• by Wayne Friedman , July 25, 2018

Following a late Tuesday tweet by President Trump on the Sinclair-Tribune merger, local TV station groups' stocks rallied early Wednesday.

Sinclair Broadcast Group stock was up 2.7% in early Wednesday trading to $26.73; Tribune Media stock grew 2.6% to $33.69.

“So sad and unfair that the FCC wouldn’t approve the Sinclair Broadcast merger with Tribune,” tweeted Trump. “This would have been a great and much needed Conservative voice for and of the People. Liberal Fake News NBC and Comcast gets approved, much bigger, but not Sinclair. Disgraceful!”

Earlier this month, Ajit Pai, chairman of Federal Communications Commission, voiced “serious concerns” over the $3.9 billion deal -- in particular how Sinclair was going to divest a number of stations in order to comply with TV station ownership limits.

Other TV station group stock were also higher: Tegna grew 3% to $11.11. Nexstar Media Group was 2.3% higher to $77.15, and Gray Television was up 0.9% to $15.13.

Last month, Gray announced a deal to buy Raycom Media for $3.65 billion.

TV stations' stocks witnessed higher gains following the election of President Trump where analysts expected a more deregulatory environment for deal-making and an anticipation of the removal of TV station ownership limits.