NTCA—The Rural Broadband Association (NTCA) has come out strongly against the proposed merger of Nexstar and Tegna in a filing with the Federal Communications Commission arguing that “any relaxation of the national television ownership cap” will force operators to pay higher retransmission consent fees, which in turn will have a “severe and worsening impact” on rural communities by forcing consumers to pay higher prices.
“NTCA therefore opposes the merger and urges the Commission to reject it as contrary to the public interest and inconsistent with the Commission’s commitment to serving rural America,” the group said.
NTCA is an industry association composed of approximately 850 community-based companies and cooperatives that provide advanced communications services in rural America and more than 400 other firms that support or themselves are engaged in the provision of such services.
In a Jan. 26 filing with the FCC, the NTCA cited survey data that “highlights the troubling escalation of retransmission costs foisted upon rural video providers. In their most recent retransmission consent negotiations, rural MVPDs experienced average fee increases of $128,351, a substantial rise from the $104,020 increase in 2024 and the $78,022 increase in 2023,” the group said. “This acceleration in fee growth demonstrates that the cost pressures identified by NTCA in previous comments are only intensifying. The impact on rural consumers is severe, as roughly 87% of these providers report having had to pass these increased fees directly on to their subscribers. Research continues to demonstrate that MVPDs pay significantly more for programming from large, consolidated broadcast groups compared to independent stations.”
“Nexstar Media is already among the nation’s largest and most powerful broadcast groups,” the filing stressed. “The proposed addition of Tegna’s 64 stations would concentrate further control over programming. Based on the pattern evident in NTCA’s survey data, approval of this merger would likely deliver to Nexstar even greater bargaining power to demand higher retransmission consent fees, with rural MVPDs and their consumers bearing the cost. The timing of this merger application, following a year of particularly steep fee increases, underscores the critical importance of maintaining ownership limits to preserve whatever negotiating leverage remains for small rural operators.”
The full filing can be found here.
TV Tech’s full coverage of the proposed deal can be found here and here with numerous articles laying out arguments by Nexstar and Tegna that the ownership caps should be lifted and that the deal would have a positive impact on the broadcast industry.
