Nexstar Media Group closed its $3.54bn acquisition of rival broadcaster Tegna on Thursday, moving with deliberate speed after the Federal Communications Commission and Department of Justice issued simultaneous approvals. The company said it completed the transaction within two hours of receiving regulatory clearance, a timeline that effectively pre-empted efforts by eight states to obtain a temporary restraining order.
The combined group will control more than 200 stations across over 100 markets, reaching roughly 80% of US television households. To clear the FCC's ownership cap, regulators waived existing limits on station concentration, a decision that drew sharp criticism from state attorneys general.
California, New York, Colorado, Connecticut, Illinois, North Carolina, Oregon and Virginia filed suit in US District Court in California late Wednesday. Their central claims: the merger would give Nexstar leverage to extract higher retransmission fees from pay-TV distributors, reduce local newsroom staffing in markets where both companies previously operated, and concentrate editorial control over local television in too few hands. New York Attorney General Letitia James said 31 media markets would see diminished competition.
DirecTV filed a separate action on the same grounds, arguing Nexstar would use its expanded footprint to demand higher carriage fees from pay-TV providers.
The political backdrop is notable. FCC Chair Brendan Carr publicly endorsed the deal last month, and President Trump had previously voiced support for it. Critics of the approval noted that Trump has separately pressured Carr to threaten the broadcast licences of NBC and ABC affiliates, raising questions about whether regulatory decisions are being shaped by political considerations.
Nexstar already operates more than 200 stations in 116 markets serving 220 million people. Tegna brings 64 stations in 51 markets. The states' lawsuit argued the merged entity would cover so much of the country that it could suppress political viewpoints and diminish local journalism as an independent check on power.
Local broadcasters are operating under mounting structural pressure as audiences migrate to streaming and social media, shrinking the advertising and subscription revenues that once underpinned newsroom investment. That context informed Carr's stated rationale for the deal: that empowering large local station groups could serve as a counterweight to the national networks.
The states' request for a temporary restraining order will be heard by a federal judge, though with the transaction already closed, any legal remedy would require unwinding a completed deal.
