WASHINGTON—Twenty-eight public-interest groups, labor unions and civil-rights organizations have sent the Federal Communications Commission a letter of supporting a petition that asks the agency to deny the proposed merger of Nexstar and Tegna.
The petition was filed at the end of 2025 by Free Press, the National Association of Broadcast Employees and Technicians—Communications Workers of America (NABET-CWA), The NewsGuild—Communications Workers of America (TNG-CWA), the United Church of Christ Media Justice Ministry and Public Knowledge. It urged the FCC to reject the acquisition which would put Nexstar over the ownership caps currently governing broadcast station groups.
Our coverage of the petition is available here and our coverage of the deal can be found here.
“The proposed transaction would cause incredibly high levels of concentration in local TV markets, would raise cable and satellite prices around the country, would cause irreparable harm to local news and consumers and would be contrary to the public interest,” wrote the signers of the Jan. 26 letter in support of the petition to deny. They added that the FCC lacks the authority to approve this merger.
If approved, the multibillion-dollar deal would combine the nation’s largest television-station conglomerate with its fourth largest. Nexstar controls more than 200 television stations in 116 local U.S. markets. If the FCC approves the merger, the combined entity would own and/or operate 265 full-power television stations in 44 states and the District of Columbia, and would be present in 132 of the country’s 210 television Designated Market Areas (or DMAs), the letter noted.
Signers of the letter include AFT, the American Economic Liberties Project, Asian Americans Advancing Justice — AAJC, Asian and Pacific Islander American Vote (APIAVote), the Center for Journalism & Liberty at Open Markets Institute, the Committee for the First Amendment, Common Cause, Fourth Branch Action, Get Free, the Hispanic Federation, HTTP, Indivisible, the Japanese American Citizens League, Local Independent Online News Publishers, MANA—A National Latina Organization, the Media and Democracy Project, the Multicultural Media Telecom & Internet Council, NAACP, the National Coalition on Black Civic Participation, the National Council of Asian Pacific Americans (NCAPA), the National Council of Negro Women (NCNW), the National Hispanic Media Coalition, the National Urban League, the OCA-Asian Pacific American Advocates, Public Citizen, SAG-AFTRA, the Writers Guild of America East and the Writers Guild of America West.
The full letter of support is available here.
