The Federal Communications Commission has signed off on broadcast station owner Nexstar\u2019s $6.2 billion deal to acquire rival company Tegna, a merger that would create the largest operator of local television stations in the country.<\/p>\n
In a news release Thursday, FCC Chairman Brendan Carr said the agency waived a rule that bars a single company from owning TV stations reaching more than 39% of U.S. households. The combined entity would cover at least 60%.<\/p>\n
\u201cWaiving that rule here is consistent with longstanding FCC authorities and doing so promotes the underlying purpose of the FCC\u2019s media regulations by promoting competition, localism, and diversity,\u201d Carr said in a statement<\/a>.<\/p>\n The FCC\u2019s announcement came less than a day after a coalition of attorneys general for eight states, including California and New York, filed a lawsuit seeking to block the merger<\/a>, arguing that the tie-up violates federal antitrust law.<\/p>\n Nexstar also secured regulatory approval from the Department of Justice, Nexstar chief executive Perry Sook said in a news release. The Justice Department did not immediately respond to a request for comment.<\/p>\n \u201cThis transaction is essential to sustaining strong local journalism in the communities we serve,\u201d Sook said in a statement, adding that Nexstar will be a \u201cstronger, more dynamic enterprise\u201d after the two companies are brought together.<\/p>\n \u201cWe are grateful to President Trump, Chairman Carr, and the DOJ for recognizing the dynamic forces shaping the media landscape and enabling this transaction to move forward,\u201d Sook said.<\/p>\n Carr was appointed to chair the FCC at the start of President Donald Trump\u2019s second term. He previously served as one of the agency\u2019s commissioners.<\/p>\n Anna M. Gomez, the lone Democrat on the FCC, blasted the agency\u2019s decision<\/a> to sign off on the Nexstar-Tegna deal, criticizing what she characterized as a lack of transparency around the approval process.<\/p>\n \u201cThe FCC has once again chosen bureaucratic cover over public accountability,\u201d Gomez said in a statement. \u201cThis merger was approved behind closed doors with no open process, no full Commission vote, and no transparency for the consumers and communities who will bear the consequences.\u201d<\/p>\n In an August news release announcing the Nexstar-Tegna deal, Sook said the Trump administration\u2019s deregulatory policies gave station owners a better shot of competing in a \u201cfragmented and rapidly evolving marketplace\u201d for media brands.<\/p>\n \u201cThe initiatives being pursued by the Trump administration offer local broadcasters the opportunity to expand reach, level the playing field, and compete more effectively with the Big Tech and legacy Big Media companies,\u201d Sook said at the time.<\/p>\n In a social media post<\/a> Thursday, Carr said Nexstar had agreed to \u201ccertain concrete conditions\u201d for the deal, \u201cincluding divesting a number of stations, increasing localism, and affordability steps.\u201d He did not provide specific information about those plans. <\/p>\n When requests for federal approval were sent to the FCC in early December, Nexstar operated 201 stations in 116 television markets while Tegna operated 64 full-power broadcast television stations, an AM radio station and an FM radio station.<\/p>\n Carr\u2019s office previously approved a high-profile merger between Skydance Media and Paramount<\/a>, the parent company of the Hollywood studio Paramount Pictures and the broadcast network CBS. <\/p>\n