Sinclair Broadcasting Group

Sinclair Broadcast Group, Inc.

Formerly called	Chesapeake Television Corporation (1971–1985)
Type	Public
Traded as	NASDAQ: SBGI
Industry	Broadcast media Telecommunications Mass media Private equity
Founded	April 11, 1971; 46 years ago (1971-04-11) Baltimore, Maryland, U.S.
Founder	Julian Sinclair Smith
Headquarters	Hunt Valley, Maryland, U.S.
Key people	David D. Smith (Executive Chairman) David B. Amy (Vice Chairman) Christopher Ripley (President and CEO) Arthur Hasson (COO)
Products	Broadcasting equipment
Production output	Sports and news programming
Services	Broadcast television Radio
Revenue	$2.73 billion USD (2016)
Net income	$245.3 million USD (2016)
Total assets	$5.96 billion USD (2016)
Total equity	$557.9 million USD(2016)
Owner	Smith family (controlling)
Number of employees	8,400 (2016)
Divisions	Chesapeake Television Sinclair Networks Sinclair Original Programming
Subsidiaries	Sinclair Television Group, Inc. The Tennis Channel, Inc. Ring of Honor Dielectric Keyser Capital Sinclair Investment Group
Website	sbgi.net

Sinclair Broadcast Group is an American telecommunications company that is owned by the family of company founder Julian Sinclair Smith. Headquartered in Hunt Valley, Maryland, the company is the second-largest television station operator in the United States (behind Nexstar Media Group) by number of stations, and largest by total coverage; owning and/or operating a total of 173 stations across the country (233 after all currently proposed sales are approved) in over 100 markets (covering 40% of American households), many of which are located in the South and Midwest. Sinclair also owns three digital multicast networks (Comet, Charge! and TBD) and one cable network (Tennis Channel), and owns or operates four radio stations (all based in the Pacific Northwest region). Among other non-broadcast properties, Sinclair also owns the Ring of Honor (ROH) professional wrestling promotion.

Though Sinclair became a public company in 1995 and is currently traded on the NASDAQ under the symbol SBGI, the Smith family still retains a majority financial interest, and all four sons of Julian Smith serve as executives or directors – with David D. Smith currently heading the company as Executive Chairman.

Sinclair has faced scrutiny from media critics, as well as some of its station employees, for the conservative slant of their stations' local news reporting and other programming decisions, and how the company's rapid growth has aided its dissemination of content that appeal to these views.