Reports Sinclair looking for thumbs up as early as this week

There is buzz on Capitol Hill and elsewhere that the Department of Justice is close to signing off on the Sinclair-Tribune deal, perhaps as early as Friday. 

Fox Business Network was reporting the company was looking for approval any day now. Fox is buying some of the stations being spun off to comply with FCC rules.

But there have been suggestions before the deal was close at Justice, only to have Sinclair file an amended version of the proposed $3.9 billion merger to respond to antitrust issues.

But, the FCC deadline for comment on Sinclair's fifth version of the deal is midnight Thursday (July 12) and historically the department and the FCC do coordinate reviews.

Related: Sinclair Deal Does Not Violate FCC Rules

If the buzz is more than that, though, the FCC will almost certainly not make its decision until a reasonable period of time after the last comment comes in, for either the reality or appearance of considering all input before rendering a decision. 

FCC chairman Ajit Pai has talked up the need for transparency, and put his regulatory money where his mouth is in terms of publishing items before meeting votes, though some would argue the FCC has not made it particularly easy to figure out just what Sinclair's most recent proposal is and how it differs from the one before. 

In a post-FCC meeting press conference Thursday (July 12), Pai said no decision had been made on whether the FCC would hold the Sinclair-Tribune deal decision in abeyance until a federal court had rules on the UHF discount that made the deal possible, as various groups and Hill Democrats have requested.

The court decision could come any day now.