Mission Withdrawal From Michigan Station Purchase Likely Means No Hearing

Mission Broadcasting’s withdrawal from its proposed $75 million purchase of WADL Mount Clemens, Michigan, from Adell Broadcasting likely means the matter won’t end up in a hearing before the FCC’s administrative law judge, broadcast attorneys told us. Mission submitted notice to the agency on Wednesday that the deal would not be consummated (see 2405220074).

“Mission felt compelled to take this action taking into account the Media Bureau’s recent decision to ‘approve’ Mission’s purchase only if Mission complied with a number of conditions which fundamentally rewrote the terms of the transaction,” said Mission CEO Dennis Thatcher in a statement released late Wednesday. “Mission is very disappointed that Detroit’s television viewers will not receive the high-quality programming and public service that Mission’s ownership of WADL would have brought to the market.” Nexstar would have operated WADL under a local marketing agreement. It declined to comment.

FCC Commissioner Brendan Carr said the deal’s breakup was the actual goal of the Media Bureau order granting the transaction. “The FCC’s decision was a denial that it labeled a conditional approval to circumvent required agency process. This outcome only confirms my view.” Previously, Carr labeled the conditional approval as an example of FCC overreach that could lead to devastating legal battles for the agency (see 2405030066). Adell Broadcasting CEO Kevin Adell previously threatened legal action against Nexstar and Mission over the deal’s failure but said Wednesday he's “reviewing my options.”

The FCC is doing the right thing by enforcing its rules and “if broadcasters can’t propose deals that follow those rules, they don’t deserve to close them,” said United Church of Christ Media Justice Ministry attorney Cheryl Leanza, who was a vocal opponent of the Standard General/Tegna deal, which the FCC also blocked. If the FCC had historically enforced its rules as it should have, then broadcasters wouldn’t be “under the misapprehension that they don’t have to follow them,” Leanza said in an interview.

The agency's order conditionally granting the purchase said it would not be able to find the Mission/WADL deal is in the public interest without the conditions. It would “designate the application for hearing” without them, the order said. Historically, a notice of non-consummation filed after an agreement is approved would mean that the application is considered dead, leaving nothing to designate for hearing, broadcast attorneys told us. However, the Media Bureau’s conditional approval was unusual, so it's uncertain what the agency's next move is, attorneys told us. The FCC and the Media Bureau didn’t comment on whether the application or a possible hearing designation would proceed. The transaction won’t be consummated, “thus obviating any basis for a hearing,” Mission told the FCC in a filing Wednesday.