| ISIN = {{ISIN|sl=n|pl=y|US8292261091}}
| industry = {{ubl|[[Broadcast media]]|[[Telecommunications]]|[[Mass media]]}}
| founded = {{Start date and age|1971|4|11}} in [[Baltimore]], [[Maryland]], U.S.
| founder = [[Julian Sinclair Smith]]
| hq_location_city = [[Cockeysville, Maryland]]
| hq_location_country = U.S.
| area_served = United States
| key_people = {{ubl|[[David D. Smith]] ([[executive chairman]])||[[Christopher Ripley]] ([[President (corporate title)|president]] and [[Chief executive officer|CEO]])}}
| products = Broadcasting equipment
| production = Sports and news programming
| services = {{ubl|[[Broadcast television]]|[[Television production]]|[[Digital media]]|[[Radio]]|[[Television]]}}
| revenue = {{increase}} {{US$|3.55|link=yes}}&nbsp;billion
| revenue_year = 2024
| operating_income = {{increase}} {{US$|551}}&nbsp;million
| income_year = 2024
| net_income = {{increase}} {{US$|310}}&nbsp;million
| net_income_year = 2024
| assets = {{decrease}} {{US$|5.89}}&nbsp;billion
| assets_year = 2024
| equity = {{decrease}} {{US$|516}}&nbsp;million
| equity_year = 2024
| owner = Smith family (controlling)
| num_employees = 7,200
| num_employees_year = 2024
| divisions = {{ubl|Sinclair Broadcast Group|[[#Chesapeake Television|Chesapeake Television]]|[[#Holdings|Sinclair Networks<br />Sinclair Original Programming]]}}
| subsid = {{ubl|[[#Sinclair Television Group|Sinclair Television Group]]|[[Tennis Channel]]|[[#Equity holdings|Dielectric<br />Keyser Capital<br />Sinclair Investment Group]]}}
| website = {{Official URL}}
| footnotes = <ref>{{Cite web |url=https://www.sec.gov/ix?doc=/Archives/edgar/data/912752/000197121325000012/sbgi-20241231.htm |title=2024 Annual Report (Form 10-K) |date=February 26, 2025 |publisher=U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission}}</ref>
}}

'''Sinclair, Inc.''', [[trade name|doing business as]] '''Sinclair Broadcast Group''', is a publicly traded American [[telecommunication]]s [[conglomerate (company)|conglomerate]] that is controlled by the descendants of company founder [[Julian Sinclair Smith]]. Headquartered in the [[Baltimore]] suburb of [[Cockeysville, Maryland]], the company is the second-largest [[television station]] operator in the [[United States]] by number of stations after [[Nexstar Media Group]], owning or operating 193 stations across the country in over 100 markets, covering 40% of American households. Sinclair is the largest owner of stations that are affiliated with [[Fox Broadcasting Company|Fox]], [[NBC]], [[CBS]], [[American Broadcasting Company|ABC]], [[MyNetworkTV]], [[The CW]], and [[The CW Plus]]. Sinclair owns four [[digital subchannel|digital multicast]] networks, [[Comet (TV network)|Comet]], [[Charge! (TV network)|Charge!]], [[The Nest (TV network)|The Nest]], and [[TBD (TV network)|Roar]], and the sports-oriented cable network [[Tennis Channel]]. In June 2021, Sinclair became a [[Fortune 500|''Fortune'' 500]] company, having reached 2020 annual revenues of {{US$|5.9|link=yes}}{{nbsp}}billion, equivalent to ${{Inflation|US-GDP|5.9|2020|r=1}}{{nbsp}}billion in {{Inflation/year|US-GDP}}.<ref name=Fortune500>{{cite news |title=Hogan, officials applaud rise to Fortune 500 by Sinclair Broadcast, McCormick and T. Rowe Price at new Sinclair office |first=Lorraine |last=Mirabella |date=June 21, 2021 |work=[[The Baltimore Sun]] |url=https://www.baltimoresun.com/business/bs-bz-sinclair-broadcast-mccormick-trowe-celebrate-rise-to-fortune-500-20210621-76uctyrjtjf5nchy6jeewg7r5e-story.html |access-date=June 22, 2021 |url-access=subscription |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240120120150/https://www.baltimoresun.com/2021/06/21/hogan-officials-applaud-rise-to-fortune-500-by-sinclair-broadcast-mccormick-and-t-rowe-price-at-new-sinclair-office/ |archive-date=January 20, 2024 |url-status=live}}</ref>

