More states join legal challenge to Nexstar, Tegna merger

Five more U.S. states are joining an antitrust lawsuit challenging Nexstar’s acquisition of rival broadcaster Tegna after a judge temporarily blocked the deal from proceeding, according to California’s attorney general.

Attorney General Rob Bonta, a Democrat whose office joined seven other states in suing over the $6.2 billion deal in March, said on Thursday that Massachusetts, Vermont, and his Republican counterparts in Indiana, Kansas, and Pennsylvania were joining the case.

“These misguided attorneys general are strangling local journalism,” Nexstar said, arguing that the real drivers of local news decline are “the unchecked rise of Big Tech platforms, the spread of misinformation on social media, and the economic pressures that have already led to widespread newsroom closures.”

Separately, Republican Ohio Attorney General Dave Yost said on Thursday that he struck a deal with Nexstar to maintain the independence of two local stations in Columbus and Cleveland where the company would own two affiliates following the merger. The deal requires maintaining separate news teams at each station and preserving existing levels of local programming through 2030.

U.S. District Judge Troy Nunley in Sacramento said in an April 17 ruling that the plaintiffs were likely to succeed in their claims that the deal will substantially lessen competition in dozens of local television markets.

The court’s order bars Nexstar from consolidating its operations with ?Tegna pending further litigation, but does not unwind the transaction.

The deal quickly closed after the Justice Department and the Federal Communications Commission approved it on March 19, which Nexstar ?noted in a statement announcing its appeal of Nunley’s decision.

The deal would create the largest broadcast station group in the United States, reaching 80% of households. The states have argued that the deal would result in lost jobs, increased cable bills and “significantly impact the delivery of news and other media content to Americans nationwide.”

Nexstar has ?said its deal with Tegna will strengthen local stations and support investment in local journalism.

(Reporting by Daniel Wiessner in Albany, New York and David Shepardson in Washington; Editing by Muralikumar Anantharaman, Kirsten Donovan)