Eight States Ask for Court to Stop Nexstar/Tegna Merger

SACRAMENTO, Calif.—Following the Federal Communications Commission's approval of the Nexstar/Tegna merger and Nexstar’s announcement that it had closed the $6.2 billion deal, eight states have filed a motion asking the United States District Court Eastern District Of California, Sacramento Division to issue a temporary restraining order to prevent the integration of the two companies until the Federal court rules on their previously filed antitrust lawsuit.

The motion was filed by the same eight states, California, Colorado, Connecticut, Illinois, New York, North Carolina, Oregon, and Virginia, who had filed a federal lawsuit contending that the deal would raise programming prices for consumers, increase blackouts over retransmission consent fees and reduce the diversity and quality of local news.

They are asking “for an order temporarily enjoining the nation’s largest broadcasting company, Nexstar Media Group, Inc. from integrating or commingling the assets and operations it has acquired from what was, yesterday, a substantial competitor, Tegna Inc., and requiring Nexstar to hold separate the acquired Tegna assets pending further proceedings.”

In the motion, the states complained about Nexstar’s decision to quickly close the deal following FCC approval “despite multiple pending lawsuits…[T]heir rush to consummate the Transaction raise the troubling specter that Defendants may be barreling forward with this transaction to frustrate effective judicial review. Plaintiff States seek emergency relief to prevent integration of Nexstar and Tegna and to preserve the Court’s ability to grant effective relief. If the requested relief is not granted, the harm to the public and to competition in the market for broadcast television licensing would commence immediately. The Transaction is set to create a broadcasting behemoth with control over an unprecedented share of broadcast television content, including local news and sports, from the nation’s most-watched `Big 4' stations (those affiliated with FOX, ABC, NBC or CBS). A post-merger Nexstar has more substantial power to raise prices for cable, satellite, and fiber-optic television consumers, and to control and degrade the quality and variety of broadcast television content.”

“Plaintiffs’ sought TRO [temporary retraining order] would not force Defendants to unwind the Transaction or divest assets on an emergency basis; it is instead narrowly tailored to keep the status quo and prevent Defendants from taking steps that would irreversibly alter competitive conditions and frustrate remedial abilities before the Court can rule on preliminary injunctive relief,” the motion concluded.

The full motion can be found here.

More on the original case can found here and the FCC approval of the deal here.