Sinclair Broadcasting Group (SBGI), the conservative publicly traded owner of over 60 local television stations which plans to air the anti-Kerry film "Stolen Honor", is getting hammered in the market, down yet again, and trading at or near 52-week lows. SBGI is suffering from a multi-pronged attack from stockholders and institutional investors, from the progressive blogosphere which is going after advertisers and from the inside with Jonathan Lieberman, their Washington Bureau chief (that is until yesterday when he was canned), bravely criticizing his employers for not offering equal time to the opposition.

The stock has lost more than 100 million in market cap since the decision to air the film, which is looking worse by the day, was made a few weeks ago and stirred up a hornet's net of controversy. The closest SBGI market to me is in Sacramento, so if SBGI decides to go ahead with the plans to air the film, I won't be able to see it, but their network of stations, the largest in the nation by the way, reaches 25% of the American public, many in the so-called battleground states.

This story raises so many issues, about election law, about the public airwaves and broadcaster responsibility, but most importantly and frightening, if you believe that the Sinclair's obvious agenda to see Bush re-elected is not merely ideological, is the problem of media conglomeration. Personally I think the large scale media holdings in the hands of fewer and fewer companies is dangerous. Right now the law, which I believe is damaging enough, allows for a single corporation to own no more than 2 stations in any given market. I don't think they should be able to own more than one. Clearly, SBGI was hoping to help swing the election towards Bush who is in favor of less government central and weaker regulations.

Hopefully, the downward trends of the stock and other efforts will stop Sinclair in its tracks. Right now the market cap has been driven so low, beneath 300 million, that someone like George Soros could come in and buy the damn company and stop this madness.