A 2019 study in the ''[[American Political Science Review]]'' found that "stations bought by Sinclair reduce coverage of local politics, increase national coverage and move the ideological tone of coverage in a [[Conservatism in the United States|conservative]] direction relative to other stations operating in the same market".<ref name=":1" /><ref name=":2" /> The company has been criticized by journalists and media analysts for requiring its stations to broadcast packaged video segments and its news anchors to read prepared scripts that contain [[pro-Trump]] editorial content, including warnings about purported "[[Fake news websites in the United States|fake news]]" in mainstream media, while Donald Trump has tweeted support for watching Sinclair's content over [[CNN]] and NBC.<ref>{{Cite news |title=Sinclair Wanted to Rival Fox News. Now It Faces a $48 Million Fine. |first1=Neil |last1=Vigdor |first2=Edmund |last2=Lee |work=[[The New York Times]] |date=May 7, 2020 |orig-date=2020-05-06 |url=https://www.nytimes.com/2020/05/06/business/sinclair-fine-fcc.html |access-date=March 20, 2021 |url-access=subscription |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200508062846/https://www.nytimes.com/2020/05/06/business/sinclair-fine-fcc.html |archive-date=May 8, 2020 |url-status=live}}</ref><ref>{{Cite news |title=Video Reveals Power Of Sinclair, As Local News Anchors Recite Script In Unison |first=Camila |last=Domonoske |date=April 2, 2018 |work=[[NPR]] |url=https://www.npr.org/sections/thetwo-way/2018/04/02/598794433/video-reveals-power-of-sinclair-as-local-news-anchors-recite-script-in-unison |access-date=April 4, 2021 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240311073258/https://www.npr.org/sections/thetwo-way/2018/04/02/598794433/video-reveals-power-of-sinclair-as-local-news-anchors-recite-script-in-unison |archive-date=March 11, 2024 |url-status=live}}</ref><ref>{{cite news |title=Sinclair's new media-bashing promos rankle local anchors |first=Brian |last=Stelter |author-link=Brian Stelter |date=March 7, 2018 |work=[[CNN Business]] |url=https://money.cnn.com/2018/03/07/media/sinclair-broadcasting-promos-media-bashing/index.html |access-date=April 4, 2021 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180310202546/http://money.cnn.com:80/2018/03/07/media/sinclair-broadcasting-promos-media-bashing/index.html |archive-date=March 10, 2018 |url-status=live}}</ref><ref>{{cite news |title=Sinclair Broadcast gives its pro-Trump analyst a cold shoulder, then rethinks it |first=Paul |last=Farhi |date=November 29, 2018 |newspaper=[[The Washington Post]] |url=https://www.washingtonpost.com/lifestyle/style/sinclair-broadcast-gives-its-pro-trump-analyst-a-cold-shoulder-then-rethinks-it/2018/11/29/e0a1577a-f3f5-11e8-bc79-68604ed88993_story.html |access-date=April 1, 2024 |url-access=subscription |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20181205200352/https://www.washingtonpost.com/lifestyle/style/sinclair-broadcast-gives-its-pro-trump-analyst-a-cold-shoulder-then-rethinks-it/2018/11/29/e0a1577a-f3f5-11e8-bc79-68604ed88993_story.html |archive-date=December 5, 2018 |url-status=live}}</ref><ref>{{Cite news |title=Sinclair Made Dozens of Local News Anchors Recite the Same Script |first1=Jacey |last1=Fortin |first2=Jonah Engel |last2=Bromwich |date=April 2, 2018 |work=[[The New York Times]] |url=https://www.nytimes.com/2018/04/02/business/media/sinclair-news-anchors-script.html |access-date=April 4, 2021 |url-access=subscription |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180402113549/https://www.nytimes.com/2018/04/02/business/media/sinclair-news-anchors-script.html |archive-date=April 2, 2018 |url-status=live}}</ref>