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We look forward to working with regulators to make the merger a reality.”</span></p><p><span style="font-weight: 400;">Companies like Sinclair are restricted from serving more than 39 percent of the nation’s television-viewing audience. The merger with Tribune would put the combined company well over that legal limit, so Sinclair proposed selling off 23 local television stations around the country.</span></p><p><span style="font-weight: 400;">A handful of those deals were sidecar arrangements, where Sinclair would ostensibly sell the station but retain some control over its programming and advertising.</span></p><p><span style="font-weight: 400;">Pai cited those arrangements as the reason for his concerns.</span></p><p><span style="font-weight: 400;">“The evidence we’ve received suggests that certain station divestitures that have been proposed to the FCC would allow Sinclair to control those stations in practice, even if not in name, in violation of the law,” he said in his statement Monday.</span></p><p><span style="font-weight: 400;">Torossian said that Sinclair was “shocked and disappointed” by the chairman’s decision and insisted that the company never tried to mislead the FCC about the nature of the transactions.</span></p><p><span style="font-weight: 400;">“These structures are consistent with structures that Sinclair and many other broadcasters have utilized for many years with the full approval of the FCC,” Torossian said. “During these discussions and in our filings with the FCC, we have been completely transparent about every aspect of the proposed transaction.”</span></p></div></div></div> <div id="bottom-story-socials" class="blogs-social-wrp"> <div class="addthis_inline_share_toolbox_ru82"></div> <div class="share-additional"> <div class="share-linkedin"> <script> ;(function(){ var linkedinScriptEl = document.querySelector('script[src="//web.archive.org/web/20180717190213/http://platform.linkedin.com/in.js"]'); if (linkedinScriptEl == null) { var shareLinkedinEl = document.querySelector('.share-linkedin'); var scriptEl = document.createElement('script'); scriptEl.src = "//web.archive.org/web/20180717190213/http://platform.linkedin.com/in.js"; scriptEl.async = true; scriptEl.innerHTML = " lang: en_US"; shareLinkedinEl.appendChild(scriptEl); } })(); </script> <script type="IN/Share"></script> </div> <div class="share-stumbleupon"> <su:badge layout="6"></su:badge> <script type="text/javascript"> (function() { var li = document.createElement('script'); li.type = 'text/javascript'; li.async = true; li.src = ('https:' == document.location.protocol ? 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