Eight State Attorneys General File Suit To Block Tv Station Group Merger

A group of attorneys wide are taking ineligible action to artifact Nexstar Media Group’s projected $6.2 cardinal acquisition of Tegna’s TV stations, calling nan woody bad for user cablegram bills and section journalism.

A suit revenge Wednesday successful U.S. District Court successful Sacramento says nan projected woody by 8 authorities rule enforcers including California Atty. General Rob Bonta, claims nan projected woody will springiness Nexstar excessively overmuch power of section TV stations, yet hurting consumers by diminishing nan diverseness of news sources successful their markets.

Bonta said successful a connection that nan woody will origin “irreparable harm to section news and consumers who trust connected their reporting arsenic a captious root of information.” The plaintiffs besides see authorities attorneys wide successful Colorado, Connecticut, Illinois, New York, North Carolina, Oregon, and Virginia.

The Irving, Texas-based Nexstar is presently nan largest position proprietor successful nan U.S., pinch 164 outlets including KTLA successful Los Angeles. If nan merger pinch Tegna succeeds, Nexstar would person 265 TV stations reaching 80% of nan U.S. and aggregate outlets successful a number of markets.

The suit besides claims that nan merger would springiness Nexstar excessively overmuch leverage successful negotiating fees from pay-TV providers that transportation their stations. Higher fees paid to Nexstar would beryllium passed on to consumers successful their cablegram and outer bills, nan suit asserts.

Most of Nexstar’s stations are affiliates of ABC, CBS, NBC and Fox, each of which transportation NFL football, nan highest-rated programming connected TV by a wide a margin. Disputes complete carriage fees betwixt position owners and pay-TV providers often consequence successful blackouts and work interruptions to consumers.

DirecTV, which serves astir 11 cardinal pay-TV subscribers successful nan U.S., revenge a akin suit successful nan aforesaid tribunal connected Thursday, claiming nan Nexstar woody will “irreparably thrust up user costs, trim section competition, shutter section newsrooms, and summation some nan wave and long of blackouts of cardinal section teams and web programming.”

A Nexstar typical did not respond to a petition to comment.

President Trump has said he favors Nexstar’s projected deal. But each awesome TV position proprietor believes consolidation successful nan TV position business is basal to thrive going guardant arsenic they conflict to compete pinch streaming video platforms that person eaten distant astatine their assemblage share.

The companies opportunity they are astatine a disadvantage successful competing pinch tech companies by being constricted to owning stations successful 39% of nan U.S., a headdress that was group successful 2003.

Nexstar precocious trim seasoned anchors and on-air reporters from its stations successful Los Angeles, Chicago and New York. Further reductions successful section TV newsrooms would hap if Nexstar succeeded successful acquiring Tegna, which would apt mean consolidation of section newsrooms wherever it owned much than 1 station.