Nexstar

In a D.C. Circuit filing, the agency said the combined company will be able to `to expand their investments in local news, and compete more effectively in the modern media marketplace’

FCC FCC's Gomez called the merger approval `flatly illegal' and the latest example of FCC's `billionaire bypass' practice of offering favorable treatment of Trump supporters

`“Plaintiffs are attempting to throw a monkey wrench into the merger at a very late stage in the game,’ Nexstar said

Two new filings join a growing list of plaintiffs in Washington D.C. and California seeking to halt the FCC’s approval of the deal, which Nexstar says has closed

The motion asks for a temporary restraining order to halt integration and consolidation of the two companies

They are calling on the FCC to stay its recent approval of the deal pending a ruling on the application

Merger, valued at more than $6.2B gives Nexstar control of 265 stations nationwide

The federal anti-trust suit alleges that the deal will drive up consumer costs, reduce local competition, shutter local newsrooms and lead to more retrans blackouts

The merger would increase costs for consumers and “consolidate newsrooms of previously separate Big 4 stations, degrading the content and quality of local news broadcasts” the lawsuit alleged

The study filed with the FCC found that in `the majority of duopolies, triopolies, and quadropolies’ station groups offered `essentially the same local news’