On paper, Nexstar’s $6.2 billion acquisition of Tegna looked seamless. Announced in August and approved in March, the deal moved quickly through regulatory review with few concessions and little public debate, but the speed and manner of the consolidation have complicated its prospects and fueled lawsuits arguing the merger will harm viewers and local newsrooms.
Nexstar is a station group that owns many local TV stations affiliated with the major networks. The deal gives Nexstar control of 265 stations in 44 states and Washington, D.C., reaching roughly 80% of U.S. households—far above a 2004 federal limit that would traditionally have blocked such concentration. The FCC asserted it could waive those limits, and Nexstar appeared to court the Trump administration’s favor in public ways: it pulled Jimmy Kimmel’s show from its ABC affiliates after an FCC commissioner criticized Kimmel, and NewsNation hired conservative commentator Katie Pavlich for primetime. President Trump publicly urged approval of the deal, and FCC Commissioner Brendan Carr echoed that sentiment. The FCC’s waiver was granted without a full commission vote; Carr argued that consolidations could help preserve local broadcast TV amid the decline of local newspapers.
Critics say the agency conflated the fortunes of a single large company with the health of local TV generally. Nexstar pointed to the need to compete with Big Tech and Big Media and promised to preserve journalism while generating $300 million a year in “synergies” by consolidating programming teams across markets. In securities filings, Nexstar also touted enhanced scale and the ability to preserve high-quality journalism. But the company’s track record after prior acquisitions—when Nexstar cut dozens of newsroom jobs following its purchase of Tribune Media—has raised skepticism. Federal filings show Tegna’s CEO cashed out $22.6 million on the day the company was absorbed.
As Nexstar moved to integrate Tegna—announcing it had already flipped the switch to absorb the company on the same day the FCC and Justice Department approved the deal—several state attorneys general, Democratic officials, and DirecTV signaled they would sue to block the merger. A federal judge in Sacramento subsequently issued a temporary restraining order preventing Nexstar from operating Tegna’s stations while the courts consider the antitrust claims.
In court, lawyers for a coalition of eight states, Democratic attorneys general, and DirecTV argued the combined company would wield excessive power in local TV markets, harming competition and viewers. Chief Judge Troy Nunley in the Eastern District of California hinted at a possible indefinite pause as he considered their arguments. Critics say Nexstar’s rush to close the transaction may have inflamed the court and led to a harsher response than might otherwise have occurred.
Nexstar’s defense is that owning more stations does not necessarily increase bargaining leverage with distributors like DirecTV. The company also argues that undoing the deal would be impractical because Tegna no longer exists as an independent operation. State antitrust officials counter that decades of precedent show consolidation increases bargaining power and reduces competition, threatening a robust marketplace of ideas at the local level.
The practical fallout has been immediate and messy. Tegna stations were briefly instructed to run Nexstar graphics on newscasts, only to be told to remove them after the judge’s order. Who is running the stations now is unclear; Nexstar told the court the restraining order is overly burdensome and could harm the company if extended. Tegna executives did not respond to media requests.
Journalists at former Tegna stations report anxiety about imminent mass layoffs in markets where Nexstar would own multiple “big four” stations. They say management has discussed relying less on network feeds and more on Nexstar’s NewsNation content for local programming, a shift that could further change the nature of local broadcasts. Nexstar CEO Perry Sook has publicly expressed a desire for NewsNation to serve as a kind of wire service for the company’s local stations.
DirecTV warned the judge that allowing Nexstar to fully integrate Tegna before a full antitrust trial would irreparably harm competition and bargaining positions. Its attorney argued that an independent Tegna, stripped of staff and resources, would be unable to resume competing effectively if the merger were later unwound. Nexstar’s lawyers countered that ongoing constraints on operating the stations would prevent necessary investments in technology and newsroom capabilities.
The case raises broader questions about consolidation in local media: whether scale can be used to preserve local news in an era of shrinking ad revenue and readership, or whether it instead concentrates power, reduces newsroom diversity, and worsens bargaining leverage with distributors. Judge Nunley said he would issue a ruling shortly. Meanwhile, the future of dozens of newsrooms, the integrity of local coverage, and the balance of power between broadcasters and distributors hang in the balance.