On May 8, 2017, Sinclair Broadcast Group—owner of KOKH-TV and KOCB—entered into an agreement to acquire Tribune Media for $3.9 billion and the assumption of $2.7 billion in Tribune-held debt, pending regulatory approval by the FCC and the U.S. Department of Justice's Antitrust Division. Because Sinclair and Tribune each owned two television stations in the Oklahoma City market, with KFOR and KOKH both ranking among the market's four highest-rated stations in total day viewership, the companies were required to sell either KFOR or KOKH (and optionally, KAUT and KOCB) to another station owner in order to comply with FCC local ownership rules. On April 24, 2018, in an amendment to the Tribune acquisition through which it proposed the sale of certain stations to both independent and affiliated third-party companies to curry the DOJ's approval, Sinclair announced that it would sell KAUT-TV to affiliate company Howard Stirk Holdings for $750,000. Under the terms of the transaction, Sinclair would have assumed control of KAUT through shared services and joint sales agreements with Stirk Holdings following the sale's closure. The sale, along with that of KOKH (which Standard Media Group—a broadcast holding company being formed by private equity firm Standard General to assume ownership of and absolve ownership conflicts involving Sinclair- and Tribune-owned stations in nine property conflict markets—purchased on that date in a $441.1-million group deal), would have put Sinclair in compliance with FCC rules that prohibit common ownership of more than two full-power stations in a single market. (Sinclair would have concurrently directly acquired KFOR-TV and retained ownership of KOCB, which would have migrated its operations into KFOR/KAUT's Britton Road studios during a six-month agreement in which Sinclair's operational responsibilities for KOKH would have been transitioned over to Standard Media.)