Brendan Carr, chairman of the Federal Communications Commission, stressed in a recent letter to lawmakers that the FCC Media Bureau’s approval of the Nexstar-Tegna merger is “not a final action by the full Commission.”
The April 13 letter, published by the agency on Tuesday, suggested that the full commission could consider reversing the bureau’s March 19 decision to greenlight the major broadcasting deal. By the end of that month, Sens. Ted Cruz (R-TX) and Maria Cantwell (D-WA) of the Senate Committee on Commerce, Science, and Transportation expressed their concerns about the agency forgoing a vote on the merger.
Carr attempted to allay their concerns while making the case that the “Nexstar-Tegna transaction was in line with … others decided previously by the Media Bureau or other components of the FCC on delegated authority.”
In the letter, the Trump-appointed official revealed that the Broadband Communications Association of Pennsylvania filed an emergency application with the full commission to review the merger. There is no indication that the FCC is considering the petition at this time.
It remains unclear whether the $6.2 billion deal will get a full panel vote, something that the agency’s lone Democratic commissioner, Anna Gomez, has been requesting.
The Nexstar-Tegna merger is facing two separate antitrust lawsuits. Eight blue states filed the main suit in March, but the number of plaintiffs grew to 13 last week after a few red states joined. DirecTV brought the other legal challenge.
Chief U.S. District Judge for the Eastern District of California Troy Nunley, nominated by former President Barack Obama, issued a preliminary injunction on April 17 to halt the merger while the antitrust case proceeds. Nexstar appealed the ruling to the U.S. Court of Appeals for the 9th Circuit in San Francisco.
At the heart of the legal scrutiny is a federal rule requiring that broadcasters reach no more than 39% of U.S. households. The FCC’s Media Bureau waived that rule before approving the merger, and Carr emphasized that it had the authority to do so because the FCC rule is not a statutory limit.
If the deal survives litigation, Nexstar would far surpass the 39% cap by reaching up to 80% of U.S. households through its partnership with Tegna.
Nexstar blasted the state attorneys general leading the bipartisan lawsuit for “strangling local journalism” by moving to block its acquisition of Tegna.
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“The AGs, none of whom has a track record of advocating for local media, would do well to understand the industry they purport to protect,” the broadcasting company posted on X late last week. “And they should be far more wary of the real drivers of the decline of local news: the unchecked rise of Big Tech platforms, the spread of misinformation on social media, and the economic pressures that have already led to widespread newsroom closures.”
Ohio Attorney General Dave Yost, who has not joined the multistate lawsuit, has a binding agreement with Nexstar that would allow television stations in Cleveland and Columbus to retain editorial independence and maintain separate news organizations should the merger proceed. In return, Yost agreed to stay out of any litigation challenging the merger.