California Atty. Gen. Rob Bonta has enlisted new allies in his legal battle to unravel Nexstar Media Group\u2019s takeover of rival television station group Tegna Inc. <\/p>\n
Late Thursday, Bonta announced that five additional states have joined his coalition that is suing to block the $6.2-billion merger<\/a>. With the additional plaintiffs, the group of top state law enforcement officers has grown to 13 \u2014 and the campaign now is a bipartisan effort. <\/p>\n \u201cAntitrust enforcement is not political \u2014 it\u2019s about protecting working families and helping ensure the benefits of a vibrant economy are for everyone, not just well-connected corporations,\u201d Bonta said in a statement. \u201cWe welcome our sister states into the fray and look forward to fighting alongside them.\u201d<\/p>\n The new states are Indiana, Kansas, Massachusetts, Pennsylvania and Vermont. They have joined existing the plaintiffs<\/a> that represent the people of California, Colorado, Connecticut, Illinois, New York, North Carolina, Oregon and Virginia. <\/p>\n Nexstar owns KTLA-TV Channel 5 in Los Angeles.<\/p>\n U.S. District Judge Troy Nunley two weeks ago granted a request by the attorneys general to issue a preliminary injunction<\/a> halting the merger as the legal case proceeds. The proposed merger \u2014 which Nexstar rushed to complete despite opposition<\/a> from the states \u2014 would create the nation\u2019s largest broadcast station group with 265 television stations, up from 164 that Nexstar currently controls.<\/p>\n In dozens of markets, including San Diego and Sacramento, Nexstar would own multiple major TV network affiliates. That duplication has raised concerns about staff consolidations and widespread newsroom layoffs<\/a>.<\/p>\n \u201cState attorneys general nationwide understand just how important robust antitrust enforcement is to American life \u2014 and what a rotten deal this is for consumers, for workers, for affordability, and for our local news,\u201d Bonta said. <\/p>\n El Segundo-based DirecTV separately filed a lawsuit to block the deal, saying the Nexstar-Tegna consolidation would harm their business by forcing DirecTV to pay significantly higher fees for the rights to carry their stations as part of its programming lineup. <\/p>\n A Nexstar representative was not immediately available for comment. <\/p>\n Nexstar contends the deal would strengthen TV station economics<\/a>, allowing stations to bolster their news gathering<\/a> and expand the number of newscasts. But DirecTV countered that in markets where Nexstar owns two stations, it relies on just one newsroom to program both channels.<\/p>\n Nexstar\u2019s proposed purchase of Tegna would give the Irving, Texas-based Nexstar stations in 44 states covering 80% of the U.S. population. <\/p>\n The federal judge ruled there was sufficient merit in the antitrust arguments brought by Bonta and the others to pause Nexstar\u2019s takeover of Tegna until a trial can be held to decide whether the merger is illegal.<\/p>\n \u201cNexstar must permit Tegna to continue operating as a separate and distinct, independently managed business unit from Nexstar,\u201d Nunley wrote in his 52-page order on April 17. \u201cAnd Nexstar must put measures in place to maintain Tegna as an ongoing, economically viable, and active competitor.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"California Atty. Gen. Rob Bonta has enlisted new allies in his legal battle to unravel Nexstar Media Group\u2019s…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":242122,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[27],"tags":[125269,9610,17490,26033,125271,48,52,51,102950,47,50,49,63,5990,49397,125270,88347,125268,15437,2130,103110],"class_list":["post-294705","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-los-angeles","tag-additional-state","tag-bonta","tag-california-atty","tag-directv","tag-ktla-tv-channel","tag-la","tag-la-headlines","tag-la-news","tag-legal-battle","tag-los-angeles","tag-los-angeles-headlines","tag-los-angeles-news","tag-los-angeles-times","tag-market","tag-merger","tag-new-state","tag-nexstar","tag-rotten-deal","tag-station","tag-takeover","tag-tegna"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/294705","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=294705"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/294705\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/242122"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=294705"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=294705"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=294705"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}