States sue to block Nexstar-Tegna deal

Eight states have filed a lawsuit aimed at attempting to block Nexstar Media Group’s proposed purchase of Tegna.

The suit, which was filed March 18, 2026, cites federal antitrust concerns. Nexstar has made an offer worth $6.2 billion to take over Tegna.

Attorneys general in California, New York, Colorado, Illinois, Oregon, North Carolina, Connecticut and Virginia have all signed on the lawsuit. All of these states have at least one station that could be impacted by the merger.

“When broadcast media is owned by a handful of companies, we get fewer voices, less competition, and communities lose the critical check on power that local journalism delivers,” California Attorney General Rob Bonta said in a news release.

Nexstar and Tegna did not immediately comment on the suit. The merger is facing a separate lawsuit from DirecTV, citing concerns that the new company will be able to use its position in the market to demand higher retransmission fees.

The lawsuit comes at what is widely expected to be a surge in consolidation in station ownership groups and the media industry in general.

Nexstar is already the largest single owner of TV stations in the U.S., having a hand in the ownership or management of over 200 stations (Sinclair Broadcast Group does outpace Nexstar in network-affiliated stations thanks to the latter’s hand in more independents). In addition, Nexstar owns NewsNation and The CW network.

Tegna is smaller, with 64 stations, but a combination could potentially create multiple markets where the new company would control at least two stations — and in some cases more, including all of the big-three affiliates, though it is not clear if such situations would be permitted.

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Current law would essentially bar the acquisition from happening thanks to broader ownership limits imposed by the FCC.

However, the FCC and chair Brendan Carr, along with the Trump administration, have indicated their support of the merger, suggesting they might also be in favor of modifying those caps. There are also separate rules that largely prohibit a single company from owning three or more affiliates in the same market.

Nexstar, however, already uses a structure where a loosely-affiliated shell company owns a station in a market where Nexstar proper already owns a station. 

The two stations then sign a shared services, local marketing, joint sales or management services agreement where the two stations combine most or all operations on the backend. These arrangements result in cost savings but also typically lead to job losses. Similar arrangements are not uncommon among other owners in the industry.

Nexstar and other major media ownership groups have argued that, in order to survive in the increasingly shifting local broadcasting industry, such efficiencies are necessary in order for them to continue to serve local communities.

However, opponents of consolidation believe these types of moves run the risk of having large corporate giants controlling too much of the news and information in both single markets and across the entire group.

Corporate ownership of TV stations in general has long been criticized as making stations less connected to their local markets when management decisions are increasingly made at the corporate level.

It’s also common for owners to cut jobs at the local level in favor of offering “hubs” for operations such as creative services, back office, production and select editorial operations that, some say, are largely focused on saving the corporate parent money by employing fewer people locally. 

Tegna was formed in 2015 after Gannett opted to spin-off its television properties from other businesses, including newspapers. At the time, TV was still largely seen as a growth opportunity when compared to print, and the thought was that separately-traded companies would help declining newspaper ad revenue from affecting the larger TV ad market. 

Gannett still exists as a separate entity. 

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