WASHINGTON—The Federal Communications Commission has filed a brief asking the U.S. Court Of Appeals for the District Of Columbia Circuit to reject a motion by opponents of the Nextstar/Tegna deal for an emergency stay that would halt any integration the two station groups.
In the filing the agency argues that it had the authority to approve the deal by waiving ownership caps and that the deal was in the public interest because it would allow combined company `to expand their investments in local news, and compete more effectively in the modern media marketplace’.
As previously reported opponents have filed motions in federal courts in the D.C. Circuit and in California seeking to stop the merger following the FCC’s approval of the deal and the Nexstar announcement the deal had closed on March 19.
Article continues belowThe agency made the filing in the U.S. Court Of Appeals For The District Of Columbia Circuit in response to motions for an emergency stay of the Nexstar/Tegna deal by Broadband Communications Association Of Pennsylvania, Newsmax, Free Press and others. The National Religious Broadcasters has also filed an Amicus Brief supporting the stay.
In the filing the FCC said that “an a detailed decision, the [FCC’s Media] Bureau reasonably found that in light of a transformed media landscape, as well as Nexstar’s commitments concerning divestiture of certain stations, increased local news programming, and maintenance of retransmission consent rates, the public interest benefits of the proposed transaction outweighed any potential public interest harms.”
The FCC urged the court to “deny appellants’ motions for a stay of the Order pending appeal. Appellants have not shown that they have a likelihood of success on their claims, nor have they satisfied the other stringent requirements for obtaining such extraordinary relief. The Bureau exercised its power to waive the Commission’s national television ownership cap, as well as the local ownership limits in certain markets, for `good cause shown.’...[A]pproval of Nexstar’s acquisition of Tegna will advance the Commission’s longstanding goals by allowing the combined entity’s stations to `continue and in fact expand their investments in local news,’ `compete more effectively in the modern media marketplace,’ and `counteract the growing imbalance of power between those local broadcast TV stations … and the powerful Big Four national programmers.’ Because approval of the transaction will result in these significant public benefits, the Bureau justifiably concluded that it would serve `the public interest, convenience, and necessity.’
The full FCC brief can be found here.
