The attorneys general of eight states filed a motion in federal court in California on March 20 asking for an emergency temporary restraining order to block any further consolidation of broadcasting companies Nexstar and TEGNA. This follows the Trump administration’s Federal Communications Commission and Department of Justice giving the go-ahead for the merger of the two TV station owners to move forward. Nexstar Media Group said it has completed its acquisition of rival TV station group TEGNA for $6.2 billion.
New York Attorney General Letitia James and Connecticut Attorney General William Tong had filed a federal lawsuit filed with six other attorneys general to stop the deal. The deal closed shortly after the Trump administration’s Federal Communications Commission Media Bureau changed its rules to allow Nexstar to move ahead with the acquisition, without taking a vote of the FCC commissioners. The Department of Justice said it had no objection to the deal.
FCC Chairman Brendan Carr, who along with President Trump had expressed their support for Nexstar to acquire TEGNA, emphasized the FCC’s discretion to change is regulations.
“The D.C. Circuit has already determined that the relevant media ownership regulation is an agency rule, not a firm statutory limit, and the full commission has reached the same determination on multiple occasions,” Carr said.
In their lawsuit, the state attorneys general argued that the Nexstar/TEGNA merger would put broadcast programming in the hands of fewer people, cut local jobs, and significantly impact the delivery of news and other media content to Americans nationwide.
Perry Sook, Nexstar’s founder, chairman, and CEO, said in announcing the closing, “This transaction is essential to sustaining strong local journalism in the communities we serve. By bringing these two outstanding companies together, Nexstar will be a stronger, more dynamic enterprise — better positioned to deliver exceptional journalism and local programming with enhanced assets, capabilities, and talent. We are grateful to President Trump, Chairman Carr, and the DOJ (Department of Justice) for recognizing the dynamic forces shaping the media landscape and enabling this transaction to move forward.”
Before being acquired by Nexstar, TEGNA operated 64 full power broadcast television stations, one AM radio station, and one FM radio station. Nexstar operated 201 stations in 116 television markets. The companies’ footprints overlapped in 35 designated market areas (DMAs). The combined company would operate 265 full-power television stations in 44 states and the District of Columbia and in 132 of the country’s 210 television DMAs.
In addition to reducing competition, the attorneys general argued that the acquisition would result in less local news coverage and higher prices for consumers. In the lawsuit that was filed in the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of California, the attorneys general alleged the merger clearly violates Section 7 of the Clayton Act, which holds that mergers that substantially lessen competition or tend to create a monopoly are illegal. The lawsuit alleged that by eliminating competition, the merger would give Nexstar the power to charge cable providers higher fees for its stations’ programming, and those fees would likely be passed on to subscribers.
