FCC approves Gray-Scripps television station exchange

The Federal Communications Commission has approved a license exchange between Gray Media and Scripps Broadcasting, denying informal objections filed by two industry groups that argued the agency had failed to weigh public interest harms.

The order, signed by Video Division Chief David J. Brown and designated DA 26-417, found that the transaction complied with the Local Television Ownership Rule as modified by an 8th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals decision last year.

The two companies announced the swap on July 7, 2025.

Gray will acquire WSYM, the Fox affiliate in Lansing, Michigan, from Scripps to pair with its NBC affiliate, WILX, in Onondaga, Michigan. Gray will also acquire KATC, the ABC affiliate in Lafayette, Louisiana, which complements its pending acquisition of Allen Media’s KADN in the same market.

Scripps will acquire KKTV, the CBS affiliate in Colorado Springs, Colorado, from Gray to pair with its NBC affiliate, KOAA, in Pueblo, Colorado. Scripps will also acquire KMVT in Twin Falls, Idaho, the CBS affiliate, joining its low-power ABC affiliate KSAW-LD in that market, along with KKCO Grand Junction, Colorado, the NBC affiliate, and low-power ABC affiliate KJCT-LP.

The transaction also includes 11 associated low-power and translator stations, according to an attachment to the order.

No cash will change hands between the companies, with the consideration for each transaction being the performance of the other, the companies said when announcing the deal.

The transaction proceeded against the backdrop of the 8th Circuit’s 2025 ruling in Zimmer Radio of Mid-Missouri Inc. v. FCC, which vacated the Top-Four Prohibition in the Local Television Ownership Rule. 

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The court’s decision left in place what the FCC has described as the Two-Station Limit, under which an entity may own two television stations in the same DMA without restriction based on rank.

The American Television Alliance and NCTA – The Internet & Television Association filed informal objections to the applications in August 2025. Both groups argued that, despite compliance with the modified ownership rule, the FCC was still required under Section 310(d) of the Communications Act to weigh the transaction’s potential public interest harms against its benefits.

ATVA contended that the new top-four duopolies would have anticompetitive effects on the markets for retransmission consent and spot advertising, putting upward pressure on fees that cable operators and other multichannel video programming distributors pay broadcasters. NCTA argued that the applicants had offered only general assertions about market size and unsubstantiated claims about consolidation supporting local news production.

The applicants jointly responded in September 2025 that compliance with the rules and relevant statute, as modified by Zimmer Radio, was sufficient to satisfy their burden under Section 310(d).