State AGs sue to block Nexstar-Tegna merger, another Trump-backed megadeal

By Brian Stelter, CNN

(CNN) — Eight state attorneys general have filed an antitrust lawsuit to block Nexstar’s pending acquisition of Tegna, which would unite two of the largest TV station ownership groups in the United States.

The deal would strengthen the right-leaning Nexstar and shrink the number of TV station owners in the US. State officials, led by California Attorney General Rob Bonta, say the deal would hurt consumers by hiking prices and weakening local news coverage.

The lawsuit, filed late Wednesday, is the latest instance of Democratic state attorneys general acting as a counterweight to President Donald Trump, who has publicly endorsed the deal. Other states may join the coalition in the near future.

DirecTV, a leading TV distributor, has also filed a lawsuit against the Nexstar-Tegna deal, calling the combo “anticompetitive.”

The lawsuits will likely slow Nexstar’s months-long effort to acquire Tegna. The companies had no immediate comment on the suits.

During a Thursday morning press conference, the attorneys general of California, New York and Illinois emphasized the sprawling nature of Nexstar and Tegna’s combined footprint, which entails stations in 44 states.

“This merger is illegal, plain and simple, running contrary to federal antitrust laws that protect consumers,” Bonta said.

He said the federal government is unlikely to enforce those laws in 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 local journalism, noting recent 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 said.

Bonta said the merger would be a “gut punch to a thriving democracy that relies on an informed population.”

Bonta has also vowed to “vigorously” review Paramount’s pending deal to take over Warner Bros. Discovery, the media giant that owns CNN.

Wednesday’s antitrust lawsuit challenging the Nexstar deal was filed in the Eastern District of California, alleging that the merger would harm local TV markets, including Sacramento and San Diego.

Raoul said “consumers and communities will have less choice in news and less access to diversity in perspectives.”

It remains to be seen if Nexstar will offer to divest some stations or make other concessions to appease the state attorneys general.

But the state-level suit stands in stark contrast to the federal government’s posture toward the pending deal.

Last month, Trump changed his tune. Having previously sounded skeptical of a Nexstar-Tegna combination, 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 less actual competition in markets like Denver, Seattle and Dallas.

For Nexstar to take over Tegna, the FCC would have to change the national TV ownership rule, which caps station ownership at 39 percent of all US TV households. Trump’s ally atop the FCC, Brendan Carr, has said he wants to raise the cap, and last month he said the president is “exactly right” about the Nexstar deal. “Let’s get it done,” Carr wrote.

The coalition of state attorneys general highlighted the Trump administration’s support for the deal in a press release overnight.

Nexstar navigates Trump-era politics

Nexstar CEO Perry Sook has worked overtime to appeal to Trump, billing his company as “the anti-fake news” and going on Maria Bartiromo’s Fox Business show to praise Trump’s policies. Media observers have asked whether new MAGA-friendly talk shows on the Nexstar-owned NewsNation cable channel were also partly a way to appeal to the president.

But the Nexstar-Tegna deal has also created a schism in conservative media, with Newsmax and One America News Network lobbying hard against the deal.

Nexstar’s pursuit of Trump administration approval for the deal became national news last fall when Carr publicly condemned ABC late-night host Jimmy Kimmel, and Nexstar almost immediately yanked Kimmel’s show from its ABC-affiliated stations.

Nexstar denied being influenced by Carr’s comments, but the perception that it capitulated in the face of Trump administration pressure provoked widespread criticism. Nexstar restored Kimmel’s show 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, general counsel for the media reform group Free Press, said in a statement.

Alluding to the Kimmel controversy, Wood said “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 necessary so that station owners can compete with much bigger streaming and social media platforms.

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