TELECOM Digest OnLine - Sorted: Re: Sinclair: From Bad to Worse

Re: Sinclair: From Bad to Worse

Linc Madison (lincmad@suespammers.org)
Sat, 23 Oct 2004 23:30:00 -0700

In article <telecom23.510.15@telecom-digest.org>, Gene S. Berkowitz
<first.last@comcast.net> wrote:

> Well, the Smiths, who control the majority of the stock may own the
> stations (and that is questionable also; they have "operating
> agreements" with other stations ... to avoid the (eroding) limits on
> media ownership);

Furthermore, owning majority control of the corporation that owns the
stations is a very different thing from owning the stations outright.

The stations are owned by a publicly traded corporation. That brings
into play the "fiduciary duty" of the management to refrain from
conduct that diminishes the value of the stock, even if management owns
the majority of the stock.

> however they DO NOT OWN the spectrum allocations they broadcast in.

Very true. However, the "public interest" part of the license is being
watered down about as quickly as the limits on ownership.

The bottom line is that the stockholders who object to the actions
taken by the Smiths have a strong legal case against them. They placed
their own personal political beliefs ahead of their fiduciary duty to
their stockholders.

Linc Madison * San Francisco, California * lincmad@suespammers.org
<http://www.LincMad.com> * primary e-mail: Telecom at LincMad dot com
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