The United States District Court for the Eastern District of California granted the preliminary injunction on April 17, preventing Nexstar Media Group and Tegna, Inc. from integrating and consolidating their assets. New York Attorney General Letitia James led the coalition, which filed suit on March 19 alleging the merger would violate federal antitrust law.
Nexstar currently controls more than 200 stations in 116 U.S. markets, reaching 220 million people. Tegna owns 64 stations in 51 media markets and is the nation's fourth-largest broadcasting group. Together, the states allege, the combined entity would control over 250 local TV stations reaching 80 percent of the country's population — making it the largest broadcast station group in the country.
The core competitive concern is retransmission fees. The coalition argues that Nexstar's enlarged scale would give it unprecedented leverage to raise the fees it charges cable providers to carry its stations' content, with those costs ultimately passed to consumers through higher cable bills. The states also allege Nexstar could black out channels for providers that refuse to pay, cutting off viewers from news, sports, and primetime programming.
The lawsuit further alleges harm to local journalism. The states contend Nexstar would likely eliminate newsrooms in markets where it owns multiple stations, and that its practice of airing identical programming across local news channels would reduce the diversity of perspectives available to viewers. Thirty-one media markets where Nexstar and Tegna each own competing stations — including Buffalo, New York — would see diminished competition if the deal closes, according to the complaint.
The preliminary injunction action was consolidated with a separate lawsuit filed by DirecTV, in which the court had previously granted a temporary restraining order.
Attorney General James said the merger illegally eliminates competition and vowed to continue fighting the case to ensure fair competition among local TV stations. Joining New York in the coalition are the attorneys general of California, Colorado, Connecticut, Illinois, North Carolina, Oregon, and Virginia.