• by David Goetzl  @dgoetzl, September 8, 2011

A Wall Street analyst applauded Sinclair's $200 million acquisition of seven stations, partly because none are affiliated with Fox. As the largest Fox affiliate, Sinclair is prone to the network's efforts to collect some of the payments station groups receive from cable, satellite and telco TV operators.

Fox "has been the most aggressive in reverse comp(ensation)," wrote Wells Fargo's Marci Ryvicker, referring to what stations pay networks for their programming. Networks can use that stream to tap into money stations get from operators.

Sinclair's affiliation agreements with Fox extend through the end of 2012. It operates 20 stations linked with the network.

Sinclair's deal announced Thursday to acquire seven stations from private equity group Cerberus includes the CBS affiliates in Salt Lake City and Austin, the 32nd and 44th largest markets, respectively. Also included is the MyNetworkTV station in Salt Lake City, giving Sinclair a duopoly there; a CW-MyNetworkTV-Azteca triopoly in West Palm Beach; and the CW affiliate in Providence.

Sinclair CFO David Amy said on a conference call that Salt Lake City and Austin were attractive markets as state capitals and referred to all four areas as a "perfect complement to our already dominant middle-market footprint."

The deal marked the first notable transaction in the station business in some time and Ryvicker wrote "we like the fact that (Sinclair) is dedicated to it,