Sinclair Broadcast Group completed a restructuring Thursday in which it dropped “broadcast” from its name in a bid to highlight its non-broadcast business.
The Hunt Valley-based television station owner finalized the reorganization through a share exchange in which Sinclair Inc. became a public holding company of Sinclair Broadcast Group and its subsidiaries. Those include Sinclair Television Group and the struggling Diamond Sports Group, which owns regional sports networks and airs games for 14 Major League Baseball teams. Diamond Sports filed for bankruptcy protection in March, burdened by more than $8 billion in debt.
The newly created Sinclair also is the parent of a new subsidiary called Sinclair Ventures, which includes the Tennis Channel and other businesses.
Each outstanding share of Sinclair Broadcast’s Class A and Class B common stock was exchanged automatically on a one-for-one basis for a share of Class A and Class B common stock of the new Sinclair Inc.
Sinclair’s shares, still trading under the SBGI symbol, slipped 28 cents Thursday to close at $15.10 each.
Sinclair also converted from a Maryland corporation to a Maryland limited liability company.
Sinclair Broadcast has been best known as a television broadcaster and the nation’s largest owner of TV stations, but the company and its affiliates also own, manage and or operate a range of businesses. Besides Tennis Channel, they include intellectual property used in broadcast technology, technical and software services companies, marketing technology firm Compulse and assets such as real estate, venture capital, private equity and direct investments.