Nexstar filed a legal brief Wednesday, urging the Ninth Circuit Court to scale back the nationwide “hold separate” order that has prevented the $6.2 billion acquisition of Tegna from going through.
The company argued that Nexstar’s purchase of Tegna could reduce competition in just 31 specific local TV markets where the two companies owned overlapping major network affiliates, but the courts have frozen the integration across the entire combined company. A federal judge’s preliminary injuction froze the merger, stating that Nexstar could gain too much leverage when negotiating carriage fees with pay TV providers like DirecTV, potentially leading to higher costs or reduced investment in local news.
“This lawsuit is rooted in an outdated view of the media space and wastes precious taxpayer dollars to protect private equity-owned DIRECTV, while giving Big Tech and streaming platforms a free pass,” a Nexstar spokesman wrote. “Every day this overbroad injunction remains in place, it starves local broadcast stations of the investment they need while undermining the local journalism it purports to protect.”
“We look forward to the oral argument before the United States Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit,” the statement added. “DIRECTV and the State AGs are peddling the fiction that this lawsuit is about protecting local media and viewers when it is actually a cynical attempt to advance their own commercial and political interests.”
DirectTV and eight state attorneys general filed separate lawsuits against the merger for violating antitrust laws. Historically, state AGs will work in tandem with the federal regulators like the Department of Justice and Federal Trade Commission on antitrust enforcement, but under the Trump administration, M&A has become less regulated.
The Nexstar-Tegna merger, which was approved by the FCC in March, would create a local TV giant that would reach 80% of U.S. households. DirecTV and state attorneys general led by California and New York sued to block the deal, warning it would “irreparably drive up consumer costs, reduce local competition, shutter local newsrooms and increase both frequency and duration of blackouts of key local teams and network programming.”
Though Nexstar closed the merger with Tegna, the district court later ordered the companies to remain largely separate while litigation proceeds. Nexstar is now attempting to convince the Ninth Circuit that the injunction should be narrowed immediately, rather than waiting for the antitrust trial, which will likely be in July 2027.
Tegna has experienced several departures of key executives amid the legal battles surrounding the merger. CFO Julie Heskett, Chief Strategy Officer Ed Busby and Chief Experience Officer Dhanusha Sivajee all exited to the company just days after Tegna said former Fox Television Stations ad sales boss Patrick Paolini would take over for outgoing CEO and president Mike Steib.
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