The regional sports networks Sinclair Broadcast Group (NASDAQ: SBGI) acquired from Walt Disney last year as part of the deal to buy 21st Century Fox suffered a significant loss of value over the past 12 months. Sinclair says the networks it bought for $9.6 billion are now worth just $5.4 billion, a loss of 44%. Image source: Getty Images. Striking out on sports When Disney acquired Fox's film and TV assets, the Department of Justice required it to divest the 21 regional sports stations Fox owned because of Disney's ownership of ESPN, which would have given it too much control over airing sporting events. The deal included networks such as Fox Sports Arizona, Fox Sports Florida, and Fox Sports North. Sinclair also separately acquired from Disney a 20% stake in the YES Network, the channel of the New York Yankees MLB team. It was purchased with a consortium of investors including Amazon that valued the network at $3.47 billion. In its recently filed third-quarter earnings report, Sinclair said the regional sports networks were devalued by over $4.2 billion due to losing two virtual distributors that represented 10% of the gross distribution revenue for the month of September, higher-than-expected subscriber losses as cord-cutting accelerated, and the effects of the COVID-19 pandemic. The TV broadcaster took on a substantial amount of debt to finance the acquisition -- some $8.2 billion, or over 80% of the purchase price, and ended the third quarter with almost $12.5 billion worth of debt on its balance sheet. 10 stocks we like better than Sinclair Broadcast GroupWhen investing geniuses David and Tom Gardner have a stock tip, it can pay to listen. After all, the newsletter they have run for over a decade, Motley Fool Stock Advisor, has tripled the market.* David and Tom just revealed what they believe are the ten best stocks for investors to buy right now... and Sinclair Broadcast Group wasn't one of them! That's right -- they think these 10 stocks are even better buys. See the 10 stocks *Stock Advisor returns as of October 20, 2020 John Mackey, CEO of Whole Foods Market, an Amazon subsidiary, is a member of The Motley Fool's board of directors. Rich Duprey has no position in any of the stocks mentioned. The Motley Fool owns shares of and recommends Amazon and Walt Disney and recommends the following options: long January 2021 $60 calls on Walt Disney, short January 2022 $1940 calls on Amazon, and long January 2022 $1920 calls on Amazon. The Motley Fool has a disclosure policy.Source