{"id":229283,"date":"2026-03-20T23:36:07","date_gmt":"2026-03-20T23:36:07","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/229283\/"},"modified":"2026-03-20T23:36:07","modified_gmt":"2026-03-20T23:36:07","slug":"california-attorney-general-asks-judge-to-block-nexstar-tegna-merger","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/229283\/","title":{"rendered":"California attorney general asks judge to block Nexstar-Tegna merger"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

California Atty. Gen. Rob Bonta is asking a judge to unravel Nexstar Media Group\u2019s $6.2-billion acquisition of rival TV station owner Tegna \u2014 the latest in a flurry of merger twists.<\/p>\n

Nexstar announced late Thursday<\/a> that it had consummated the Tegna takeover<\/a> \u2014 despite a lawsuit that Bonta and seven other Democratic state attorneys general had filed in federal court the previous day. <\/p>\n

The state officials sued to block the union of the station groups, alleging the new colossus would violate antitrust rules and a federal law limiting broadcast station ownership. <\/p>\n

The lawsuit was filed in U.S. District Court in Sacramento.<\/p>\n

Hours after that filing, the Federal Communications Commission\u2019s Media Bureau in Washington approved Nexstar\u2019s deal \u2014 clearing the way for the nation\u2019s largest TV station group owner to swallow the third-largest station group. <\/p>\n

The purchase gives Nexstar, which owns KTLA-TV Channel 5<\/a> in Los Angeles, 265 television stations.<\/p>\n

On Friday, Bonta and the other attorneys general asked a judge for a temporary restraining order to freeze the takeover until a hearing on the matter.<\/p>\n

\u201cNexstar\/Tegna is not a done deal,\u201d Bonta said Friday in a statement. \u201cI will not let these corporate behemoths merge without a fight.\u201d<\/p>\n

It was not immediately clear when a judge might rule on the request for a restraining order.<\/p>\n

Bonta appeared at a lawmakers\u2019 hearing in Burbank on Friday to explore the impacts of another huge merger:<\/a> Paramount Skydance\u2019s proposed $111-billion takeover of Warner Bros. Discovery. Bonta\u2019s office has opened an investigation into the Paramount-Warner merger, but Bonta said Friday that no decision has been made on whether he or other attorneys general will seek to block it.<\/p>\n

For now, he is focused on derailing the Nexstar-Tegna deal.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe filed a suit before that deal closed,\u201d Bonta told The Times. \u201cWe think our case is extremely strong. There is no way this should be approved.\u201d<\/p>\n

At issue is whether the FCC had the power to grant a waiver that would allow Nexstar to control TV stations that reach nearly 80% of U.S. households. In 2003, Congress set the station ownership cap at 39% of the country. <\/p>\n

The Department of Justice also gave its blessing to close the deal. <\/p>\n

The three FCC commissioners did not vote on the matter \u2014 despite pleas from the lone Democrat on the panel who advocated for an open process.<\/p>\n

Approval of the merger was rapid after President Trump endorsed the consolidation<\/a> on Feb. 7. <\/p>\n

\u201cWe need more competition against THE ENEMY, the Fake News National TV Networks,\u201d Trump wrote in his social media post. <\/p>\n

\u201cLetting Good Deals get done like Nexstar \u2013 Tegna will help knock out the Fake News because there will be more competition, and at a higher and more sophisticated level,\u201d Trump wrote. \u201cGET THAT DEAL DONE!\u201d<\/p>\n

In a statement Thursday, Nexstar founder and chief executive Perry Sook thanked Trump and FCC Chairman Brendan Carr, saying Nexstar was \u201cgrateful\u201d they recognized the \u201cdynamic forces shaping the media landscape\u201d and allowed the transaction to move forward. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"California Atty. Gen. Rob Bonta is asking a judge to unravel Nexstar Media Group\u2019s $6.2-billion acquisition of rival…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":229284,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[6],"tags":[9610,104152,7,9,8,6709,2424,7084,104151,16047,63,14755,88347,104150,3020,104149,80029,8843],"class_list":["post-229283","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-california","tag-bonta","tag-broadcast-station-ownership","tag-california","tag-california-headlines","tag-california-news","tag-deal","tag-friday","tag-hearing","tag-huge-merger","tag-judge","tag-los-angeles-times","tag-matter","tag-nexstar","tag-other-democratic-state-attorney","tag-president-trump","tag-tegna-takeover","tag-temporary-restraining-order","tag-way"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/229283","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=229283"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/229283\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/229284"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=229283"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=229283"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=229283"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}