A federal judge on Friday blocked the $6 billion merger of Nexstar, the largest owner of TV stations in the United States, with its rival Tegna, until an antitrust lawsuit is resolved.
Chief Judge Troy L. Nunley of the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of California issued the preliminary injunction late Friday, finding that DirecTV and eight state attorneys general were likely to win in their legal effort to block the merger.
“Nexstar must permit Tegna to continue operating as a separate and distinct, independently managed business unit from Nexstar,” Nunley wrote in his ruling. “And Nexstar must put measures in place to maintain Tegna as an ongoing, economically viable, and active competitor.” His order takes effect on April 21. The judge previously issued a temporary order in late March that blocked the merger for three weeks.
DirecTV and the attorneys general, all Democrats, argue that the merger will raise prices for consumers and harm local journalism.
Nexstar affirmed its ownership of Tegna in a statement on Friday. “This transaction closed more than four weeks ago following receipt of all required regulatory approvals,” the statement said. “This pro-competitive transaction will make local stations stronger and support continued investment in local journalism and fact-based news.”
It added that it would appeal Friday’s ruling. Tegna did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
Announced in August, the proposed merger won support from President Donald Trump, who voiced support for the deal in a Truth Social post in February. “We need more competition against THE ENEMY, the Fake News National TV Networks. Letting Good Deals get done like Nexstar — Tegna will help knock out the Fake News because there will be more competition,” the president wrote.
The $6.2 billion deal was approved in March by the Justice Department and the Federal Communications Commission. The merger would fundamentally alter the local television environment in the U.S.: Nexstar previously said the deal would give it 265 stations across the country.
FCC Chairman Brendan Carr allowed the deal to proceed last month by waiving a cap that has historically barred station owners from expanding to reach more than 39 percent of American households. With 265 stations across 44 states and the District of Columbia, Nexstar would reach 80 percent of households.
DirecTV filed its lawsuit against the merger on the same day it was approved. The FCC approved it without a full commission vote, leading Sens. Ted Cruz (R-Texas) and Maria Cantwell (D-Washington) to express concern about the process.
“This decision raises serious concerns about the Commission’s use of delegated authority in matters involving significant legal, policy, and economic consequences,” the two lawmakers wrote in a March 30 letter to the FCC. “The transaction is unprecedented in scale, resulting in the largest local broadcast television group in U.S. history.”
Anna Gomez, the lone Democratic commissioner on the FCC, applauded Friday’s ruling.
“What we saw here was a coordinated, multiagency effort to avoid accountability and judicial review, culminating in a same-day clearance, approval, and closing designed to shield the public from the real harms of this unprecedented merger,” Gomez wrote in a statement.
“Today’s ruling is an important step toward restoring accountability and ensuring that decisions of this magnitude are made with consumers in mind, not billion-dollar companies cutting backroom deals out of public view,” she wrote.
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