Sinclair Responds to Mediacom's Letter to Congress

Sinclair Responds to Mediacom's Letter to Congress

BALTIMORE, Jan. 16 /PRNewswire-FirstCall/ -- Sinclair Broadcast Group, Inc. (NASDAQ:SBGI) today sent the attached letter to members of Congress to respond to the inaccurate and outrageous claims made by Mediacom Communications Corp. (NASDAQ:MCCC) in a letter it sent to the same members of Congress on January 13, 2007. Sinclair is releasing a copy of its letter to the public because Mediacom, in a continuing effort to publicly air private business negotiations, publicly released the letter it sent.

As Sinclair pointed out in its letter, Mediacom has been unsuccessful in its past attempts to obtain help from both a Federal court and the Federal Communications Commission (FCC). That Mediacom, having failed in both the courts and at the FCC, would now try to obtain intervention from the legislative branch of the Federal government is not surprising. Mediacom's efforts represent nothing more than the desperate attempt of a private enterprise to seek Congressional assistance to remedy its failure to reach agreement during private negotiations. Given 1) that well-established laws exist regarding retransmission consent negotiations, 2) the Federal agency charged with overseeing such negotiations has already found that Sinclair acted properly, and 3) the variety of other means consumers have for receiving the stations, Sinclair is confident Mediacom's efforts with members of Congress will have the same effect as did its unsuccessful efforts to seek judicial and administrative assistance.

Although it may be Mediacom's belief (as stated in its letter) that "any objective observer would have to concede that Sinclair's treatment of Mediacom ... has been unreasonable and unlawful," Sinclair believes that the fact that two such objective observers - a Federal court and the FCC - have reached precisely the opposite conclusion would suggest that Mediacom's belief is completely incorrect.

The impacted stations are:

Des Moines/Ames (KDSM-FOX), Cedar Rapids (KGAN-CBS), Mobile-Pensacola (WEAR-ABC/WFGX-MNT), Peoria/Bloomington (WYZZ-FOX), Greenville/Spartanburg/Asheville (WLOS-ABC/WMYA-MNT), Lexington (WDKY-FOX), Madison (WMSN-FOX), Nashville (WZTV-FOX/ WUXP-MNT/WNAB-CW), Minneapolis (WUCW- CW), Paducah/Cape Girardeau (KBSI-FOX/WDKA-MNT), Springfield/Champaign/Decatur (WICS-ABC/WICD-ABC), St. Louis (KDNL-ABC), Tallahassee (WTWC-NBC), Birmingham (WTTO-CW/WABM-MNT), Norfolk (WTVZ-MNT) and Milwaukee (WCGV-MNT /WVTV-CW).

Sinclair Broadcast Group, Inc., one of the largest and most diversified television broadcasting companies, currently owns and operates, programs or provides sales services to 58 television stations in 36 markets. Sinclair's television group reaches approximately 22% of U.S. television households and is affiliated with all the major networks.

Forward-Looking Statements:

The matters discussed in this press release include forward-looking statements regarding, among other things, future operating results. When used in this press release, the words "outlook," "intends to," "believes," "anticipates," "expects," "achieves," and similar expressions are intended to identify forward-looking statements. Such statements are subject to a number of risks and uncertainties. Actual results in the future could differ materially and adversely from those described in the forward-looking statements as a result of various important factors, including and in addition to the assumptions identified above, the impact of changes in national and regional economies, successful integration of acquired television stations (including achievement of synergies and cost reductions), FCC approval of pending license transfers, successful execution of outsourcing agreements, pricing and demand fluctuations in local and national advertising, volatility in programming costs, the market acceptance of new programming and our news central strategy, our local sales initiatives, and the other risk factors set forth in the Company's most recent reports on Form 10-Q and Form 10-K, as filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission. There can be no assurances that the assumptions and other factors referred to in this release will occur. The Company undertakes no obligation to publicly release the result of any revisions to these forward-looking statements.

The following is Sinclair's letter to Congress responding to Mediacom's inaccurate and outrageous statements made in its January 13, 2007 letter to members of Congress:

January 16, 2007

The Senators and Congressmen of the
States of Alabama, Florida, Illinois, Iowa,
Kansas, Kentucky, Minnesota, Missouri,
North Carolina, Tennessee, Virginia and
Wisconsin
United States Congress
Washington, DC

Gentlemen:

I am writing in response to a letter you recently received from Rocco Commisso, the CEO of Mediacom Communications Corp, relating to retransmission consent negotiations between Mediacom and Sinclair. Although Mr. Commisso made numerous baseless and outrageous allegations in his letter, I am going to confine my response to the following most material points.

1. Well-established laws already exist which clearly provide that such negotiations are simply, ordinary course of business negotiations between private enterprises, subject to the review by the Federal Communications Commission to ensure the parties meet their obligation to negotiate in good faith. Such laws contemplate the possibility that the parties will at times not reach agreement.

2. Mediacom previously made essentially the same allegation made in Mr. Commisso's letter in filings with the Federal Communications Commission. After a full review of the situations, including lengthy, written submissions and in-person meetings with both parties, the FCC found completely against Mediacom, concluding that Sinclair had not failed to negotiate in good faith.

3. Mediacom previously brought a lawsuit against Sinclair in Federal District Court in Iowa. The Court in that matter denied a request for an injunction sought by Mediacom, finding in favor of Sinclair on all aspects of the matter including a conclusion that Mediacom was not likely to succeed on the merits of its claim.

4. Mediacom's cable systems represent nothing more than one of several means for receiving Sinclair's television stations. These stations are all available completely for free over-the-air. In addition, both DirecTV and Dish Network (direct competitors to Mediacom) carry all of the stations, as do (in certain cases) other cable companies that serve the same customers as Mediacom. Although there may be a minor inconvenience for Mediacom customers who choose to make alternative arrangements to receive the stations, such alternative arrangements do in fact exist.

In the end, Mediacom has written to you about a simple commercial negotiation where two parties have not been able to reach agreement. This matter has already been carefully considered by the FCC, the governmental agency charged with overseeing such negotiations, which has found that Sinclair has fully complied with the law. A process for review and appeal of the FCC's opinion exists and Mediacom has already begun availing itself of this appeal process. To the extent members of the public care strongly about watching Sinclair's programming, they can take simple steps to receive the stations through means other than cable services provided by Mediacom.

In addition, to the extent Mediacom remains interested in obtaining the right to retransmit such stations, Sinclair continues to be willing to negotiate in good faith. We are, however, concerned that the ongoing belief by Mediacom that the government, whether the judicial, administrative or legislative branches, will step in to remedy their failure to complete a transaction has a chilling affect on Mediacom's willingness to agree to fair and reasonable terms.

Accordingly, I respectfully request that you advise Mediacom that this is not a matter that requires Congressional action. To the extent, however, that I can provide you with any additional information, please let me know.

Sincerely yours,

David D. Smith
President & Chief Executive Officer

cc: U. S. Senate
Chairman Daniel K. Inouye
Co-Chairman Ted Stevens
U.S. House of Representatives
Chairman John D. Dingell
Chairman Edward Markey
Ranking Member Joe Barton
Ranking Member Fred Upton

First Call Analyst: Lucy Rutishauser

Source: Sinclair Broadcast Group, Inc.

CONTACT: Barry M. Faber, V.P. & General Counsel, Sinclair Broadcast
Group, +1-410-568-1500

Web site: http://www.sbgi.net/

Company News On-Call: http://www.prnewswire.com/comp/110203.html

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