In a landmark move announced Tuesday, Nexstar Media Group — the largest owner of local television stations in the U.S. — revealed plans to acquire Tegna, the fourth-largest broadcaster, in an all-cash deal valued at $6.2 billion.
If approved, this merger would put Nexstar — owner of the left-leaning NewsNation — as the nation’s dominant media conglomerate consolidating hundreds of stations across dozens of markets, and changing the landscape of local broadcasting.
The Nexstar deal arrives amid heavy lobbying by broadcasters who have long sought regulatory shifts that favor a massive consolidation of media power.
The current Federal Communications Commission, led by Chair Brendan Carr, has embarked on a sweeping deregulation campaign — dubbed the “Delete, Delete, Delete” initiative — that includes repealing long-standing broadcast rules and trailing court decisions, such as the vacating of the “Top Four” ownership restriction and national cap in market reach.
Nexstar and Tegna executives have signaled that such deregulation paves the way for larger scale consolidation.
Nexstar’s CEO emphasized that deregulation presents a vital growth opportunity, positioning the merger as a strategic response to challenges such as cord-cutting and competition from tech giants.
Yet, the merger has sparked significant opposition, particularly from conservative media and consumer protection groups.
Conservatives, including Newsmax Media, have argued against giving liberal broadcasters more consolidated media power or market reach beyond what is permitted by law.
Nexstar owns the left-leaning NewsNation channel whose prime-time lineup has included anti-Trump media personalities like Chris Cuomo, Dan Abrams, and Ashleigh Banfield, among others.
Newsmax Media filed a forceful 33-page objection with the FCC on July 23, urging regulators to preserve the national television ownership cap — the “Horizontal Ownership Cap” — which limits any broadcaster from reaching more than 39% of U.S. television households.
Newsmax noted that President Ronald Reagan instituted the cap to block liberal networks like CBS, NBC, and ABC from owning local market stations across the nation.
Newsmax warned that weakening this limit would “stifle media diversity, diminish local news coverage, and consolidate political power over information distribution in the hands of a few major corporate players.”
Newsmax CEO Christopher Ruddy emphasized that “Americans of every political persuasion … would be harmed by any weakening of the current national television multiple ownership limit,” cautioning that such changes would run directly counter to Congress’ intent to prevent media monopolies.
In late 2018, Nexstar Media Group struck a deal to purchase Tribune Media for roughly $4.1 billion — one of the largest broadcast consolidations in U.S. history.
To gain FCC approval, Nexstar had to navigate both national reach-cap restrictions and local ownership rules.
Though U.S. law limits broadcasters to reaching no more than 39% of TV households, the FCC granted Nexstar key waivers.
Using these waivers and a loophole known as the “UHF discount,” the combined Nexstar-Tribune station footprint covers about 63% of U.S. TV households — well above the 39% cap.
Nexstar is not satisfied with this enormous reach and wants even more stations in what appears to be violation of congressional law.
The proposed Nexstar merger with Tegna will face a fierce fight from Congress, supporters of President Donald Trump, and other groups.
The NCTA (The Internet and Television Association) and the American Television Alliance (ATVA) submitted objections to the FCC, arguing that eliminating the 39% cap would give broadcasters excessive leverage.
Beyond ideological criticism, the merger faces concrete regulatory scrutiny.
The sheer scale of the combined entity — potentially controlling hundreds of stations and reaching well beyond the current limit — raises immediate concerns under the Horizontal Ownership Cap.
With the Horizontal Ownership Cap rooted in statutory mandates, granting waivers, or raising the cap to approve the Nexstar-Tegna merger without congressional approval sets the stage for likely legal action.
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