{"id":557334,"date":"2026-04-01T02:22:13","date_gmt":"2026-04-01T02:22:13","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/557334\/"},"modified":"2026-04-01T02:22:13","modified_gmt":"2026-04-01T02:22:13","slug":"nexstar-tells-judge-aspects-of-tegna-merger-cannot-be-reversed","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/557334\/","title":{"rendered":"Nexstar Tells Judge Aspects Of Tegna Merger “Cannot Be Reversed”"},"content":{"rendered":"

\n\tNexstar<\/a> weighed in for the first time on a judge\u2019s order that halted its merger with Tegna<\/a>, warning the court that it will have difficulty fully complying because certain aspects of the closed transaction \u201ccannot be reversed.\u201d<\/p>\n

\n\tU.S. District Judge Troy Nunley granted a temporary restraining order to DirecTV<\/a> on Friday, ruling that it was likely to succeed on the merits of its antitrust claims against the merger. The judge put a 14-day freeze on the merger and set a hearing for April 7 to consider a preliminary injunction.<\/p>\n

\n\tIn a filing on Tuesday, Nexstar\u2019s legal team wrote that the restraining order \u201ccreates immediate operational harm to Tegna and Nexstar, regulatory conflicts, and a governance vacuum.\u201d<\/p>\n

\n\tThey wrote, \u201cUpon closing, Nexstar and Tegna took many typical steps that may not have been
apparent to the Court when it issued its TRO. It is particularly difficult to freeze integration that
was already taking place, unlike a conventional hold-separate order. Complying with certain
aspects of the TRO is impossible and could jeopardize Nexstar and the Tegna assets the Court
seeks to preserve.\u201d<\/p>\n

\n\tRead Nexstar\u2019s filing responding to judge\u2019s order.<\/a><\/p>\n

\n\tThe merger will create a broadcast giant with 259 stations reaching about 80% of the country. <\/p>\n

\n\tDirecTV filed an antitrust lawsuit to block the merger on March 18. The next day, the FCC<\/a> gave the greenlight to the transaction, and the Justice Department did not seek to challenge it. Shortly after that, Nexstar announced that it had closed the deal.<\/p>\n

\n\tIn their filing, Nexstar cited ongoing \u201cdebt agreement reporting obligations that require the inclusion of Tegna\u2019s financial information into Nexstar\u2019s reports from the date of closing,\u201d warning that they otherwise would be in breach of securities laws and Securities and Exchange Commission rules. <\/p>\n

\n\tNexstar also noted that, with the deal closed, they face the operational confusion of carrying out contract obligations, as Tegna\u2019s retransmission consent agreements are now governed by Nexstar\u2019s terms \u201cto which no former Tegna personnel are privy.\u201d Nexstar also cited confusion with distribution agreements set to expire in the next half year, as well as their commitments to the FCC to expand news content of the Tegna stations. They pointed to plans to provide those stations access to Nexstar\u2019s D.C. bureau to create programming ahead of the midterm elections.<\/p>\n

\n\tAs part of their filing, Nexstar proposed that the combined company be allowed to service its debt obligations, \u201cas well as completion of the required post- closing security perfection process and avoidance of default under Nexstar\u2019s debt instruments.\u201d <\/p>\n

\n\tAmong other things, Nexstar also asked the judge to allow it to \u201ctake reasonable actions\u201d to maintain Tegna\u2019s day-to-day operations, and to allow the continued administration of existing retransmission consent agreements. The company also wants Nexstar to be allowed to appoint Tegna officers to keep the entity going. Those would include \u201csetting thresholds for contract approval, expenditure authorization, and other financial limits.\u201d<\/p>\n

\n\tNexstar also warned that \u201cadditional proposals and clarifications may be required in the coming days to forestall further material harm associated with the TRO.\u201d <\/p>\n

\n\tDirecTV said that Nexstar\u2019s filing \u201craises numerous issues for the first time.\u201d DirecTV said that it plans to file a response on Thursday.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Nexstar weighed in for the first time on a judge\u2019s order that halted its merger with Tegna, warning…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":455551,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[27],"tags":[28,118231,12,5109,3092,69112,134037,49911],"class_list":["post-557334","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-business","tag-business","tag-directv","tag-donald-trump","tag-electionline","tag-fcc","tag-nexstar","tag-nexstar-tegna-deal","tag-tegna"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/557334","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=557334"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/557334\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/455551"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=557334"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=557334"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=557334"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}