The U.S. Supreme Court on Monday rejected a request from Nexstar that could allow a DirecTV lawsuit against the nation’s largest TV station group to proceed, according to Reuters.
At issue is a 2023 complaint from DirecTV accusing Nexstar of colluding with Mission Broadcasting and White Knight to fix the prices of retransmission consent fees in markets where both Nexstar and either Mission or White Knight own a Big Four station.
DirecTV alleged that Mission and White Knight shared a common negotiator who was, in fact, an agent of Nexstar. It also claimed that this negotiator improperly shared confidential rates and other financial information with Nexstar, and that the three defendants coordinated their respective blackout dates and media responses. The satellite operator claimed that the station goups' actions resulted in channels that went dark for approximately 1 million of its customers.
A federal district court dismissed the case in 2024 but in December 2025, the 2nd U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in New York affirmed that DirecTV had standing to sue under antitrust laws and could prosecute its claims against Nexstar and its sidecars.
Nexstar has argued that it would only be liable of price fixing if the other party ended up paying the inflated price.
In its case before the Supreme Court, Nexstar argued that the December 2025 ruling conflicts with decisions from other federal courts; DirecTV claimed that there was no conflict. It also argued that the 2nd Circuit court’s decision could broaden liability issues.
