https://techcrunch.com/2018/08/09/tribune-sues-sinclair-for-1b-after-spiking-merger-under-fcc-pressure/

Media giants Sinclair and Tribune were all set to merge and create one of the country’s biggest broadcasters — and a complacent FCC seemed to to be doing everything it could to help the deal along. But the regulator had a change of heart after evidence surfaced of duplicity too serious to be ignored, and the resultant red tape and bad PR provoked Tribune into spiking the deal and suing its would-be acquirer for $1 billion.

The FCC, which until recently had been accused of being overly chummy with broadcasters, Sinclair in particular, last month issued a “de facto merger death sentence” to the deal, citing mounds of evidence that the company was shirking the terms of the merger and lying about it. The legal process of working out these issues with a view to approving the merger might have taken years.