# Tribune Media The media company that owned television stations and the Chicago Tribune newspaper empire before being broken up and acquired in pieces — a case study in the media consolidation dynamics the vault's [[Media Ecosystem]] tracks. Tribune Media's attempted sale to Sinclair Broadcast Group in 2017–2018 would have created the largest local television station owner in the country; the FCC blocked the deal under Ajit Pai after Sinclair's deceptive conduct during the review process. Nexstar Media Group ultimately acquired Tribune's television stations in 2019, while Tribune Publishing (the newspaper side, separated in 2014) was acquired by [[Alden Global Capital]] in 2021. The Tribune saga illustrates how legacy media empires get carved up between hedge funds (newspapers, stripped for cash flow) and broadcast consolidators (TV stations, valued for political advertising revenue). ## See Also - [[Media Ecosystem]] — the broader media landscape - [[Alden Global Capital]] — acquired Tribune's newspaper properties