By Brian Stelter, NCS
(NCS) — Eight state attorneys common have filed an antitrust lawsuit to block Nexstar’s pending acquisition of Tegna, which might unite two of the biggest TV station possession teams within the United States.
The deal would strengthen the correct-leaning Nexstar and shrink the variety of TV station house owners within the US. State officers, led by California Attorney General Rob Bonta, say the deal would harm customers by mountaineering costs and weakening native information protection.
The lawsuit, filed late Wednesday, is the newest occasion of Democratic state attorneys common appearing as a counterweight to President Donald Trump, who has publicly endorsed the deal. Other states might be part of the coalition within the close to future.
DirecTV, a number one TV distributor, has additionally filed a lawsuit towards the Nexstar-Tegna deal, calling the combo “anticompetitive.”
The lawsuits will seemingly gradual Nexstar’s months-lengthy effort to purchase Tegna. The corporations had no fast touch upon the fits.
During a Thursday morning press convention, the attorneys common of California, New York and Illinois emphasised the sprawling nature of Nexstar and Tegna’s mixed footprint, which entails stations in 44 states.
“This merger is illegal, plain and simple, running contrary to federal antitrust laws that protect consumers,” Bonta stated.
He stated the federal authorities is unlikely to implement these legal guidelines on this case, “which leaves it to us to take these important steps.”
Bonta, New York A.G. Letitia James and Illinois A.G. Kwame Raoul argued that the Nexstar-Tegna deal threatens native journalism, noting current layoffs at Nexstar-owned newsrooms in Los Angeles, Chicago, and New York.
“We all benefit when local newsrooms compete to break stories, investigate wrongdoing, and keep the public informed – and that is exactly what this merger puts at risk,” James stated.
Bonta stated the merger could be a “gut punch to a thriving democracy that relies on an informed population.”
Bonta has additionally vowed to “vigorously” overview Paramount’s pending deal to take over Warner Bros. Discovery, the media large that owns NCS.
Wednesday’s antitrust lawsuit difficult the Nexstar deal was filed within the Eastern District of California, alleging that the merger would hurt native TV markets, together with Sacramento and San Diego.
Raoul stated “consumers and communities will have less choice in news and less access to diversity in perspectives.”
It stays to be seen if Nexstar will provide to divest some stations or make different concessions to appease the state attorneys common.
But the state-degree go well with stands in stark distinction to the federal authorities’s posture towards the pending deal.
Last month, Trump modified his tune. Having beforehand sounded skeptical of a Nexstar-Tegna mixture, he wrote on Truth Social that Nexstar’s acquisition “will help knock out the Fake News because there will be more competition, and at a higher and more sophisticated level.”
There will, by definition, be much less precise competitors in markets like Denver, Seattle and Dallas.
For Nexstar to take over Tegna, the FCC would have to change the nationwide TV possession rule, which caps station possession at 39 p.c of all US TV households. Trump’s ally atop the FCC, Brendan Carr, has stated he desires to elevate the cap, and final month he stated the president is “exactly right” concerning the Nexstar deal. “Let’s get it done,” Carr wrote.
The coalition of state attorneys common highlighted the Trump administration’s help for the deal in a press launch in a single day.
Nexstar navigates Trump-era politics
Nexstar CEO Perry Sook has labored additional time to enchantment to Trump, billing his firm as “the anti-fake news” and occurring Maria Bartiromo’s Fox Business present to reward Trump’s insurance policies. Media observers have requested whether or not new MAGA-pleasant discuss reveals on the Nexstar-owned NewsNation cable channel have been additionally partly a approach to enchantment to the president.
But the Nexstar-Tegna deal has additionally created a schism in conservative media, with Newsmax and One America News Network lobbying arduous towards the deal.
Nexstar’s pursuit of Trump administration approval for the deal turned nationwide information final fall when Carr publicly condemned ABC late-evening host Jimmy Kimmel, and Nexstar virtually instantly yanked Kimmel’s present from its ABC-affiliated stations.
Nexstar denied being influenced by Carr’s feedback, however the notion that it capitulated within the face of Trump administration stress provoked widespread criticism. Nexstar restored Kimmel’s present on its ABC-affiliated stations in a matter of weeks.
Carr “has ignored the law and the facts of this merger, promising to get it done for President Trump while pressuring newsrooms to warp their coverage of the administration,” Matt Wood, common counsel for the media reform group Free Press, stated in a press release.
Alluding to the Kimmel controversy, Wood stated “Nexstar has been all too willing to comply with Carr’s bullying if it means getting this deal done and cementing its domination over the local airwaves.”
Nexstar and its allies have argued that broadcast consolidation is critical in order that station house owners can compete with a lot larger streaming and social media platforms.
The-NCS-Wire
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