{"id":142414,"date":"2025-11-19T05:20:10","date_gmt":"2025-11-19T05:20:10","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/142414\/"},"modified":"2025-11-19T05:20:10","modified_gmt":"2025-11-19T05:20:10","slug":"nexstar-filing-with-fcc-on-tegna-deal-requests-waiver-ownership-cap","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/142414\/","title":{"rendered":"Nexstar Filing With FCC on Tegna Deal Requests Waiver Ownership Cap"},"content":{"rendered":"

\n\tNexstar Media Group<\/a>, seeking to clear its $6.2 billion deal for rival TV broadcast station group Tegna<\/a>, officially filed applications Tuesday with the FCC<\/a> that include a request for a waiver of the agency\u2019s 39% ownership cap for local TV broadcasters.<\/p>\n

\n\tNexstar is the U.S.\u2019s biggest local TV station owner, with 201 owned or partner stations in 116 markets. The deal for Tegna<\/a>, which has 64 stations in 51 markets, would bring the combined company to 265 stations \u2014 and increase Nexstar\u2019s reach to 54.5% of U.S. TV homes, over the FCC\u2019s 39% ownership limit.<\/p>\n

\n\tMeanwhile, Sinclair, second-largest TV station group owner, disclosed Monday that it has acquired an 8.2% stake in the E.W. Scripps Co. and that Sinclair has been in talks for several months about buying Scripps<\/a>.<\/p>\n

\n\tNexstar and Tegna filed applications with the FCC seeking consent to the transfer of the broadcast licenses currently controlled by Tegna to Nexstar. According to Nexstar, \u201cThe applications address why, if certain of the FCC\u2019s rules governing television ownership remain in effect, waiver of the rules would serve the public interest, especially in the local communities Nexstar\u2019s stations will serve.\u201d A redacted version of Nexstar\u2019s filings are available at this link<\/a>.<\/p>\n

\n\tThe FCC, under Trump-appointed chairman Brendan Carr, in June launched a proceeding seeking public comment on whether to \u201cmodify, retain or eliminate\u201d the 39% national audience reach cap on local TV ownership.<\/p>\n

\n\tIn connection with the Nexstar\u2019s FCC filing, Nexstar chairman and CEO Perry Sook (pictured above), said in a statement: \u201cNexstar\u2019s acquisition of Tegna is vitally important to the future of local television and local journalism. We are grateful that the Trump administration and the FCC recognize that the current television ownership regulations are outdated and do not reflect the competitive media landscape as it has evolved over the past 25-plus years. Like the Trump administration, we are focused on achieving deregulation, and we continue to advocate for the elimination of the antiquated constraints on local television ownership as the best solution to level the competitive playing field for all media.\u201d<\/p>\n

\n\t\u201cWhile waiting for the FCC to complete its rule-making process [on the 39% ownership cap], we submitted waiver requests to bypass the major barriers that prevent us from competing fairly \u2014 including with legacy media and Big Tech \u2014 massive entities with vast resources that afford them enormous influence that extends into every pocket, purse and backpack of Americans everywhere,\u201d Sook said in the statement.<\/p>\n

\n\tThe exec continued: \u201cTo be clear, in an age of disinformation and political agendas, we are the anti-fake news. Our news is delivered by trusted, familiar voices \u2014 journalists who live in the community \u2014 not a chat-bot or social media influencers. And yet, we are prohibited from broadcasting trusted local news and programming to hundreds of communities across the country because of antiquated regulatory constraints.\u201d<\/p>\n

\n\tNexstar last month extended the employment agreement of Sook through March 31, 2029<\/a>.<\/p>\n

\n\tIn addition to its local TV stations, Nexstar owns national television properties The CW, national news network NewsNation, and multicast networks Antenna TV and Rewind TV as well as a 31.3% ownership stake in TV Food Network. The company\u2019s digital assets include its local TV station websites and political news site The Hill.<\/p>\n

\n\tIn September, Nexstar made headlines over\u00a0the company\u2019s decision to pre-empt Jimmy Kimmel\u2019s late-night show on its ABC affiliates<\/a> (along with rival Sinclair), over comments Kimmel made about the MAGA movement\u2019s attempts to score political points from Charlie Kirk\u2019s assassination. With the Tegna deal pending, Nexstar\u2019s decision was seen as an attempt to get in the good graces of FCC\u2019s Carr, who had vigorously criticized Kimmel\u2019s remarks and suggested local TV stations could lose their broadcast licenses if Kimmel were not taken off the air. Nexstar\u00a0denied Carr\u2019s remarks influenced its decision<\/a>\u00a0to pre-empt Kimmel\u2019s show. Three days after ABC reinstated Kimmel,\u00a0Nexstar agreed to start airing \u201cJimmy Kimmel Live!\u201d again<\/a>\u00a0(as did Sinclair). Nexstar said Disney execs were taking a \u201cconstructive approach to addressing our concerns.\u201d Sook, in a Sept. 26 memo to Nexstar staffers written with president\/COO Mike Biard, also said Nexstar\u2019s blackout of Kimmel wasn\u2019t a First Amendment violation: \u201cNo one has an unlimited right to say whatever they want on a talk show.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Nexstar Media Group, seeking to clear its $6.2 billion deal for rival TV broadcast station group Tegna, officially…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":108964,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[29],"tags":[156,28397,111,139,78361,69,43686,437],"class_list":{"0":"post-142414","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-tv","8":"tag-entertainment","9":"tag-fcc","10":"tag-new-zealand","11":"tag-newzealand","12":"tag-nexstar-media-group","13":"tag-nz","14":"tag-tegna","15":"tag-tv"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/142414","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=142414"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/142414\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/108964"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=142414"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=142414"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=142414"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}