Sinclair has proposed separating its Ventures business—which houses nontraditional broadcast media assets including the Tennis Channel and investments—and merging its remaining broadcast TV business with Tegna, in a deal that would value Tegna shares at around $25 to $30 apiece, the people said.

Nexstar Media has agreed to buy smaller rival Tegna for $3.54 billion, creating a local-TV powerhouse that seeks to compete better with Big Tech and national media for advertising dollars.

Any potential merger would be difficult to close because of Sinclair and Tegna's combined debt load, the person said, asking not to be identified as the discussions are private.